Google is suing an alleged group of scammers who it claims added thousands of fake business listings to its Google Maps app to trick consumers.
According to the lawsuit, which was announced on Wednesday, Google claims a man working with a wider network of people allegedly created and sold fake business profiles to be listed on Google Maps.
The company became aware of the issue after a locksmith in Texas reported that an unlicensed business was allegedly impersonating his operation on Google Maps, which prompted Google to dig for other fraudulent listings, CBS News reports.
Google ultimately found more than 10,000 illegitimate listings on the app, ranging from completely fake businesses to legitimate accounts that had been taken over by scammers.
«Once we’re alerted to an actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings,» Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s general counsel, told CBS Mornings Plus earlier this week.
According to the lawsuit, many of the scammers focused on businesses that people use when they’re in stressful situations, like locksmiths or towing companies, and may be in a hurry to contact.
Google also discovered that the scams aren’t individual incidents, but are actually part of a larger network run by people from all over the world. The networks reportedly use social media to expand the reach of the fraudulent listings.
DeLaine Prado told CBS that the scams either can bait and switch customers through a fraudulent listing, or intercept a customer’s call to a real business and forward it to scammers. In either situation, a customer ends up hiring a company they never intended to hire.
When representatives of the fake company bill the customers, they often charge much higher prices than the original quote. Because the fraudulent businesses are typically businesses people use while in difficult situations, customers typically fold to the pressure and pay the price.
Delaine Prado advised customers always to use their best judgement, and if they feel something is off to stop and try to do what they can to verify the company they’re using is legitimate.
Customers should check the URL of a company’s website and the phone number to make sure they match the actual business listing of the company they intended to call.
Customers should also be wary of companies asking for their personal information — like Social Security Numbers — if the customer is doing something simple like joining a mailing list, and of any company asking for payment via gift cards or wire transfers.
Google’s business directories — and displayed user ratings for said businesses — must be accurate in order to preserve customers’ trust, a reality that DeLaine Prado acknowledged during her sit down.
«Consumers use the reviews under those listings to actually make decisions based on what service to use or not to use,» DeLaine Prado explained. «A fake profile and a fake review undermines the trust that you have in that ecosystem.»
As a show of good faith, DeLaine Prado said that Google plans to use any damages it wins in its lawsuit to fund organizations working to stop scammers.
