Google Sues Scammers Over Fake Maps Listings (cbsnews.com)
- Reference: 0176783373
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/03/21/1126233/google-sues-scammers-over-fake-maps-listings
- Source link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-maps-fake-listings-lawsuit-scams/
The investigation began after a Texas business reported an unlicensed locksmith impersonating them on the platform. Google discovered the scams primarily targeted "duress verticals" -- services needed in urgent situations like locksmiths and towing companies. "Once we're alerted to the actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings," said Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel.
The scammers used tactics including bait-and-switch schemes and intercepting calls to legitimate businesses through "lead generation services." They also sold fraudulent positive reviews to suppress negative feedback.
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-maps-fake-listings-lawsuit-scams/
Trust (Score:3)
Trust nothing listed on the Internet (ads, reviews, business listings, etc.) and you'll be better off. Live likes it's 1995 again until this disaster called the Internet can be sorted out.
Re: (Score:3)
> Trust nothing listed on the Internet (ads, reviews, business listings, etc.) and you'll be better off. Live likes it's 1995 again until this disaster called the Internet can be sorted out.
gotta go back farther than that. 1995 is exactly when the Internet started its descent into the septic cesspool of scams and pornography that it currently is. In 1995, AOL's Steve Case opened a 2400 baud gateway to the internet for his idiot customer base, a monetized bottleneck that six million middle-class American morons who couldn’t tell a Usenet FAQ from a chain letter streamed through, polluting and corrupting everything they touched along the way. That was the exact moment the internet died.
Re: Trust (Score:2)
Agreed. I've been finding myself saying, "if you want to get lost, use Google Maps." While it works sometimes, it seems to really be unreliable in cases I've relied on it to navigate places foreign to me. Many times, I have put in the exact and correct address only to be guided to an unrelated location in a different city that doesn't even have the same street name.
Is Google going to give back the money... (Score:2)
Is Google going to give back the money all the money that fake companies have spent on marketing? This is a fucking joke. Google should be banned from the court system. They are a recidivist offender. They've spent decades monetizing rampant criminality. I honestly don't understand how anyone can look at their track record and see Google as anything other than an ongoing criminal conspiracy.
They've paid 2.7 BILLION in fines for 45 violations and still seem to engage in all of the business practices that
It was nice of them to post a guide on GMB (Score:2)
I wonder how many new "fake" businesses will pop up, now that Google has published thie "how to guide" in the filing?
And the listings when you do a search? (Score:3)
It's nice they're doing this on Maps, but the same applies when you do a search. For example, search for roofing repair in your area. Many of the top links are lead generation services. Get rid of them as well.
Re:And the listings when you do a search? (Score:4, Interesting)
> Many of the top links are lead generation services. Get rid of them as well.
They are paying google to do that. If you pay google for it, it's perfectly fine. If you don't pay google for that exact same thing, you get sued and called a criminal by google.