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Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

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Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#161

Post by mnw21cam »

tonylemesmer wrote: post #64
lwhi wrote: post #2

A local taxi company near me was relisted on Google maps using a pay-per-minute redirect service. The scammers get paid, and the customer is non the wiser until they get their bill. I was charged about £5 for a 30 second call.

Yep, years ago, we needed to call the NHS (out of hours doctor) and looked it up on Google, first result (sponsored) turned out to be a premium rate pay per minute redirect number. That turned out to be a £90, 30 minute call when we got our bill. I believe this practice is now harder to do or not possible.

Is it so hard to remember the number "111"?

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#162

Post by mnw21cam »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #149
sytelus wrote: post #117

I've considered myself fairly resistive to various devious scamming efforts but recently they have upped the game at completely new level. Other day I received text message that my XYZ card had suspicious charge and my card was disabled. To re-enable the card I must call 1-800- number. I absolutely believed that! That number is in fact fake number to get all your bank details! These are clear attempt for theft. For p…

When I've had these I've always called the number on my card instead.

Which is exactly what you should do. Or look up the number from the bank's own secure web site.

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#163

Post by mnw21cam »

techsupporter wrote: post #22
pasbesoin wrote: post #5

A couple of years ago, I needed to find a limo service for an old family friend, for a memorial service. It'd been some years, but I knew of and used to use one of the top two limo services in my metropolitan area. (In my area, in a perverse historical twist, a shared limo ride to the airport was substantially cheaper than a cab ride, as well as pretty much guaranteed timely as well as more comfortable.) I'd heard th…

> They had numbers from back when people faced in-state toll charges on phone calls, and since they covered an entire large metropolitan area, they had at that time registered numbers in several local exchanges, to make customer calls to them a local call (just pick the number having a local or non-toll exchange). Totally unrelated to people scamming others on Google, but I love little bits of telephone trivia like t…

Why would you need to dial your own area code? (Unless you're using a mobile, I guess.)

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#164

Post by tonylemesmer »

mnw21cam wrote: post #161
tonylemesmer wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, years ago, we needed to call the NHS (out of hours doctor) and looked it up on Google, first result (sponsored) turned out to be a premium rate pay per minute redirect number. That turned out to be a £90, 30 minute call when we got our bill. I believe this practice is now harder to do or not possible.

Is it so hard to remember the number "111"?

It wasn’t 111 years ago when we needed it.

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#167

Post by black-tea »

duiker101 wrote: post #83
black-tea wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you work for Google for no pay? OpenStreetMap always needs work. Help the community.

Honestly for me it boils down to Google maps being just a superior app. It's not even the amount of data in itself(which is a lot already tbh) but just the app being better. I don't think I have seen a decent OSM app yet.

Maps.me is great and better than Google.

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#168

Post by black-tea »

eitland wrote: post #141
M4v3R wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go to https://www.openstreetmap.org/ and create an account, then click on the Edit button and start editing :).

Thanks! For some reason I though I had to download an app and upload and download xml files. (I think I did that a number of years ago but that might have been something else.)

You can do that. There are many different editors for OSM depending on your use case and level of experience. I use josm which is the more advanced option.

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#169

Post by black-tea »

Semaphor wrote: post #146
agentdrtran wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's way easier to contribute to Google Maps, and Maps blows OSM out of the water in features, usability, and data quality.

Just as an FYI, data quality varies heavily based on location. Here in Lübeck, Germany, Google sucks and amongst other things shows non existant streets while OSM is simply correct. In Pretoria, South Africa, OSM has information outdated by several years while Google does not.

I think SA had a big bulk import a few years back. Unfortunately while this got the map off the ground quickly it fails to build a strong local mapping community.

Re: Scammers are changing the contact details for banks on Google Maps

#170

Post by mcv »

dawnerd wrote: post #6

I do a lot of Google Maps moderation and there’s a ton of bad changes being attempted every day. Honestly I’m amazed Google doesn’t bother to vet anyone really. Becoming a local guide is easy and not that difficult for a spam group to create enough fake accounts to get things pushed through. Just last night I caught the local Target that was reclassified as a “prison”. What Google needs to do is lock information for…

And sometimes fixes to incorrect information get rejected. My first edit was to correct an error where a restaurant had the website of a nearby shop listed. The website contained no information whatsoever about the restaurant (to my frustration, because I wanted to eat there).

My removal of the website got rejected. I think I needed to offer proof of some sort.

Adding info is easier: my second edit was adding opening hours to a shop. No proof needed. My submitted hours were not the official opening hours, because the shop always opens 15 minutes too late.

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