A large network of fake Google Maps comments/reviews and fake businesses

Post by mgerdts » Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 4:32 AM UTC

jaycroft wrote: post #14

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #6

My time to shine as someone who's pretty deep in this game. There's an enormous and growing market of fake GBPs for the purpose of selling leads called Local SEO Lead Gen. (each entity can bring in thousands of dollars/month.) The thinking is why go through the headache of dealing with clients who can fire you the day after they begin ranking (Local SEO is heavily "front loaded" work wise), will always try undercutti…

So this is why when I called a locksmith last week, they took down my info and then 30 minutes later got a call from no less than 5 other locksmiths who were "on their way to my house". Nobody's phone number matched, nobody wanted to tell me who they worked for. Totally sketched out with Google Maps' suggestions, I switched to yelp. The first service I called on yelp was reasonably priced, was actually the person com…

Post by odysseus » Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 4:48 AM UTC

mgerdts wrote: post #91

jaycroft wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this is why when I called a locksmith last week, they took down my info and then 30 minutes later got a call from no less than 5 other locksmiths who were "on their way to my house". Nobody's phone number matched, nobody wanted to tell me who they worked for. Totally sketched out with Google Maps' suggestions, I switched to yelp. The first service I called on yelp was reasonably priced, was actually the person com…

Several years back I needed a plumber in a bit of a hurry. I used Angie’s List, now angi.com, with a little less hesitancy than using Google reviews or yelp. The plumber I hired this way did a good job at a fair price. For less urgent work I hired this company for other work even after getting bids from others.

Post by cobertos » Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 4:58 AM UTC

troydavis wrote: post #30

cobertos wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The video calls must be new. When I first made a Google My Business profile, there was no verification. Not even address verification. And then I couldn't get the listing delisted from Google either (my friend made a prank listing). At some point they added postcard by mail verification. Then they added having to upload documents (articles of organization, pictures of store). And then the last time my account got sus…

One thing I don't understand is why many or most of these fake businesses weren't thwarted by postcard verification. I could only come up with a couple possibilities: - Google stopped doing postcard verification, or a loophole in the creation process lets savvy scammers avoid it (like an alternate verification method or providing a different address for the postcard). - New business entries go live before the postcar…

Post by visarga » Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 5:42 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #37

visarga wrote: post #27

chatGPT hallucinates, Google shows fakes, not very different. Nobody can solve this problem

Wikipedia may not be perfect but I trust what it shows me. Maybe a bit naive but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Post by squarefoot » Sun, Jan 22, 2023, 6:04 AM UTC

2h wrote: post #33

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #6

My time to shine as someone who's pretty deep in this game. There's an enormous and growing market of fake GBPs for the purpose of selling leads called Local SEO Lead Gen. (each entity can bring in thousands of dollars/month.) The thinking is why go through the headache of dealing with clients who can fire you the day after they begin ranking (Local SEO is heavily "front loaded" work wise), will always try undercutti…

> GBP Google Business Profile. its common courtesy to use the full name with the first use, THEN abbreviate.