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

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

#141

Post by anamexis »

hollerith wrote: post #139
anamexis wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't make sense to me. Isn't the recipe itself still not subject to copyright law? What is the benefit to the creator to adding the personal expression portion?

No: that's the point: copyright law says that a plain recipe is not copyrightable -- i.e., if I copy your recipe, you cannot sue me for copyright infringement unless the recipe is mixed in with your opinions and subjective perceptions and such.

Right, I get that, but the thing people value (I think) is the recipe itself, which is also the part that can be copied (when separated from the opinions and subjective perceptions, which I suspect most people don't care about).

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

#142

Post by bandyaboot »

therealdrag0 wrote: post #137
bandyaboot wrote: post #108

I’ve run into this when looking for an hvac contractor to do some work in my basement. Was just going through the listings and making a bunch of calls. It was definitely annoying encountering all the fake “store fronts”, but I also found that just by talking to them and asking a couple questions, it was super obvious which ones were fake and which ones were legit.

As a noob homeowner. What questions did you ask?

It’s possible my case was a bit unique in how obvious it was. I was specifically looking to find a small local shop or independent contractor just to do a walk through/consult on expanding the bare bones hvac setup in the basement for finishing. I was doing the work myself but wanted expert input so I could try to avoid the common problem in cold climates of basement living spaces being significantly colder than the rest of the house.

Independent contractors are easy. Many are just listed under their names, and even if they use a business name, their business number is almost always just the cell phone. When you call they’ll either not answer and you have to leave a voicemail to get a call back, or if they do answer, they’ll pick up with something like “this is ”. So for them you don’t even need to ask anything.

When calling a number that is supposedly a small shop, I found that when I told them what I was wanting and asked “is that something you would do?”, the fake ones would immediately say yes. The legit places would ask follow up questions, or if it was an office worker, they would have one of their techs call me back.

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

#144

Post by [deleted] »

anamexis wrote: post #141
hollerith wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No: that's the point: copyright law says that a plain recipe is not copyrightable -- i.e., if I copy your recipe, you cannot sue me for copyright infringement unless the recipe is mixed in with your opinions and subjective perceptions and such.

Right, I get that, but the thing people value (I think) is the recipe itself, which is also the part that can be copied (when separated from the opinions and subjective perceptions, which I suspect most people don't care about).

[deleted]

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

#145

Post by mirabel-stephen »

I shouldn’t be saying this here but to be honest this hacker should be reviewed, I just used his services, and he’s the best, experience and ethical. Contact him for any hacking and recovery support via email, (expertwisehacker@gmail.com") you can tell him I referred you.

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

#146

Post by mirabel-stephen »

I shouldn’t be saying this here but to be honest this hacker should be reviewed, I just used his services, and he’s the best, experience and ethical. Contact him for any hacking and recovery support via email, (expertwisehacker@gmail.com") you can tell him I referred you

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

#147

Post by SteveGerencser »

tomcam wrote: post #110
SteveGerencser wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What baffles me is how these networks flourish so easily yet Google can't tell a real business from a fake. The number of people calling me lately (I'm in the same business) about the Business Profile being removed by Google. Even active retail shops that have had their account for many years, with a clearly visibly business on Google maps. Their GBP simply vanishes and in a few cases, the only solution was to simply…

How can they start over with a new profile? It seems to me they would have to either move or get a new business name? I’m not trying to bust your chops. I am genuinely interested in this whole thing.

It was actually suggested by someone at the BGP support team. We had a different employee there create the new listing while sitting in the store. It went live with 24 hours, only none of the old reviews, pictures, or reviews were there. So they are starting over on that front.

this makes me think that they felt like some other aspect of that GBP was why they deleted it. But since they won't tell us why, we have no idea. I could guess, but any guess is just that, a guess.

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

#148

Post by ellenotlean »

mirabel-stephen wrote: post #145

I shouldn’t be saying this here but to be honest this hacker should be reviewed, I just used his services, and he’s the best, experience and ethical. Contact him for any hacking and recovery support via email, (expertwisehacker@gmail.com") you can tell him I referred you.

[dead]

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

#149

Post by ellenotlean »

mirabel-stephen wrote: post #145

I shouldn’t be saying this here but to be honest this hacker should be reviewed, I just used his services, and he’s the best, experience and ethical. Contact him for any hacking and recovery support via email, (expertwisehacker@gmail.com") you can tell him I referred you.

[dead]

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

#150

Post by fellellor »

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…

Maybe this is why Google will lobby the government to restrict the distribution of open source AI models.

https://twitter.com/jonst0kes/status/1618705267801325568?s=6...

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