Google says fighting fake business profiles on Maps

San Francisco: Admitting that fake business profiles were lurking people on Google Maps, the company has said it was working hard to remove bad actors before they could scam customers. Reacting to media reports that Google Maps is flooded by about 11 million false listings and phone numbers that reroute to competing businesses, the company said local business scammers have been a thorn in the Internet’s side for over a decade.

“Over the years, we’ve added more than 200 million places to Google Maps and every month we connect people to businesses more than nine billion times, including more than one billion phone calls and three billion requests for directions,” Ethan Russell, Product Director, Google Maps, said in a blog post. Occasionally, business scammers take advantage of local listings to make a profit. They do things like charge business owners for services that are actually free, defraud customers by posing as real businesses, and impersonate real businesses to secure leads and then sell them.

“Even though fake business profiles are a small percentage of the overall business profiles on Google, local business scammers have been a thorn in the Internet’s side for over a decade, a said Russell. (IANS)

Also Read: Over 11 Million False Listings On Google Maps