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Google has filed a lawsuit against a group of fraudsters who created tens of thousands of counterfeit business profiles on Google Maps and sold them for profit. The investigation was prompted by a complaint from a Texas-based locksmith company, which discovered that its name was being misused by malicious actors.
According to CBS News, one of the defendants was responsible for generating hundreds of fake listings and monetizing them. Following the complaint, Google launched an extensive investigation and filed the lawsuit on March 20.
“Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated,” said Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s Chief Legal Officer, during an appearance on CBS Mornings Plus. “When we uncover fraudulent activity, we spare no effort in identifying and removing all related fake entries.”
The schemes employed by these bad actors often involve publishing fictitious businesses accompanied by fabricated reviews and simulated engagement. Users, deceived by the apparent legitimacy of such profiles, may fall victim to inflated prices or receive no service at all. In certain instances, dialing the listed number connects the caller to a fraudulent call center.
In 2023, Google removed or blocked 12 million fake business pages. This marked an increase of one million attempts to create fraudulent listings compared to the previous year. The company is also tightening its policies against artificially generated engagement and fraudulent reviews, introducing stricter measures in the United Kingdom under pressure from regulatory authorities.
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