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Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake -- and Google Profits (wsj.com) 129

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Out of habit, Nancy Carter, a retired federal employee, turned to Google for help one August evening. She ended the night wishing she hadn't. Ms. Carter had pulled into her Falls Church, Va., driveway and saw the garage door was stuck. The 67-year-old searched Google and found the listing of a local repair service she had used before. She phoned in a house call. Google's ubiquitous internet platform shapes what's real and what isn't for more than 2 billion monthly users. Yet Google Maps, triggered by such Google queries as the one Ms. Carter made, is overrun with millions of false business addresses and fake names, according to advertisers, search experts and current and former Google employees.

The ruse lures the unsuspecting to what appear to be Google-suggested local businesses, a costly and dangerous deception. A man arrived at Ms. Carter's home in an unmarked van and said he was a company contractor. He wasn't. After working on the garage door, he asked for $728, nearly twice the cost of previous repairs, Ms. Carter said. He demanded cash or a personal check, but she refused. "I'm at my house by myself with this guy," she said. "He could have knocked me over dead." The repairman had hijacked the name of a legitimate business on Google Maps and listed his own phone number. He returned to Ms. Carter's home again and again, hounding her for payment of a repair so shoddy it had to be redone. Three years later, Google still can't seem to stop the proliferation of fictional business listings and aggressive con artists on its search engine. The scams are profitable for nearly everyone involved, Google included. Consumers and legitimate businesses end up the losers.
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Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake -- and Google Profits More

Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake -- and Google Profits

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  • Paywalled WSJ (Score:5, Informative)

    by OnceWas ( 187243 ) on Thursday June 20, 2019 @01:05PM (#58794992)

    Good luck reading the article behind WSJ's paywall. Too bad the summary doesn't mention this.

    • I found a 2017 NewScientist article about a study done on the subject:
      https://www.newscientist.com/a... [newscientist.com]

      The interesting thing to me was something the study showed: the more businesses there were in a search listing, the higher the percentage of fake or fraudulent businesses. If there were 100 listings, 30% would be fake. If there were 5 listings, 1-2% would be fake (i.e. you'd have to check multiple 5 business listings to find a fake).

      #1 most faked business was locksmith (80% fake in New York! 25% fake every

      • #1 most faked business was locksmith (80% fake in New York! 25% fake everywhere else), followed by electrician/plumber, followed by food delivery, then hotels. Hotels were about 5% fake / fraudulent. So if you're only careful about those four categories you'll be pretty safe.

        It's a hell of a lot easier to fake being a locksmith than to fake being a hotel.

        • It's a hell of a lot easier to fake being a locksmith than to fake being a hotel.

          There's a pile of professions where it's relatively easy to fake your way through, mainly involving talking: psychologists, consultants, President of the US, that sort of thing. The more you get towards bricks and mortar, the harder it gets to fake it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The article mentions that Google does try to verify businesses but their methods are ineffective. It wouldn't cost them much to just send someone to take a look. Clearly these researchers were able to do it pretty easily.

        Google is too cheap. It's the same problem with YouTube moderation, they won't employ human beings to verify stuff even when there is a very specific problem they need to fix.

    • Full article http://archive.fo/Uc4S9 [archive.fo]

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday June 20, 2019 @01:07PM (#58795008)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • My mom got bit by this recently. Door to door guy offering roofing services, mentioning the name of a service she used previously. Ended up charging much more than expected, she had to go to the bank with this buy following her to make sure she had the money. Bank ended up calling me to make sure nothing was wrong since it looked highly suspicious to them.

      It's extremely difficult trying to instill any sense of paranoia in her, and I suspect many people from her generation are just too trusting.

    • If I'm to hire an outside help, I go to their physical office

      Really? That sounds woefully expensive. The vast majority of labourers or basic service providers don't have a "physical office". Places with physical offices are usually those overpriced "businesses" that try to screw the customer. The kind of places that employ cheap labour and then add overheads to cover administration and lease costs that wouldn't exist for most self employed.

      That's to say nothing of emergencies, such as the front door not closing, or you've locked your keys in the house.

  • Maybe the paywalled article has the answer, but don't people normally ask for an estimate before work begins? Or did he spring that on her after saying the repairs would really be much less.

    P.S. Also on a side note, this is why most single women should probably be armed and trained how to use a handgun. In this case it was OK but it could easily not have been.

    • Maybe the paywalled article has the answer, but don't people normally ask for an estimate before work begins? Or did he spring that on her after saying the repairs would really be much less.

      P.S. Also on a side note, this is why most single women should probably be armed and trained how to use a handgun. In this case it was OK but it could easily not have been.

      So you go straight from someone getting ripped off because of Google Maps to someone resorting to gun violence to stop it.
      Brilliant Ken, your posts just keep getting better.

    • Re: Why didn't she ask for a quote first? (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      'Wait here, I'm going to get my gun' or...

      Having tried this before, the assailant ALSO brings a gun... but is better experienced and more willing to shoot than a random person.

      Guns can't solve everything.

      • 'Wait here, I'm going to get my gun' or...

        Women have purses. Men do not (generally).

        So what was your point again?

        Women have a natural advantage in terms of being able to carry all the time, for men it's harder to figure out where to put something so most men just stash it in a car or whatever.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Maybe the paywalled article has the answer, but don't people normally ask for an estimate before work begins? Or did he spring that on her after saying the repairs would really be much less.

      They would, if things go normally. But there are times when you need a contractor a near emergency basis - perhaps the electrical is broken, or you have a pipe leaking sewage all over the floor, etc. In this case, the garage door failed halfway open. They're of the life or death emergency things, but it's not something y

      • And since this woman already had a contractor lined up who presumably repaired the door before, she thought nothing of calling the same company again

        I was kind of getting the vibe from the summary that might have been what happened (since she had an amount she had paid before she was expecting) but it did not say that explicitly. Maybe the article did.

        Thus you wouldn't really need an estimate - the company charged $X before so you know it will be around $X

        There I'm going to have to disagree, you have no id

        • Really, this is a lesson for the businesses on proper sales practices, as well.

          Strip away the sympathetic elements (vulnerable retiree, fraudulent repair person) and look at the base case:
          The customer refused to pay for the service, because the price for the work was far higher than she was expecting.

          This is how you end up in court arguing over whether or not the price was reasonable, which in most cases will be far more expensive than the lost time and materials for the job.

          So as a business, be sure the cu

    • this is why most single women should probably be armed and trained how to use a handgun

      WTF?

      1: She was not attacked in anyway.
      2: Men are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime than women are.

      • "I'm at my house by myself with this guy," she said. "He could have knocked me over dead."

        WTF?

        1: She was in a very vulnerable position in front of an unscrupulous person, and realized that.
        2: So because men are more likely to be victims, women shouldn't protect themselves?

    • I lot of people don't know to do this, or they're used to having reputable businesses automatically doing this for them. I'm finding out a lot that what is common sense with me is a foreign idea to my mother who's in her 80s.

  • Is this a local issue? (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday June 20, 2019 @01:16PM (#58795058)

    I have only once found a business listing inaccurate in my own city, and that business moved only a week prior.

    The story is bad but that sounds like living in a fraud hotspot that would happen regardless of which service provided access. It's not like it was hard to place an advert in the Yellow pages.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I have only once found a business listing inaccurate in my own city, and that business moved only a week prior.

      The story is bad but that sounds like living in a fraud hotspot that would happen regardless of which service provided access. It's not like it was hard to place an advert in the Yellow pages.

      It's really a problem with Google Maps. Google Maps lets you update locations with updated or new information and it's as usual, crowdsourced. So if you have a business, and Google has no information on it, yo

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by klubar ( 591384 )

        Back in the heyday of Yellowpages, there were strict standards and practices about what you could claim and say. The ads were verified and a human actually checked that the data was correct.

        Alas, with Google (or most other frictionless e-commerce) there aren't any checks and balances. We've traded convenience and speed for accuracy.

        Now you kids get off my lawn.

        • Back in the heyday of Yellowpages, there were strict standards and practices about what you could claim and say. The ads were verified and a human actually checked that the data was correct.

          Back in the heyday of the yellow pages, if you wanted people to know what your hours were without calling you, you had to buy an ad in the yellow pages. Now, it's free to post your hours and menu, chat with customers, share photos...

          Sure, Yelp sucks. But in general the internet has been positive in the informational area.

        • I had this exact thought when I read the story.

          I'd be curious to see what their accuracy rating was. I have a feeling they had a lot more inaccurate / missing businesses due to businesses closing or moving and not updating, or not initially submitting their info, but a lot fewer fraudulent entries because each entry is verified.

      • So that goes to my point. It's crowdsourced so incorrect information is actually identified. If it is such a major problem it kind of points towards living in a city where this kind of fraud is common place. Yeah Google is an enabler, but I am still openly wondering if this is a platform problem or a location problem.

    • That requires investment in the ad, and now you have to keep using the same phone number forever.

      Which means that the police can easily find you if it is a scam.

      You seem to have missed all the details about what is different and why there is a new type of scam that has become common.

      • Which means that the police can easily find you if it is a scam.

        And the police can't find you if you keep going to the same location over and over again to shake someone down? The vast majority of fraudsters are not smart enough to evade the police, they just rely on their fraud going unreported.

        • They won't even know that the same person is going to the same location, they don't track reports in a way that would show that.

          Police are not basically competent. Fraudulent yellow pages listings can often still be busted by incompetent cops, and they don't even have to be in the right place at the right time; any time they investigate it, they'll have a good chance to confirm the problem.

  • In other news most soup has flies in it. I know this because I ordered soup once and it had a fly in it.

    • In other news most soup has flies in it. I know this because I ordered soup once and it had a fly in it.

      Your confusion is because you felt the need to add the word "most."

      If you stick to, "I know that soup sometimes has flies in it because I experienced it" now your anecdote would be true.

      All you did was take a true and reasonable statement, make it unreasonable by adding the word "most," and then you pointed at somebody else's claim and hoped your mistake rubbed off.

      • Bullshit. One vs millions dipshit. I made my ratio even more ridiculous to point out the absurdity, and you are one stupid motherfucker for not being able to grasp that.

      • To be fair, they claim Google Maps is "overrun" with false businesses, yet state it's 2 million. That's 7% at most. In other words, 9 times out of 10 you won't have a problem. Hardly "overrun", in my opinion.

        Also, a 2017 study [newscientist.com] showed the majority of these false businesses were locksmiths, at 25%, electricians/plumbers at 14%, food delivery at 7%, and hotels at 5%. It seems to flatten out there, slowly dipping down toward 0%.

        So if you keep that in mind it drops down to 1 in 20 or less you'll run into an issu

        • If it was something legit, 7% wouldn't seem "overrun." When it is fraud, that's a huge number. My goodness.

  • When calling in a repair person, even if you know them, ask for a quote (in writing before the work is done). Even something as simple as "I estimate it will take $700 to fix the door" would be a clue the guy is shady.

    Also, if you can, get multiple quotes! Don't trust "guide books" as they are the ones to print them out. Quality service people who know their trade also usually don't just show up in the middle of the night to fix something, at least not without convince pay $$$.

    For example, I had a ga

    • None of that helps when it is a scammer, though. Those are steps you take so that you have documentation in case of a legit dispute.

      Those are not steps that protect you from a scam. Those steps can be used to protect yourself, but scammers will just give you a BS quote it won't help. It only protects you against sloppy but legit contractors.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bob4u2c ( 73467 )

        Those steps can be used to protect yourself, but scammers will just give you a BS quote it won't help.

        Ok, lets say the scammer gave me a bogus quote (say $70 in my case). When he shows up I look over the paperwork, initial that I accept the terms and take a picture or request a copy of the form. Then I allow him access. If after the job he comes back and says, sorry it cost $650 in parts, I can point to my estimate and say I only agreed to pay $70, if it cost you more, sorry you didn't clear that with me first, $70 is all your getting. If he doesn't accept that, then I can state, put it back the way yo

        • If he later shows up at my door claiming I own him more for the job, then I can file a harassment charge with the local police and have him arrested. He needs to come up with the contract where I signed agreeing to pay more, otherwise my copy of the paperwork will stand in court.

          Not everybody lives in a gated community and has a cousin on the police force, so most people are not going to get the result you describe from that phone call.

          They're unlikely to get a visit at all. If they really want to fill out the police report, they'll have to do it at the station. That doesn't protect you from anything. If they call up the scammer and ask questions, it might not even help your situation.

    • Re:Get a quote. (Score:4, Informative)

      by nitehawk214 ( 222219 ) on Thursday June 20, 2019 @03:44PM (#58795984)

      I had a garage door spring break.

      Odd place to do spring break. Most people go to the beach.

  • I'm unclear on how exactly this would be profitable for Google. It seems like they would make more money from having good information so more people trust their service. It might explain the profit in the article, but I'm not going to pay WSJ to find out.

    Regardless, Google does think this is enough of a problem that they are trying to address it.

    https://searchengineland.com/g... [searchengineland.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Archfeld ( 6757 )

      A page of ads served up for fake/defunct search results is the same for as a page of current/legitimate results.

  • I spent a great deal of time trying to locate a recreational pot shop in Imperial county near the CA/AZ border and despite google listing literally dozens of business addresses/phone numbers, almost all of them were defunct. They need a way or a team verifying the continued existence of the businesses. Maybe the owner/operators should have to acknowledge the are still in business every 6 months via email or phone call or risk being purged. After all my searching I am still driving nearly 2 hours to a place

  • I never thought of the fraud angle but... (Score:3)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Thursday June 20, 2019 @01:39PM (#58795226) Journal

    I never thought of the fraud angle, but I never trusted Google Maps business listings for anything not in a commercial district that you could actually *see*. Every neighborhood I've ever lived in has had nearby listings in residential areas for things like wineries, industrial metal fabricators, and other things that aren't there. I always assumed it was just the mailing address for the person that owned the business and operated it someplace else.

    • Indeed (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Usually setting up a business you need a temporary mailing address. Google seems to pick up addresses from some document and never lets go.

      One of those neighborhood entries is the center of Zip Code 00000 for PO boxes or addresses it can't find also. My myself located in someone's house cause Google got confused. Given 3 locations for our store. Piss poor replacement for real phone books. Just add new addresses, let the customer figure out which one is real.

      Google seems LESS useful by the day. Have to fight

  • Never used it, but seems like a much better option than google for what she needed.

    • lolno

      Angie got sued because her main claim (that no business can pay be be listed on Angie's List) was pure bullshit.

  • Fake businesses, fake news, fake users, fake meat, fake polls, fake drunks. Maybe everything is fake, rigged, and bugged, and the orange dude is right?

  • Maybe they moved or, far more likely, packed it in. If there are millions of fakes, there are millions of scammers who would see GMaps as one of many, many directories they'd falsely list with - including, with a fake website, Google search. The scam isn't in the listing, it's in how you take people's money, and with anyone over 60 you're obliged to crank up the charm regardless of your professional standing.

  • Have your repair company list ready BEFORE you have problems. Or use Angie's List.

  • He demanded cash or a personal check, but she refused. "I'm at my house by myself with this guy," she said. "He could have knocked me over dead."

    OK, so the guy overcharged her. But not all businesses are set up to accept credit cards, meaning payment has to be by cash or check. If he had insisted on cash there might be something to this, but he was willing to accept a personal check (which a lot of the contractors I deal with won't - too many customers ripping them off with bad checks).

    The last remark

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