In an increasingly interconnected digital landscape, web companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple play a vital role in shaping our online experiences. However, when it comes to addressing fraudulent activities on their platforms, these major players have fallen short.

This has allowed scammers to utilize unethical and dishonest advertising techniques, commonly referred to as black hat methods, to create fraudulent virtual locations (map listings). These fake listings deceive consumers into believing that businesses like garage door repair companies are conveniently located nearby. However, consumers often realize later that they have been scammed by call centers or unauthorized and illegal workers.

Exploiting loopholes in a flawed system is a relatively simple process, and it doesn’t require advanced software engineering skills to create fraudulent maps listings and fake virtual locations. While we won’t go into detail about the exact methods of creating fake listings on Google, Bing and Apple platforms in this article, it often involves tactics such as using high-level local guides, aged Gmail accounts, and other deceptive verification methods. Although certain business categories like garage door suppliers, locksmiths, and plumbers may be more difficult to create and verify, there are still ways to bypass Google’s algorithm and other verification procedures and have them listed as well.

The Evolution of Fake Garage Door Maps Listings

Fake maps listings and other virtual properties are commonly generated with the intention of renting them out for a monthly fee, much like real-world properties. Online marketers who create these deceptive listings offer them for rent to businesses across various industries. These fake listings are not limited to the garage door repair industry alone; they cover a wide range of businesses, including lawyers, doctors, auto repair shops, contractors, locksmiths, plumbers, and more.

Fake Google Maps listings are also being created by lead generation companies, fly-by-night garage door repair companies and other fraudulent entities. Although these companies may not possess the knowledge to create the fake listings themselves, they often hire third-party marketing companies or individuals to do it on their behalf. In such cases, the hired company or individual is typically compensated per service rather than charging a monthly rent.

These fraudulent entities go to great lengths to present themselves as legitimate and reliable brands, particularly targeting the garage door repair industry. Their strategy involves continuously flooding the search results with fictitious virtual locations, targeting multiple states and cities, including Orange County and Los Angeles. By creating deceptive local maps listings across a wide range of locations such as office towers, shopping centers, private residences, gas stations, commercial buildings, public parks, and even remote areas, they trick consumers into believing that these businesses are nearby or “just around the corner”.

In 2020, black hat marketers began distinguishing between online properties that used unethical black hat marketing methods and their customers’ legitimate properties that followed ethical white hat practices. This distinction helps protect genuine properties, real locations, and domains from any negative consequences. Meanwhile, fake maps listings and spam properties are at risk of being removed, suspended, or penalized by search engines as a result.

As a result, it is common to come across the use of phone numbers and domain names that have no association with legitimate brands. Notably, a significant number of fake maps listings utilize the domain format “business.site,” which is ironically the same format offered by Google’s free website builder.

Google’s Battle Against Fake Businesses

Over the years, Google has faced criticism for the proliferation of millions of fake maps listings on its platform. In response, the company published a blog post on June 20, 2019, outlining their efforts to combat fake business profiles on Google Maps. In this post, they provided updates on their progress in addressing this issue.

• “We took down more than 3 million fake business profiles – and more than 90 percent of those business profiles were removed before a user could even see the profile”.
• “Our internal systems were responsible for more than 85 percent of these removals”.
• “More than 250,000 of the fake business profiles we removed were reported to us by users”.
• “We disabled more than 150,000 user accounts that were found to be abusive – a 50 percent increase from 2017”.

Despite making some efforts to address the issue, Google’s platform still lacks sufficient measures to properly prevent and eliminate fraudulent listings. Since Google Maps was launched in 2005, the company has not consistently implemented a strict approach to combat scammers, leaving a gap in their ability to effectively tackle the problem.

Ironically, scammers can effortlessly add listings on Google Maps using black hat marketing techniques, while Google’s review and removal process is extremely slow, often taking weeks or even months to eliminate fake garage door repair companies and fraudulent locations from the platform.

Paving the Path of Deception: Google’s Lackluster Response to Fake Garage Door Repair Listings

The company’s actions give the impression that they are running around without direction, unable to keep up with the constant influx of hundreds of fake garage door repair listings being added to their Maps app each week. Google’s efforts, it seems, are primarily geared towards creating a positive image and making it seem like they are actively addressing the problem. However, there is a lack of significant and necessary modifications being made to adequately address and eliminate the issue.

Why Google is Unwilling to Come Up with a Proper Solution

As the leading tech giant, Google has virtually unlimited resources. This raises the question: why do they still depend on a system where a dedicated team manually reviews millions of maps listings and suspends violators, rather than finding a long-term solution to eliminate the problem? Furthermore, the number of fake garage door repair listings being added to the Maps platform is significantly higher, in the millions, compared to the number of legitimate garage door companies coming online each year.

It seems that a more effective approach could be implemented. Although we do not have a definitive answer from the company as to why they have not taken more decisive action, there are several possibilities worth considering:

One reason for Google’s lack of action against false listings is the absence of a legal requirement to do so. The situation is further compounded by the lack of enforcement from US regulators and the Federal Trade Commission. Consequently, Google takes advantage of the protection provided by Section 230, which shields them from liability. As a result, they do not currently face any financial or legal repercussions for false listings on their platform, despite it being against FTC rules.

Perhaps part of the issue stems from the fact that some US regulators may lack the necessary knowledge and understanding of modern technology and how scammers exploit it to their advantage. This generation gap or lack of familiarity with technology could contribute to the challenges in effectively addressing and regulating fraudulent activities in the digital landscape.

Another reason why Google may not allocate more resources to combat fraud is simply a financial decision. Google Maps is a free platform that does not directly generate revenue for the company. Whether the platform is filled with fake listings and fraudulent locations or not, it does not directly impact Google’s earnings because the Maps service itself does not generate any revenue. Without a financial incentive to invest in cleaning up fake listings, it is possible that the issue receives less attention and resources.

Finally, another potential reason why Google may not have developed a proper solution yet is that they could benefit from keeping the Maps platform vulnerable. It is possible that the company aims to push legitimate local businesses into paying for advertisements in order to sustain their operations, as advertising is their main source of revenue. This financial motivation may influence their approach to addressing the issue of fake listings on the Maps platform.

The Need for Action

As consumers, when we need to find trustworthy and reliable service providers and businesses in our local area, many of us rely on search engines like Google, Bing, and others. We turn to the web as a convenient and accessible resource for finding reputable garage door repair companies and other businesses.

Google and the regulator failure to take more concrete steps towards reducing fraud on Google, Bing and Apple Maps, makes it all too easy for customers to be tricked and get ripped off. Consumers believe that they have found a local company, like a garage door repair service located nearby, but in reality, they can be taken advantage of by phony businesses.

Lawmakers must recognize the urgency of the situation and take proactive steps to compel tech companies to find an effective solution by revising section 230. As consumers, it is crucial, now more than ever, to exercise caution and perform thorough research when searching for a local garage door repair company.

Without revising the law to align with FTC rules and provide protection for both American consumers and legitimate garage door repair companies, scammers will continue to fake their way into people’s homes.