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Consulting Google Maps has become a daily and routine task. In fact, we use this service for almost all of our business searches. It is evident that it works phenomenally to find the telephone number of a company, to locate the address of an organization or to locate on the map, with all kinds of data and opinions, a restaurant, a bakery, a public monument and, in short, any place of public interest.
But, did you know that Google Maps also hides a lot of falsehood? As you read it.A report published in The Wall Street Journal reveals that Google Maps contains millions of fake sites. The fact is that you have to be very careful, because these posh businesses are included in Google Maps with all the intentions in the world. There are millions of scam attempts that seek to gain some kind of loot, deceiving, of course, the ordinary user.
It is known that in Google Maps, in total, there are a total of 11 million fake businesses listed and that, far from being reduced, every month new numbers are added of fraudulent telephone numbers and addresses Haven't you thought about being careful on Google Maps? As you can see, you are already taking time…
What about fake businesses on Google Maps?
The investigation has its substance and reveals some details and answers some questions that you have surely asked yourself. For example, why might someone intend to deceive or defraud another through Google Maps?
Well, what The Wall Street Journal has concluded is that the variety of motives is enormous. For example, there are companies that create false profiles of their competitors and obviously do so with incorrect phone numbers and addresses It is a very low way of competing, but they do it: in this way they mislead the client and surely get him to end up turning to them.
Another type of scam. That of those scammers who pose themselves as the legitimate company and try to sweet-talk unsuspecting customers, in order to extort their money, of course. And this happens, above all, in companies that offer repair services, such as plumbers, electricians, locksmiths and other services that people usually need urgently at home. Hence, there are individuals capable of taking advantage of the urgency.
Google has started removing fake sites
He hadn't done it before, but at least he got to work after seeing the lists published by the newspaper after the investigation. Google has explained that these fraudulent sites have been removed from the map, and never better said.
They say that they have begun to take precautions, quarantining, in a kind of 'risk category' those businesses linked to repair services, which are the ones that tend to be fraudulent. And since we usually need them in emergency situations, we have little time to check if, indeed, they may be deceiving us.
Anyway, let's be fair: Google was already working last year on removing fake sites.Nothing more and nothing less than three million of them were deleted and 150,000 Google accounts that were necessarily created to introduce these false sites and data were disabled. And the users also participated in this enormous work, denouncing no more and no less than 250,000 false profiles.
The problem is that there will always be people trying to scam others. But for this Google must put the batteries. Creating a site on Google Maps is, as you know, relatively simple: You just have to verify the address and phone number of it by SMS, a call or sending the location by mail. Now, and they have already committed to it, Google continues to ensure the safety of all users.
