Caption: A photo of a green pharmacy sign against the sky.(Getty Images)
Placing this post in local stories is intentional, as it relates to a specific region.
In the previous years, several news articles had described how the tricksters duped countless gullible customers, who dialled the numbers present in Maps.
It seems to tackle this menace, the Maps team has locked the phone entry privilege in India. A communiqué dated 12th February substantiates that.
In the past few days, many posts appeared in Connect, complaining that neither one can include a telephone-number in new place creation (The option is utterly not visible in the app), nor edit that successfully.
Some LGs claim they can view this field. However, if device activation happens elsewhere, then only that becomes possible.
Nevertheless, any attempted edit is likely to fail.
Promptly the fraudsters are coming out with new tricks such as.
- List phone details in the name of the POI, disregarding the statutes.
- Add the number in address. Even risking that getting flagged.
- Modify a photo to include contact information in that. Amazingly, many customers expended enormous sums falling to this trick. Umpteen wine shops appear to be affected by this bait.
In essence, if telephone details emerge at a non-designated place, then there is a need to exercise extreme caution.
Utilizing the one appearing in the proper field may be safer as that has gone through frequent checks. Notwithstanding, some attentiveness is necessary, to avoid financial damage & mental distress.
Another suggestion. After the creation of a new POI, request the business owner claim the place and manage the contact information through GMB, till the time the feature doesn’t become available in the app.