You’re welcome @James_Clemens . Just one more tip, you can tag members of Connect when you are communicating with them by writing @ before their name. That’s how they will receive a notification and will see your comment.
Please note that I have merged your post to the general thread How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps where in the future you can tag a Google moderator if you need further assistance.
Hi @Bhavana1 ,
Thanks for your post and your question. I’m going to merge it to the main thread related to the topic how to report a Local Guide - How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps?.
Hi @anbharathgowda ,
Can you please provide us with the Google Maps link of your village, the current name, and the correct name?
Please note that I moved your comment to How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps topic, as it is more relevant there. When you reply, don’t forget to tag me with the @ sign, as I did with your name at the beginning of the post.
Please check out the What are Connect topics? article before your next contribution to make sure that you’re posting under a relevant topic section.
Hi @MarleyAnn ,
I’m just letting you know that in order to keep Connect organised, I’ve merged your post to How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps.
Hi Local Guides Connect,
We have had a local self promoting Local Guide called [Redacted] add his business as a picture to our business which was an unwelcome surprise. Looking at his other posts it seems his is using his local guide status to plaster his business advert all over many Bristol business and community pages. I have reported his image as at the wrong location but I couldnt see anywhere to report the user and came across the community site.
I am a bit unsure if this something we are going to have to learn to deal with or this guy improperly spamming.
Moderator tag as I am sorry but couldnt find guidance on this one. @GeorgesHR
Many Thanks.
Hello @Mr_J ,
Thank you for reaching out to us. I will send you a private message with instructions on how to report these Local Guides, so our team can look into their accounts and take any appropriate action, though we won’t be able to share the final decision as we respect everyone’s privacy. For this reason I have removed the personal information from your post and I’d also ask that you do not share any other information publicly about the person you think may be violating our policies.
Please note that I have moved your post to the general thread How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps where is the correct place for reporting such issues.
Hey @PrairieCanna ,
In addition to @ErmesT 's reply, I would like to remind you that participating in the program as a business is in violation of the program rules.
If you’d like to continue in the program, we ask that you change your account name and picture to participate in the program as an individual.
If you do not change your name and picture, we will have to remove you from the program.
P.S. I will merge your post in the existing topic How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps? in order to keep Connect more oganized.
Hello @annikki ,
I’m just letting you know that in order to keep Connect organised, I have merged your post to How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps.
Hello @DanyCote ,
I just letting know that in order to keep Connect organised, I’ve merged your post to How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps.
Hello @lakewoodmpg ,
I’m simply letting you know that in order to keep Connect organised I have merged your post to How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps.
@TraciC I have something I would like you to look into…
I have a competitor who has recently experienced a huge uptick in reviews. One thing I have noticed is that they tend to get a 5-star review from a relatively new reviewer, but over the course of a day or few days, the number of reviews made by that reviewer climbs. Today, one of their reviewers spent hours reviewing more than 50 area businesses. I’ve actually seen the same thing happen with other reviewers of this same company. Nobody spends hours reviewing dozens of local companies, right?
The picture below is an example. In this case, the person added 40-50 reviews today and the reviews are often of strange things like a Costco Gasoline and Home Depot. This isn’t the first time that I have seen this company “attract such reviewers” and my suspicion is that they are trying to use blackhat methods to boost their site credibility ranking through reviewers with a large number of reviews.
While most of the reviews seem very generic, the review left for our competitor seems very specific in that it is the only one that lists an actual employees name and details a purchase experience. For example: "Professional service, friendly & responsive team. I received my ------- within less 24 hours, I sent back some notes, and they worked on it on the spot. Thanks (–employee’s name–)
Is it just me or does this seem very suspicious? Knowing how small their company is, I have a hard time believing that they are generating as many reviews as they do when they don’t even advertise. I know that they have also purchased links before. If this seems a little too strange, should this be reported and if so, where/how?
Hello @rdptexas ,
Thank you for reaching out. I would like to inform you that I will send you instructions via private message with information about how you can report the mentioned Local Guide.
In cases like that, feel free to tag one of the moderators listed on this post Meet the Connect Moderators.
By the way, I’ve edited your post and removed the photo on it due to privacy concerns.
Hi, I want to report a user on Maps that have published photos sexually explicit (so it’s urgent the removal).
Bye,
David
Hey @davidhyno ,
I will send you instructions via private message with information about how you can report this person in question.
Thank you for reaching out. 
I have a serial 1 star person here in STL – pm for url. thx
Google local guides é uma fraude
Há local guides que nunca foram num estabelecimento, mas mesmo assim fazem avaliação.
Hello @chriscarterstl ,
Thanks for reaching out!
I’ll contact you in private with further instructions.
Hello @RAKESH1975 ,
This seems like two questions in one post so I will try and sum up the answers. Regarding a potential spammer, I would like you to read How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps. I have also moved your post there in order to keep Connect organised. If you would like to report a specific Local Guides, please tag a Google Moderator.
About the option to see all active Local Guides above level 5, something similar has been suggested in the Idea Exchange section. Try and search around a bit to see if you can find an idea you would like to vote for. If you don’t find anything that matches your request, feel free to post an idea there yourself.
Hello @Rodrigo_P ,
my client has recieved a 3 star rating by a guide called : [Redacted]
The account doesn’t add any meaningful information just adds spam 3 star ratings to all its reviews to advertise it’s site web site [Redacted]". Witch in fact doesn’t even work anymore. How can I report it?
Thanks in advance
Rafal
Hello @Kwiato ,
Thanks for reaching out! I will send you instructions on how to report this Local Guide, so our team can look into his/her account and take any appropriate action.
Due to privacy reason I am going to delete Google Maps profile from your comment. Also I am going to remove the web site you shared.