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How to identify and report fraud on Google Maps

Googler

UPDATE: As of June 11, 2020, we now have a new process in place for reporting abusive activity on Google Maps. You can report entire profiles on Google Maps from your mobile device. Read this post to learn more.

 

Have you ever come across a place on Google Maps that doesn’t really exist? How about a place with incorrect details that look suspicious? These edits violate the Google My Business guidelines and Local Guides guidelines, and they’re considered fraud.

 

People post fraud on Google Maps for the sake of profit-generating scams, which hurt legitimate businesses and make Maps less useful for everyone. You can help fight spam by reporting violations.

 

 

Maps listings with keywords in their address fieldsMaps listings with keywords in their address fields

 

 

.:: How do I identify fraud on Google Maps? Look for the following.

 

  • Businesses that list a P.O. Box, post office or virtual office as an address. A business needs to have a real-world address to be listed on Google Maps. Virtual offices and shared workspaces are acceptable if they’re staffed during typical business hours, but be aware that using these types of places as addresses is a popular fraud technique. P.O. Boxes are OK in countries where they are essential, such as Kenya and the U.A.E.
  • Online-only businesses. Online businesses that don’t meet customers face-to-face are not eligible to be on Maps.
  • Businesses that don’t exist. If a business is on Maps but is not real, it should be reported.
  • Businesses that use employees’ addresses. The scam here is to make it appear that the business has locations in places where it doesn’t actually operate. If you see a business that seems to be in a purely residential area, this might be the reason.
  • Keyword “stuffing.” If you see search terms “stuffed” into place names or address fields, that’s a sign of a fraudulent listing.
  • Fake websites or phone numbers. For example, a fraudulent hotel listing might include a hotel booking site instead of a site for an individual business. If a business’s site seems broken or distributes malware, that’s a sign of a fraudulent listing.
  • Business impersonators: Some people create fake listings for real businesses, such as national chains. If you think a listing might be fraudulent, check the brand’s official site to see its legitimate locations.
  • Reviews that point out abuse. Sometimes, people will notice a fraudulent listing and note it in a review.
  • Profanity. Sometimes, people will deface legitimate listings with edits that include foul language.
  • Illegal businesses: If a business is illegal where it operates, it can’t be on Google Maps.

 

.::How do I report fraud on Google Maps?

 

  1. Find the business on Google Maps
  2. Scroll down and select Suggest an edit
  3. Tap Place is permanently closed or has never existed
  4. Select Spam, fake or offensive as the reason
  5. Tap Submit

Report the listing as spam flowReport the listing as spam flow

 

 

.::Reporting a Local Guide

If you've found a Local Guide contributing content or behaving in a way that seems to violate our policies or Local Guides program rules, you now have the ability to report these profiles directly in the Google Maps app. In order to do so, click on the user name in the list of Reviews/Photos they contributed or the Question/Answer they posted to get to their profile page. Once on their profile page, click on the three dot icon. Choose ‘Report’ from the menu on iOS or ‘Report profile’ on Android. For additional information, read this post.

 

.::Reporting spammed, fake, or duplicate prominent locations to Google Moderators

There are certain prominent places which Local Guides can’t edit in Google Maps, such as cities, towns, rivers, natural formations, and more. If you come across a spammed, fake or duplicate location for which you cannot submit an edit or your edit is automatically rejected, let us know in a comment below. Make sure to tag a Google Moderator and provide the following details: 

 

  • Google Maps URL of the location (Eg: https://goo.gl/maps/qAZfCWDfZzoqchHL9);
  • What’s wrong with the place? Is it spammed, fake, or duplicate?
  • Which is the wrong information? Is it the name, category, or contact information?
  • What should the correct information be? Tell us the original name of the place in English and in the local language (if applicable), the right category (Zoo, Museum, etc.), and the correct contact information (official website, address, phone number, etc.).
2,851 Comments
Googler

Hi @LucioV

 

Thank you for your feedback and continuous contributions to improve the data that is live on Google Maps. All the contributions submitted to Google Maps are reviewed and we take the quality and accuracy of our data very seriously, therefore please don't hesitate to keep reporting any instances of bad data that you see on Maps by selecting the appropriate reason (Duplicate in the case you shared) .

 

Selecting incorrect reasons, using multiple accounts to "speed up" the deletion or making submissions that you are not familiar with ,violate our policies, hence please be patient (keep in mind the volume of contributions that are submitted for review every day) as the team looks at the report and takes action accordingly .

 

We are working everyday to improve the accuracy of our moderation and we understand the frustration that seeing good edits as "not applied" causes. However, contributing good quality edits as well as reporting bad content is the only way to help the whole community, so I encourage you to keep doing so.

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

Yes, definitely, @RobFranceInOz, there is a way to report things like this specifically. Flash has requested lists of spam etc. Kind regards from Osaka78


@RobFranceInOz wrote:

We recently had a spate of insertions into the website fields for a number of busineses that already had legitimate listings, probably processed by spam factories.

 

The websites were susually in the format of BusinessnameTown.SpamsiteName.com and appeared to look official at first glance but were not.

 

This was a clear attempt at traffic redirecting.

 

I tried correcting manually but it was a pain, in the end someone at google picked it up and cleared them out, but it seems to happen a bit.

 

Any way to report things like this specifically?


 

Googler

@YK1001 wrote:

Hi @Rodrigo_P,

 

I have one more question.  Please ignore if this is considered offtopic.

 

When a valid business is hijacked - website, phone number, address, Name, etc.

 

Do we consider this "hijacked" POI a Spam?  When we LGs discovered a "hijacked" POI, should we try to edit it to correct the informaiton, or we should just Report it?  What will be the correct report channel in this case?

 

Thank you very much!

 


Hi @YK1001,

 

This is a very good question. In case you or any Local Guide come across a "hijacked" POI , please edit it to correct the information by using the "Suggest an Edit" feature and it will be reviewed accordingly. Please do the same if you see incorrect information on any of the attributes of a particular POI but you know that the place is genuine.  Thank you for your continuous contributions to keep Maps data fresh and accurate !

 

Thank you,

Googler

 


@Briggs wrote:

@Rodrigo_P,

 

This is very interesting information. When you start to mention listings that have 'stuffing' listings, all of a sudden this shifts the premise of editing the name of the business to something a lot more appropriate to now just reporting it as 'spam' and deleting it off the face of the earth.

 

For example, many of these so-called spam listings have additional keywords that are trying to include search terms into their name:

These businesses and places are very real, and when a place is marked as Spam, the listing disappears. It should just be as simple as being able to just edit it to something a lot more appropriate. In any case, let's assume that I now start to mark these places as spam for businesses that violate the Google My Business representation guidelines.

 

  • Since places I have marked as spam disappear and end up as a blank object soon enough, what happens to the information?Please understand that I can't reply to this due to privacy reasons.
  • Most of the time it's actually the Google My Business claimants who violate these guidelines by adding all these unnecessary things to their name, address or anything. So once these are marked as spam, does that advise the GMB owner that their listing has been suspended due to quality issues?

We don't tell GMB owners the rationale for suspension of a listing in order not to tip off spammers. However, a merchant can appeal for reinstatement if he/she considers that the suspension is incorrect.

I would rather be able to just edit the questionable fields, or escalate them for higher intervention. They still exist, clear and in plain sight, but they just need a nudge in the right direction. Because marking them all as spam doesn't really help us in any way.


Hi @Briggs,

 

Thank you for your inputs. When I talked in the post about keyword stuffing , I referred it as a signal that may indicate spam but in some instances as you correctly pointed out, verified Google My Business claimants also violate Google my Business representation guidelines  (In order to solve such issues we work constantly to educate merchants) . In case you come across legitimate businesses that you know are real,  but have data quality issues in any of the attributes , such as stuffed keywords , please use the "Suggest an Edit" feature to correct the information so that it can be reviewed. Only report the POI as spam if you are sure that it's a fake/ illegitimate business. 

 

Hope that it helps.

 

Thank you,

 

Googler

@YK1001 wrote:

Hi @Rodrigo_P,

 

Our Taiwan Local Guides reminded me to report a Translation issue:

 

When using Android Maps in Chinese - Traditional, the option "Spam" is translated as "垃圾郵件"。It is an incorrect usage.  Which 垃圾 is "Rubbish" and 郵件 is "email".

 

When using Desktop Maps in Chinese - Traditional, the option "Spam" is translated as "垃圾內容"。It is a correct usage.  Which 內容 is "Content".

 

Thank you very much!  

 

Traditional Chinese of "Spam" is wrongTraditional Chinese of "Spam" is wrong


Hi @YK1001,

Thank you for reporting this issue . We will escalate it so that the correct information is displayed.

Best,

Level 3
Level 3

Hi @BruceDM,

 

Thanks, I will await your PM.

Level 10

"If it’s the business name that is wrong, submit an edit to correct it to remove keyword stuffing.  Do not report the listing as spam. Your edits will most likely get denied (unless it incorrectly auto-approves) and it will hurt your trust level on your profile."

 

I have made corrections to many of these places, by suggesting edits all in accordance with the guidelines. These places absolutely have been manually reviewed by a human (before the 'immediately not applied' escapades), and the moderation team don't think it warrants a change. I can go example after example after example of where the team was incapable of recognising or following their own standards/guidelines, but I have already gone so in another post.

 

Don't tell us to suggest an edit when the team won't review it properly. I'm not even talking about the instant not applied debacle that these algorithms have riddled many of us for the past two months. There is no justification. Train your moderation/support team, because even they can't approve a simple spelling mistake or capitalisation.

 

No more questions.

 

Level 10

@Rodrigo_P wrote:

 


Thank you for your inputs. When I talked in the post about keyword stuffing , I referred it as a signal that may indicate spam but in some instances as you correctly pointed out, verified Google My Business claimants also violate Google my Business representation guidelines  (In order to solve such issues we work constantly to educate merchants) . In case you come across legitimate businesses that you know are real,  but have data quality issues in any of the attributes , such as stuffed keywords , please use the "Suggest an Edit" feature to correct the information so that it can be reviewed. Only report the POI as spam if you are sure that it's a fake/ illegitimate business. 


 Therein lies the issue. As a long time spam fighter from back in the Map Maker days to now, I've been watching this thread from the sidelines, and only now find the need to speak up.

 

I can cite case after case after case where I (and others) have suggested edits to listings claimed under Google My Business, only to have the suggestion auto-publish, and then reverted. There currently is no way for us (Google Maps Local Guides) to flag edits that are for data quality issues that will force a manual review and/or stop the claimant from "one-click" reverting it (and I know some operations are using automation to auto-revert any edit). These reverted edits include keyword stuffing, malformed addresses and private listing removals (businesses listed at a home or at a Post Office Box, or even an "virtual office").

 

I have a long list of these, and would be happy to provide examples (I'm not including them here in the open forum out of respect of the privacy of the businesses).

 

In closing, there were several of us that participated in a Hangouts session with @GusMoreira and others on the Maps team back in March where we discussed our concerns regarding the closure of Map Maker and the lack of certain functions within Maps to fight Spam. To date, the spam challenge is facing the same difficulties we saw back then, and combined with the general disregard by claimants of Google My Business listings, it is a lot of time wasted that could better be spent by local guides improving the maps over cleaning it up (and since deletions currently return no points, there is no reward for doing so).

M. W. Jones -- Former Map Maker Regional Lead, United States
Level 5

I need to report a google guide that's spamming google maps in my area.  I reported a few of his images, but I realized that the guide has posted dozens upon dozens (maybe more) of reportable photos on random locations in my area and around the world. His uploads mostly consist of out of focus pictures, bad photoshops with his name watermarked boldly across the image, and other non-relevant images.

 

I'm a little confused about about the process of reporting someone, so I appreciate any help you can give.

 

Thanks!

 

edit:  I just looked up his google guide stats and it shows him as uploading 10,855 images, so I believe that there's a LOT that needs to be removed.

Level 8

Hi. I would like to report a profile for spammy, off-topic reviews. I heard I just need to tag a moderator....would @JeslynL be able to help? Thanks!

Level 8

Thanks @Rodrigo_P for that wonderful information we will fight these spammers to the end of the world!

Level 10

@Rodrigo_P

I noticed  ditto copying of one LG contribution for a top POI by another LG within limited period. without any shame or checking by GM. Although reported i could not identify the present status since it is more than one year.Here come the needs of authentic Reviews and Loyal LGs.

jojo
Googler

@MWJones wrote:

@Rodrigo_P wrote:

 

 

I can cite case after case after case where I (and others) have suggested edits to listings claimed under Google My Business, only to have the suggestion auto-publish, and then reverted. There currently is no way for us (Google Maps Local Guides) to flag edits that are for data quality issues that will force a manual review and/or stop the claimant from "one-click" reverting it (and I know some operations are using automation to auto-revert any edit). These reverted edits include keyword stuffing, malformed addresses and private listing removals (businesses listed at a home or at a Post Office Box, or even an "virtual office").

 

 


Thank you for the feedback @MWJones , I understand your frustration . We are working on better ways for users to report content ( including data quality issues) so that the process it's more intuitive and efficient , stay tuned. 

In the meantime, please keep flagging and correcting bad data as well as improving maps , your contributions are greatly appreciated. 

 

Thank you,

Level 3

A user recently (past week) gave pretty much every business in my town negative reviews, including my own business which is closed and he absolutely never set foot there 🙂 so yeah, obvious pointhunter but it makes everything look unnecessary bad.

 

Since we lack the functionality to directly report users, I found that making a thread about it so a mod could forward the information was the apropriate action.

 

If someone knows a mod, could they please tag them so that I can come in contact with them so we can end this madness?

Level 8

Hi @XistenZ,

 

Please edit your post to remove the link to any specific users to protect everyone's privacy.

 

When you want to report Spammers, do not post details in public.  Tag One of our Google Moderator, and they will request the details in private channels.

Level 3

I've edited out the link. But I don't know any mods, so tagging them would be difficult.

Level 8

Hi @XistenZ,

 

Thank you very much for your quick update.

 

Meet the Google Moderators

You can refer to the above post to know more about our Google Moderators.

 

I am tagging @JeslynL here so that she will take care of your report.

Former Google Contributor

Thanks, @YK1001

 

@XistenZ, I've reached out to you via private message with more details on how to share this information with the team. Check your inbox, thanks!

New to Connect? Check out Help Desk! Always keep in mind the Local Guides program rules when posting.

Level 3

 I'd like to report unethical behavior by a local guide, but I read that I must do so privately. I have information relevant to a specific local guide that I believe is defamatory in nature. I was told that I should tag a google admin, thank you for your consideration. @TraciC

Connect Moderator

Hi @gmaney

In fact you should tag a Google moderator, ( @Atsukot

 

Here is the reference post to know how to report a Local Guide: /How-Do-I-Report-Content-on-Google-Maps/

 

Ermes

 

[edit] a tip for you : to mention (tag) someone, you should slowly type the tag in the post, waiting for the mentioned person to appear in the list. Copy/paste from another place doesn't work, so that the mentioned person will not be notified 

 

Level 3
Level 10
Former Google Contributor

Thank you so much! @ErmesT

 

Hello @gmaney, I have reached out to you via private message with more details about sharing such information with the team. Please check your inbox. Thank you!

Thanks for Sharing Great Informations.

Thanks for sharing. #Rodrigo_P

Level 1

There's a local guide who has reviewed/rated 120+ places (from UK to California) in under a week. I was hoping to report them. @MariaBi @JeslynL

Level 10

Why do you want to report the guide?

Level 1

I'm fairly sure it's a bot just putting out random ratings & reviews, 10 different cities in 7 days, 121 ratings, 29 reviews. Was up to 289 points. Now at 1 review, 127 points. Dude only had reviews with "Great service!", all 29 of them. Fairly sure it's not a real person.

Hi @drincrc if you feel that way or something is wrong with that account you can submit your feedback back or you can flag that person 🙂

 

I suggest you to follow this "How Do I Report Content on Google Maps? Thread.

 

Or you can contact the GOOGLE MODERATOR.

 

I also recommend reading this post for tips on searching, posting and interacting with the community to make your experience here on Connect much more enjoyable and easier to navigate.

 

Happy Guiding,
Jagadeesh Reddy.
Former Google Contributor

@drincrc, I've shot over a private message with more details on how to share this information with the team. Thank you for not sharing the user's information publicly. 

New to Connect? Check out Help Desk! Always keep in mind the Local Guides program rules when posting.

Level 2

@JeslynL@GusMoreira

I ended here via google search.

I want to report a Local Guide please contact me.

I manage a local business where we received a 1-star review from a local guide. After reviewing the guide looks spam to me:

- first, he never used our services since our clients are foreign travelers

- second, he rates all local business in the area with 1-star and the same comment (translating to English "bad" )

- he has more than 350 reviews all 1- star

- I believe the point of this is to increase the user level

In order to protect this user privacy, please contact me.

Thank you

  

Level 10

Hi Dear @JeslynL

i wish to report a spammer 

please contact me. 

Majidmadsdi
Former Google Contributor

Hi @MajidMadadi, I believe you have the necessary details to share information with the team. I have reached out to you via private message before. Feel free to send the information our way over the channel I have shared with you; don't have to create a post and tag us each time you want to report a spammer. Thank you 🙂

New to Connect? Check out Help Desk! Always keep in mind the Local Guides program rules when posting.

Hi @Cmancre Welcome to Local Guide connect Community!

 

Please read this post to know how to report a Local Guide: /How-Do-I-Report-Content-on-Google-Maps/

 

You can also contact Meet the Connect Moderators

 

Hope this helps you 🙂 

Happy Guiding,
Jagadeesh Reddy.
Level 2

Thank you @Jagadeesh_Reddy

Already edited the post and tagged moderators.

I'm glad that my Post helped you some way @Cmancre 🙂

Happy Guiding,
Jagadeesh Reddy.
Former Google Contributor

Thanks for reporting, @Cmancre. I've reached out to you via private message with more details on how to share this info with the team. 

New to Connect? Check out Help Desk! Always keep in mind the Local Guides program rules when posting.

Level 10

Hi @Rodrigo_P

 

I do everything as you recommend. I edit objects, change spam names into the right one. But the owners by one click restore spam names.

 

Here is an example. The chain of electronic cigarette stores consists of ~80 stores. See https://goo.gl/CH5Afa

 

The real name of shops is Vardex (according official website)

But they use spam names Магазин электронных сигарет Vardex  (mean Electronic Cigarette Store Vardex). 

 

These POIs violate the Google My Business guidelines: Including unnecessary information in your business name is not permitted, and could result in your listing being suspended. Your name must not include Marketing taglines, ... Service or product information about your business.

 

I have already changed all the names about 4 times. But the owner restore spam names again and again and again

 

I also want to remind you that more than a month has passed since my publication, and there are no changes:

 

The tire shops сhain. https://www.google.com/maps/search/SA.RU/?hl=en

 The right name of the shops are SA.ru

On Maps they use spam name SA.RU - Автомобильные шины и диски, шиномонтаж. Крупная межрегиональная сеть. (mean SA.RU - Car tires and wheels, tire service. A large interregional network.)

 

I see that all my efforts are meaningless and useless. It's not a feeling - it's a fact. And it will never end without Google My Business Team interference.

Level 2
A local guide left a review saying, "This actors studio is NO LONGER AT THIS ADRESS."  However, we are STILL at the address that is listed on google maps.  We don't know why he would say that since we were in our office when the review popped up on google.  We also don't know why he would leave a 3 star review since he has never taken an acting class with us.  Is there anyway to remove his review and/or penalize his points on local guides?  It doesn't seem like a fair system if local guides can blatantly lie just to earn points.   We are a local business that has maintained a 5 star review and depends upon that 5 star review for generating more local business.  Please help/advise.  Thank you. 
 
Level 9

Hi @DMyers 🙂

You can report that review by clicking on the three little buttons that are next to the review.

- go to "report review"

a page will open that says "Report a policy violation".

- several options will pop up e.g. this post contains hateful content, this post contains spam, off-topic etc.

Just leave your email address and click "submit".

 

I hope it all works out for you!

 

If it did it would be great if you could mark my post as "solution". 

 

Thanks! 

 

Best,

MiaMaria

I ❤️ being a local guide! My contributions
My Connect Profile
Connect Moderator

Hi @DMyers

Follow please the indication that @MiaMaria

gave you. In addition I can add a couple of indications :

If you find that some Local Guide is acting in maps in an incorrect way, you can report in here. 

Please read this post to know how to report a Local Guide: /How-Do-I-Report-Content-on-Google-Maps/

 

Also, as you are a business activity, 

you can register in the free program of Google Mybusiness, so please:

I wish you good luck for your business, and a great 2018

 

Regards

 

Ermes

Level 10

@Rodrigo_P Thank you very much. This time it was really fast! :^)))

 

Vardex and SA.RU chain stores are corrected.

Level 2

I reported a user privately and have been contacted by a moderator. Thank you.

I'm also aware that they do not respond back with the conclusion of the process, regardless the result.

However, on average how long does it take to decide if a user is or not considered as spam?

If he's considered spam, their reviews are also removed?

Thank you

Level 10

 

Hi Team

 

I found a Local Guide contributing content in a way that I'm sure violates Google Maps' policies and Local Guides program rules.

 

So, according the instruction, I let you know here in Connect (but I don't share that person's information publicly) by tagging a Google Moderator @GusMoreira

 

Hope you'll reach out to me via private message with instructions on how to share spammer' public profile with the Local Guides team. 

Moro em uma área extremamente turistica, e existem muitas fichas com nomes de localidades e no campo "website" tem o site de uma imobiliaria/locadora, isso caracteriza um span?

eu acho que sim, mas queria a opnião de outros colegas.

Abs

 

Moro em uma área extremamente turistica, e existem muitas fichas com nomes de localidades e campo de "site" no site de uma imobiliária / locadora, isso caracteriza um span?

eu acho que sim, mas queria um opnião de outros colegas.

Abs

 

Level 10

Hi @SergeySud I can remember we both reported a user, some months ago (and at last, the whole thing worked); i think you can use the same procedure 😉

Level 8

Dear @Rodrigo_P,

 

I had the same question on how to deal with hijacking, but your answer does not solve my problem:



Hi @SampsonF,

 

This is a very good question. In case you or any Local Guide come across a "hijacked" POI , please edit it to correct the information by using the "Suggest an Edit" feature and it will be reviewed accordingly. Please do the same if you see incorrect information on any of the attributes of a particular POI but you know that the place is genuine.  Thank you for your continuous contributions to keep Maps data fresh and accurate !

 

Thank you,



Many small businesses have no website. So when spammers hijack a business with an empty field for website, it is my experience that it is impossible to remove it. @Flash has told us that we can change data, but that the system doesn't like/ allow removing data altogether....as if the wrong phone number or website is better than no phone number or website? Anyway, I find that such edits are immediately NOT APPLIED, so no human reviewing. How are we supposed to fight such SPAM if the workflow of the system automatically rejects the edits?

Would it not make sense to create a trick where we type "spam" in the field where we removed the hijacked spam data? It would be a great way to report spam on a field basis.

Level 8

Thanks for sharing such information and it is great help

Jayesh Vekariya
Level 10

Hi @Rodrigo_P

 

Today one of branches of Vardex have changed the name again to spam name Магазин электронных сигарет Vardex  (mean Electronic Cigarette Store Vardex).

A have changed back. Looks like they wants continue to  play a game of cat and mouse. Do you want to stop it?

----------------------------------------------

 

Another chain - https://goo.gl/7HWSSF

The real name of shops is Подружка (Podruzhka).

 

But they use names Сеть магазинов косметики "Подружка" (mean Cosmetics Stores Chain "Podruzhka").

 

I have already changed all the names 2 times. But the owner restore spam names again. Today I changed all the names again.