I chose to mark it as Spam. Although that is not correct in terms of the previous proprietor, for the current situation it is I believe (though stand to be corrected if needed). I also posted a photo of it, just prior to marking as closed. Within 10 minutes or so, checking again on maps, I found that the place no longer came up in searches, so Google has responded
I chose to mark it as Spam. Although that is not correct in terms of the previous proprietor
Yes, I thought so. It's tempting to do but it is not really the correct procedure as you note yourself.
When I found this network several months ago I considered both marking as Closed or Spam. Marking closed would be technically correct but proves pointless as they just get reopened. Marking as Spam (or Never existed) does 'fix' one problem, by at least getting the scam shops off the map, but it only masks the situation as all the fake Local Guide accounts will still be live but harder to track.
Hence I asked this question here and Google said they are investigating. However it is taking a long time and meanwhile real customers are getting ripped off like this poor guy https://goo.gl/maps/ENAn1FH8EDn
If there was a procedure that Google had in place to weed out these scams then should let it run its course( Is there @Corrie ?). But as you said @Pea its taking a long time and in mean time honest people get scammed. There is an air of legitimacy having a business on Google maps, and that is what these guys are playing at. No longer do they even need to setup fake websites, they can do it simpler and cheaper through Google maps. I had never seen such before but now you've alerted me to it, its so simple that there could be many of these types of things.
I know Trip Advisor is poor at weeding out fake reviews,and I only hope Google will not follow same.
Anyway, this morning I Boris Biked around London for a bit (was a lovely day for it) and found 2 more such fake florists in South Kensington and Victoria. Both had the same set of reviews pasted around the same time by the same group that only post reviews on other florists around London that often don't exist. South Kensington (24 Hour Flowers): I actually spoke to local businesses and they assured me no such florist ever existed in that location. The only legitimate one was at the South Ken tube station.
Victoria: (Chiltern Flowers). At this location is a Mailboxes / DHL shop only. I then rang the number listed on Google Maps: Here is what happened: Was answered with 'Hello'. I then asked for 'Is this Chiltern Flowers'. Response was' Yes, this is Flower Shop'. I asked where they were located and they wouldn't say. I asked to come visit to see flowers and they wouldn't say, then they just hung up.
I have marked both places as 'Never Existed', however before doing such put in a review that advised what I found similar to statements above. Then if they do get re-opened on Google maps, at least that review is there (isn't it??)
Yes it won't catch the scammers by closing these, but I would think Google would have a way to sort them out if wanted and not leave honest people hanging, which as we have the power to help the next unsuspecting individuals then we should use that power.
Thanks a lot for resurfacing this issue. We continue to investigate, specially the new links you provided to us.
Sometimes spam trends can get quite tricky as involves multiple instances and formats. Just like a police case, we need to collect evidence through multiple channels to define what exactly is causing the issue (instead of only removing the place). If you see a place that is clearly spam, please feel free to mark it as spam through Google Maps and if it's a trend let us know so we can go deeper
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I've done a little exercise, maybe similar to what @Pea has done and compiled a matrix of
90 Florists (so far) and 50+ "reviewers" and their relationships. From which I would bet that ALL are fake!
There is an obvious pattern
The reviewers have only ever reviewed florists that are in this matrix. They give no reviews for any other place on Google maps
The Florists
- Typically do not have a website or any discernible flower photos
- Have all 5 star reviews from these 'reviewers' only
OR if they do have other reviews then they are of type
a) a 1 star review by someone that bought flowers and didn't get them delivered or
b) said quality was beyond poor and were ripped off.
Most activity from this gang was 12 months and then 5 or so months ago. I see though a couple of the names has been very active again in the last weeks reviewing non existent places.
In starting with a known bogus entry and following the thread of reviewers to their other posts and then the other reviewers from that post and so on I gathered this data. I didn't expect the scale of this (thought maybe 20 or 30) and in hindsight developing a routine to via the Google Places API may have been more worth while. Definitely in the long run, though that said I would think Google Engineers / Integrity group would already have such tools to generate such and among other things plot as social network which would clearly show the clump of related 'reviewers' and 'locations' that would be a statistical anomaly against the normal relationships seen.
It then only takes physically verifying select random entries to verify the results and Google to take action when these things appear (like deleting accounts, all history). I have done some checks on this data physically which has so far has backed up my belief that all are 90+ are bogus.
In regards to how Google reacts beyond the simple removal of accounts and places, I expect would have more capability to go further and check IP addresses, if they have gmail addresses etc, then not far down the line I'm sure you'll find a real person/s to make an example of. There is a common website that a number of the places point to as well.....
Anyhow, with this scale of results where should I send/email what I've found and some other thoughts on handling as further as here is not the place.
We do care and we are sorry you didn't hear from us.
All the details were sent it over to our spam team who investigated and took actions on the spammer accounts to removed and prevent this to happen again. We also continue to monitor this trend and accounts.
Due to the volume of private messages Google Moderators receive, I do not read or respond to private messages. Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. Thank you.
This is extremely concerning @Pea Wow I hope they will get removed. This is so sad people are taking advantage of the trust of Google Maps to scam innocent people. Thank you for investigating it and bringing it to our attention so that we can tell our friends and family to be careful. I hope the moderators can bring this issue to the appropriate team,to handle it.
2022
