Google finds 10,000 fake listings on Google Maps, sues alleged network of scammers
Google says it uncovered thousands of illegitimate listings, including for fake businesses...
Daily SumUp · Daily SumUp
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Google says it uncovered thousands of illegitimate listings, including for fake businesses, on Google Maps and has announced a lawsuit against the alleged scammers behind the fraud.
The lawsuit, announced Wednesday, claims a man working within a wider network, created and sold fake business profiles on Google Maps.
An initial alert came from a Texas business that flagged an unlicensed locksmith impersonating them on Google Maps. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
The claim sparked an investigation that led Google to uncover and eliminate more than 10,000 illegitimate listings, the company said. The scams ranged from outright fake businesses to legitimate accounts that had been hacked or hijacked.
"Once we're alerted to the actual fraud, we take extreme efforts to identify similar fraudulent listings," Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel, said on "CBS Mornings Plus" Wednesday.
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