{"id":4280,"date":"2017-04-18T15:08:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=4280"},"modified":"2017-04-18T15:08:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:08:25","slug":"how-many-fake-business-listings-are-there-on-google-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/how-many-fake-business-listings-are-there-on-google-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Fake Business Listings Are There on Google Maps?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bogus business listings on Google Maps have been a thing for a while; a new research paper<\/a>, authored by researchers at Google and the University of San Diego,\u00a0tries to quantify the scale and scope of the problem. The\u00a0New Scientist<\/cite> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

To analyse the scope of this abuse, the group looked at over 100,000 listings that the Google Maps team had identified as abusive between June 2014 and September 2015. The fraudulent listings most often belonged to services like locksmiths, plumbers and electricians.<\/p>\n

Overall, less than one per cent of Google Maps listings were fraudulent, but pockets of fake listings emerged. In West Harrison, New York, for example, more than 80 per cent of locksmiths listed were scams. The U.S. was home to over half of the fraudulent listings, followed by India with 17.5 per cent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Cartophilia<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bogus business listings on Google Maps have been a thing for a while; a new research paper, authored by researchers at Google and the University of San Diego,\u00a0tries to quantify the scale and scope of… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,121],"tags":[822,82,821],"class_list":["post-4280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-crime","category-industry","tag-fraud","tag-google-maps","tag-spam","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1813701,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/04\/how-google-deals-with-fake-content-on-google-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":0},"title":"How Google Deals with Fake Content on Google Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 April 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"In a blog post last Friday, Google offers some detail on how it combats fraudulent user-submitted content on Google Maps. These include fake business profiles, fake reviews, contributed photos with fake phone numbers\u2014it\u2019s basically about business listings. (There was a time, of course, when fake user-submitted content was to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1818108,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/08\/can-places-on-google-maps-be-trusted\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":1},"title":"Can Places on Google Maps Be Trusted?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 August 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Google has been plagued with fraudulent and scammy business listings on Google Maps for years (1, 2). Last April, Google posted about the steps it takes to combat fake content. James Killick points to more recent incidents and wonders whether places on Google Maps can still be trusted; given that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787450,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/millions-of-business-listings-on-google-maps-are-fake-wsj\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":2},"title":"Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake: WSJ","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 June 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal goes in-depth on a problem Google Maps has had for years: fake and deceptive business listings posted by scam artists that crowd out legitimate local businesses\u2014as many as 11 million such listings at any given moment, according to experts. Online advertising specialists identified by Google as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1790207,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/02\/google-and-apple-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":3},"title":"Google and Apple Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 February 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Google explains how they identify and take action against fraudulent content\u2014fake reviews, fake listings, content vandalism\u2014on Google Maps. Meanwhile, the ability to pay for parking and transit fares is being integrated into the Google Maps app (Engadget, The Verge). On the Apple Maps front, cycling directions have come to Portland,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2327,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/mapping-online-gun-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":4},"title":"Mapping Online Gun Sales","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"As part of an article looking at semi-automatic weapons being sold online, NPR produced\u00a0the above map, which shows\u00a0the\u00a0locations of classified listings on Armslist (a website described as\u00a0\"the Craigslist of guns\") between 12 and 15 June 2016 (i.e., immediately after the Orlando nightclub shooting). About 90 percent of Armslist listings had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"guns\"","block_context":{"text":"guns","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/tag\/guns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"npr-armslist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/npr-armslist-1024x649.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/npr-armslist-1024x649.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/npr-armslist-1024x649.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/npr-armslist-1024x649.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/when-map-errors-hurt-small-businesses\/","url_meta":{"origin":4280,"position":5},"title":"When Map Errors Hurt Small Businesses","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"We've all seen business listings on online maps that don't quite jibe with reality: the map marker's on the wrong place, and driving directions don't get you to your destination.\u00a0The Wall Street Journal reports on how businesses deal with online map errors. Getting a wrong listing fixed is\u00a0a rather high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4282,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4280\/revisions\/4282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}