Google is known as the company with the most dominant search engine on the Internet.
If someone from Google called to talk about your business listings online, would you be interested in hearing what they have to say about your business?
More and more business owners are receiving phone calls from representatives claiming that they are from Google, and further state that they are calling on behalf of Google to reach your company in regards to your Google business Listing. Most of their claims are very alarming; they say comments such as your business being listed on Google has not been claimed, verified, or that it may be incomplete, therefore hurting your listing ranking and affecting the visibility of your business on the internet. These representatives claim that they can help better your company by fixing your listing for only a small fee, but is this really a tactic that Google is known for? Google is very well known to give an individual the tools to accomplish a task for themselves, but rarely would they ever do it for them, and in the rare occurrence that they do, they would not charge anyone. If you are getting a call from someone on behalf of Google, there is a strong possibility that the person on the other line is running some sort of scam, and wants to swindle you out of paying for something you do not need, or to acquire your personal information.
How do These Scam Calls Work?
In most cases, these calls begin in a very professional manner. The callers often say that they are either an employee of Google or they are calling on behalf of Google in regards to an owner’s business listing on the Internet. Normally, they will bring up information that has “come to their attention,” as if Google has nothing better to do than look over everyone’s Google business listings on the Internet. Often times it has to do with Internet visibility for your business or traffic for your website that is easily fixed by the work or services that these representatives provide, but for a price of course. They make it sound like as if they know what is wrong with your listing and how to fix it, but often times there is no problem in the first place! These con artists make it look like an individual’s business listing is in trouble, when it may be just fine.
How do These Individuals Trick Astute Business Owners?
Some business owners might say that they are smart enough to know when they are getting duped with information pertaining to their business, but these scams are very convincing in some respects. To show that a business has low visibility for example, these con artists might set up a fake Google business listing with your company’s information on it: name, address, phone number, and website. With fake listings, these “Google representatives” show business owners that these fake accounts are not being shown as well as they could, be it for lack of information, or being a newly created listing. They try to trick business owners into thinking that these fake listings are their actual business accounts, and use their rankings as a means to get you to buy into their services to fix the problem. Further attempts at convincing business owners may be to show ancient frivolous SEO tactics to confuse the owner that the current work going into their business account and website is not good enough, and that they as a representative of Google (deceiving at best), can correct these problems with their services. This is another lie these con artists use to convince business owners to pay for their services, which are not really necessary and/or already handled by a much more reputable Digital Marketing Expert.
The Internet can be a scary and confusing place for even the most prepared of business owners. So much so that Google themselves have put out a public service announcement warning business owners of these type of scams: Protecting against fraudulent calls. If you have a question relating to your website or your Google business accounts, All Web n Mobile is ready to direct you in the best possible direction for you and your business. As Internet experts, we have seen all these scams or cons on the Internet and make it a point to ensure that you are protected from such issues by being your personal Internet Specialist. Give us a call 352-556-3926 and we can help right away before you are taken advantage of by these situations.