NewScientist (15 April 2017) notes a new scam showing up on, of all things, Google Maps:
LOCAL businesses on Google Maps aren’t always as local as they seem. Tens of thousands of bogus listings are added to the maps every month, directing browsing traffic towards fraudulent schemes, finds a team of researchers at Google and the University of San Diego, California.
As an example, a fraudster might list a locksmith at a location on Google Maps. When a potential customer calls the phone number listed, they are put through to a call centre that hires unaccredited contractors to do jobs. Often the customer ends up being coerced into paying more than the quoted price.
To analyse the scope of this abuse, the team looked at over 100,000 listings that were identified as fake between June 2014 and September 2015. The fraudulent listings most often belonged to services like locksmiths, plumbers and electricians.
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.
Seems like every opportunity to enhance life comes with its own set of lampreys, doesn’t it?
