Google is a trusted name, and many businesses are built using its services. So, if someone were to get a call from a representative claiming to be Google, they tend to trust it. However, that sometimes leads to hardship.
Google filed a lawsuit against Google impersonators
In a blog post from Google itself, the company talks about some of the legal actions it’s taken against certain bad actors in the past. In doing so, it also told us about a current scam that bad actors are performing. What these scammers will do is call small business owners and falsely claim to be Google. They would then try to sell them services or get payment information from the business owners. This will give them the ability to access their bank accounts. One thing to note is that Google never attempts to collect money or payment information over the phone. So, if you get a call from someone claiming that they’re a Google representative and they ask you to put any sort of payment information in over the phone, hang up immediately. Another thing that these imposters do is create fake sites to purchase fake reviews. This will give people the ability to purchase either positive or negative reviews to help manipulate their store ranking on maps. People can buy a ton of positive reviews to make their store look good or a ton of negative reviews to make a competitor’s store look bad. That, however, is a violation of Google’s policies. Google is now filing a lawsuit against these impersonators, which means some hefty fines. Google did not speak too much about the lawsuit itself, but we expect it to be a swift affair.
