Have you been contacted by a “Google Representative”?
Any business that builds its website will likely mention its contact information. Since contact details of most enterprises are readily available on the internet, they receive unsolicited emails and calls from hundreds of digital service providers to offer them a range of services. Unfortunately, many opportunists in the online marketing world are waiting to scam website owners. Most business owners have faced a common scam to date: an individual contacting them as an authorised Google My Business representative. This representative offers to help you claim and optimise your business listing. Sometimes, they also threaten to remove your business listing if you refuse to pay for optimisation services.
As per reports, tens of thousands of Google My Business users have received calls and emails from suspicious entities claiming to work with or for Google and trying to sell services or requesting to make payments for services offered for free.
If you are a business owner with an active website, you need to know that Google doesn’t offer any such service. Instead, scammers may contact business owners through phone calls, emails, or pre-recorded calls.
Due to the rising cases of people being scammed, Google is taking a few initiatives to prevent fraud. First, the search engine giant has committed legal action against such scam services. In addition, they have come up with new techniques to help them identify Google accounts associated with fraudulent practices. Google has also developed a new tool for business owners to report scams. Moreover, they have launched a new Google My Business Partners program giving businesses access to a directory of trusted partners. This makes it easy for business owners to understand whom they can trust with their services.
HOW TO IDENTIFY A GENUINE CALL?
Undoubtedly, Google is putting in their efforts to protect business owners from such scams. However, it is still the responsibility of business owners to take steps and act smart to avoid being scammed.
Here’s how you can know the call is genuinely from Google:
- Most unsolicited calls are from an automated system. So if you answer a call and hear a computerised system promoting Google services, you may assume it to be a scam call. However, it is essential to know that Google does make automated phone calls, but these are usually for non-sales tasks like confirming your working hours or availability.
- If your business qualifies for Google’s phone verification process, you may receive a call from them. However, simple verification calls are initiated with your consent, so you’ll know exactly when you will get a call from Google.
- Remember that Google’s automated calls come from designated numbers, depending on your country.
- Google operators may call you occasionally to discuss some developments or offer customer support. However, genuine calls from Google representatives will never ask you for payment information or guarantee marketing results.
HOW TO IDENTIFY A FAKE CALL?
There are many ways in which scammers can target you, and listing all of them may not be possible. However, business owners can keep a few points in mind to identify a fake call.
- Business owners must ask the caller to verify their identity. This can be done by simply asking them to send you an email from their @google.com account. If the call is fake, the person will likely dodge your question.
- Another indication of a fake call is the person calling you asking for personal information like a password or verification code. Google will never ask for such information from you, and if a person claiming to be a Google employee asks for such information, you can be sure it is a fake call.
- Google will never make calls to sell services. So if someone is selling you services and claiming to be from Google, you can identify it as a fake call.
- Regularly updating your Google My Business listing is crucial as you want prospective patients to find you easily on a local search engine. However, at the same time, businesses must be careful about fraudsters looking to scam people. If you have managed to identify a fake call, it is best to hang up. You may also take some additional steps to report the issue to Google or other institutions.
