When you are locked out of your car, Google Maps might seem like a great way to find a locksmith near you. But the listing closest to you might be fake. The address could be nothing more than a P.O. box, and what looks like a local phone number could lead you to a remote call center.
Based on some reports, you could end up dealing with a shady subcontractor who will charge much more than the rate you thought you would be paying.
"Scammers were planting fake pins around the map — in this case, locksmiths — to create a false sense of proximity," said UC San Diego computer science PhD student Danny Huang.
For a recently published study, Google teamed up with Huang and other UCSD computer scientists to better understand abuse of Google Maps. The researchers found that listings for locksmiths, plumbers and other on-call contractors were the most common type of scam, representing 40 percent of all fake listings.
Another 13 percent involved listings linked with real addresses for real hotels and restaurants. But the listings were not run by the businesses actually located at those addresses. These fake listings would often prompt users to make reservations through third-party websites — and scammers would take a cut.
Google says it catches 85 percent of abusive listings before they ever make it onto Google Maps. The company also says improvements to its business verification process have reduced the number of fake listings by 70 percent since 2015.
Huang has noticed the difference. As part of his research, he contacted a number of fraudulent locksmith companies listing addresses in La Jolla. He said recently those familiar bad actors have been vanishing from results on Google Maps.
"I did a search on 'locksmith' in San Diego last week," he said. "All the previously fictitious ones have been cleaned up."
Things are apparently getting better. But Huang said after working on this project, he will be careful the next time he needs to contact a locksmith.
