Over 150 spam locksmith listings flooding the greater Toronto area.
After a few months of investigation, I discovered a very large network of spam in the locksmith industry around the city of Toronto.
I have no idea how they bypassed the verification process. I can see that they are using a lot of tricks to trick the google algorithm and this is how they survived I guess, they consistently posting new posts and updating the profile details so google will think it’s real business. In some listings they posted the cover photo of the page with the address, name, and phone number. Again, to trick the google algorithm.
Many profiles have the exact same cover photo.
Basically, every section on the profile is fake. Some of the business titles have keyword stuff titles including few sentences.
The addresses are clearly fake (I have a street view photo of each location to back it up). In many cases they are using other local businesses’ addresses.
None of the profiles names is a register business in the province of Ontario.
All the phone numbers are fake VOIP numbers leading to the same call center.
Reviews are clearly fake. You don’t need to be a doctor to realize that.
Websites all look the same and are created only for those fake listings.
Overall, those listings are screaming fakeness. Anyone with very little experience in the online world will see it right away.
I have tried suggesting edit feature and business redressal complaint from several times and from several different emails and yet nothing has been removed.
Any help from someone who can escalate this issue to google for a manual review, will be very much appreciated.
cheers
After a few months of investigation, I discovered a very large network of spam in the locksmith industry around the city of Toronto.
I have no idea how they bypassed the verification process. I can see that they are using a lot of tricks to trick the google algorithm and this is how they survived I guess, they consistently posting new posts and updating the profile details so google will think it’s real business. In some listings they posted the cover photo of the page with the address, name, and phone number. Again, to trick the google algorithm.
Many profiles have the exact same cover photo.
Basically, every section on the profile is fake. Some of the business titles have keyword stuff titles including few sentences.
The addresses are clearly fake (I have a street view photo of each location to back it up). In many cases they are using other local businesses’ addresses.
None of the profiles names is a register business in the province of Ontario.
All the phone numbers are fake VOIP numbers leading to the same call center.
Reviews are clearly fake. You don’t need to be a doctor to realize that.
Websites all look the same and are created only for those fake listings.
Overall, those listings are screaming fakeness. Anyone with very little experience in the online world will see it right away.
I have tried suggesting edit feature and business redressal complaint from several times and from several different emails and yet nothing has been removed.
Any help from someone who can escalate this issue to google for a manual review, will be very much appreciated.
cheers
