Plagued by Google Local SCAM Calls? There's a Hangout for That!

[Linda Buquet]

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Most of us have gotten the Google robocaller scam calls promising high placement on Google, often pretending to be Google. Sometimes they even lie and threaten that your listing is about to be deleted, like the super scammy call I recorded awhile back.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-local-important/20893-google-places-scammer-caught-lies-tape.html">Google "Places" Scammer - Caught in Lies on Tape!</a>

But if you think you have it bad with these calls, pity the poor local business owners. They get absolutely hammered with these calls and it can cause problems with your existing clients as well as dramatically impacting your ability to connect with new clients. They give us all a black eye!

Molly Youngblood Geiger, a REAL Google Partner, is doing her 2nd Hangout about the problem. It's coming up July 16th. She outlines 3 of the problem areas these scam calls create.

<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c5hkncjpegs5a4j692e6als2se0">"Google" Called You About Your Business Listing Round 2 - Google+</a>

If you, a client, or someone you know has ever received a call from anyone stating they are with Google and they can "help" your business this hangout is for you.

Problem 1: Business owners are contacted by these "Agencies" representing themselves as being associated with Google when in reality they are not.

They are famous for their robo calls and inability to "prove" that they can do what they claim and scare a business owner into thinking that if they don't use their service they will lose out online.

Some claims that I've received personally are:

- We can get you on #1 of Google
- We can get you on #1 of Google Maps
- We can optimize your Google Analytics
- Your listing is not optimized on Google and you are being penalized.

I've heard of various claims and thought this was just a problem in the US but realize that this is an international problem.

Problem 2: The agencies that are qualified to service a business and actually have the training, experience and approval of Google by way of certification or proven
track record on Google like members of the Google Partners Community lose out before they every get a chance.

By the time these agencies drain the business dry and they don't actually help a business when they try to seek someone who can actually fix these problems the legit agency loses out before they ever get a chance.

Problem 3: Once the business has been burnt and Google themselves via the Google Partners Community sponsor events like the Google Partners Connect for AdWords and YouTube won't even listen because they "think" the legitimate agencies are lumped in with the non legit agencies and again the business loses out again.

A few months back +Russ Cote a fellow Google Partner here in the Google Partners Community posted about this same subject and inspired a hangout I hosted about this exact problem.

Might add that Russ had some really good insights about how this affect Google Partners and basically negates all of the work we do.

Guest Speakers Will Include:

Russ Cote, Google Partner
Google Partners Ambassador Eric Gehler
Google Top Contributor (And our very own Local Search Forum TC) Joy Hawkins

You can also watch the previous Hangout here if you don't want to wait for this next one.
<a href="https://plus.google.com/events/cp24i4o2hv5nlaataap1jqf6lpg?authkey=CKvC_4774fqr4gE">"Google" Called You About Your Business Listing? - Google+</a>

I honestly am not sure what they will discuss or what can even be done about these calls. We've reported them numerous times to Google. The only thing we were able to get was this post at the Google forum that explains a little about the issue. So at least now we have something official to point business owners to that constantly complain about the calls, believing they are actually coming from Google.

How often do you get these calls?

Do you ever have clients complain about them???
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[Scott Rawlins]

My clients get these calls all the time. We have procedures in place for the clients to handle these types of situations. it certainly can be very frustrating for them...and us. These guys need to be shut down with these scare tactics.