Yes I had noticed the AAA crowd but didn’t time to investigate them thoroughly. I am glad that you have noticed them as well….I think the best bet is to report it to Maps Guide Jen, wait for 2 weeks and see what happens. If they haven’t been taken down, repeat as necessary till baked

Local should not become the snake oil salesman of the new millenium and in particular it should not be allowed to exploit those with fewer resources or options.
Mike

So I found this article interesting because I witnessed this first hand. Let me explain. I use to work at a place that did what they did but legally, and we actually helped our patiants with HIV.

Plan words, they are like a chop shop, they are spamming – Since I read this and came back to it, AAR I do believe has been taken down all completely;

So good job! but I went further… I start looking into deeper and it got worst!

Theres one called “aaa non-profit hiv/std testing” (stupid name and obvious spam) They have addresses doubled up, some times they have addresses stacked using a “AAA” and a “AAAA” name. The worst part is they are NOT Non for profit, they donate money to children with AIDS, and they switched the prices on the phone call….BUT they are all over maps with a obvious hacked up site and using other locations addresses.

Do I just report all this to Maps Jen to get the ball rolling you think?

Thanks cracking down on map spam!

Certainly the Payday loan industry has been prime breeding ground for spammer activity. The industry itself is predicated on a weak premise (400% interest for short term loans) and when you factor in finder fees/affilate model you get a whole crew of middle men exploiting an already exploitive system you really get a mess.

When you add Google’s early lax approach to Mapsspam and their current slowness to pull this stuff down you get a very volatile environment in which nobody but these sleazy “middlemen” benefit.

Mike

Jen,

There is a company that has super spammed your Google results page.

The search terms are any city name + payday loans, payday loan, cash advance, cash advances.
Type in Los Angeles cash advance
Type in Baltimore Cash Advance
Type in Mobile Alabama Payday Loans

The city does not matter, all I get are spam results.

The link to the results can be found here:
http://www.google.com/search?num=50&complete=1&hl=en&suggon=0&q=mobile+alabama+cash+advances&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=
http://www.google.com/search?num=50&complete=1&hl=en&suggon=0&q=baltimore+cash+advances&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=
http://www.google.com/search?num=50&complete=1&hl=en&suggon=0&q=los+angeles+cash+advances&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=

The same company does not even have a real address, they are using the address: Virtual Suite 90058 + Zip Code.

Its very frustrating for companies with real data. They are taking in many results, 7 of the 10 Google Ten Pack Results, with their fradulent websites.

Here is the naming convention of their URLS:

paydayloanslosangelesca.com
payday-loans-maryland.com
payday-loans-kentucky.com
payday-loans-texas.com
http://paydayloanswestuniversityplacetx.com/

There website has no local data. They have no real street addresses, and all the sites have the same spammy fe

My sense of their business model is that they just process leads and gather commissions. More of a pure local internet marketing play without adding any real value to the food chain!

Yes, Mapsspam and Google’s loose control of it is problematic particularly when it exploits those in our society that don’t have enough resources as it is.

Another example of that is Google turning a blind eye to the PayDay loan business (see here and here (thread 55).

We live in strange times and Google is at the nexus of that.

Mike

Google wants to be the distributor of information, I say they need to start being a little more responsible in how they collect and display their data. If they don’t, eventually this will spell the beginning of the end, and that deeply wanted Google Killer will finally have a chance.

Great stuff as usual Mike, thanks!

David