{"id":17767,"date":"2015-03-11T11:05:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T15:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=17767"},"modified":"2015-03-11T11:05:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T15:05:54","slug":"small-business-alert-google-local-phone-scams-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/11\/small-business-alert-google-local-phone-scams-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Alert: Google Local Phone Scams Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Moreno of LocalLeads.com<\/a> sent me this audio recording of a scammer pretending to be Google in their voice message to a small business.<\/p>\n

Chris asks what can be done to stop these folks. Very little given the current regulatory environment which pretty much takes a hands off approach to these sorts of scams. Education might help but a new SMB sucker seems to be born every minute which seems to keep these scammers going. <\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/google-scammers.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Transcription of the call:
\nYea hi, this is an important message for the business owner. Due to recent changes in Google Maps we are required to inform you that unless the business owner reviews\u00a0and confirms the information on your Google Plus business page, we will no longer be able to show it to Google users at the end of the coming month.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please call 949-478-6815 to speak to the tech support person assigned to help you personally. Thank You.<\/em><\/p>\n

A reminder to the small business owner: while Google does occasionally make calls to a business they almost always originate from Google’s main number: (650) 253-0000. These scam calls often originate from boiler room set ups in Souther California and are similar to the scams<\/a> that were perpetrated by 29Prime for many years and apparently<\/a> still do. <\/p>\n

Do due diligence; ask for a website URL, find out their exact relationship (or lack there of) to Google, double check the phone number they are calling from before running as fast as you can from these folks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Moreno of LocalLeads.com sent me this audio recording of a scammer pretending to be Google in their voice message to a small business. Chris asks what can be done to stop these folks. Very little given the current regulatory environment which pretty much takes a hands off approach to these sorts of scams. Education …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-plus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t