As a business owner, you must constantly be on the watch for scams, even on Google Business Profile. Scammers now have new ways to deceive people because to the internet. While internet scams are not new, fraudsters are continually developing new methods to steal information and defraud business owners. Business profile listing scams are designed particularly to swindle real businesses and can harm your reputation and search engine rankings.
It is not uncommon for third parties to hijack or maliciously change Google Business Profile listings. One method is to use the “claim this business” tool in Google Search or Maps. The Google team will most likely notify you via email that someone has requested ownership of your Business Profile. Most consumers disregard such signals because they believe their Business Profiles are safe.
It is in your best interest to take action and protect your profile from scammers. Your Google Business Profile serves a client-facing purpose by displaying your company’s address, website, and contact information, as well as current photographs, videos, and update postings. Any incorrect or misleading information on your listing jeopardizes your company’s credibility in the eyes of your clients.
As many of you are aware by now, Google My Business is now officially called Business Profile on Google Search and Maps. This is the fifth time that Google has rebranded its small business listing product since 2005. Google made this announcement and change in November of 2021. This is important because many new scams may be popping up as a result of this and this also allows for a level of discernment to know if someone says “Hi I’m calling from Google My Business” you know right away it’s a scam.
So how do you identify some threats to your Google My Business profile?
Your Google Business Profile is a marketing tool that can help your business attract clients and enhance its local rating. The first step in obtaining a Business Profile listing is to claim and verify your company. It can aid in the detection of scams and makes it more difficult for scammers to hijack or modify your Business Profile listing.
There are plenty of dishonest individuals and “businesses” out there looking to extort money or steal traffic from Business Profile listing owners.
Here are some of the most popular Business Profile Scams to avoid.
1. Email Requesting Ownership of Your Business Profile

What do you do when a third party tries to hijack your profile?
You want to determine if the email is legitimate. Phishing scams are common, and it’s important to be on the lookout for them. Nowadays, it’s extremely difficult to spot spoofed emails, specifically because they’ve been designed to resemble the real thing. For this reason, you have to look beyond the visual components and the name displayed in the email.
Read Also: How do I Give Access to my Google Business Page?
Make sure the email address and header information include “@google.com.” If you determine the email is not legitimate, don’t ignore it but instead decline the change of ownership and report the phishing to Google. Google’s fraud and abuse team will claim it from there.
If someone were to gain access to your Business Profile, they could assign themselves as the primary owner, hold your page hostage, and request payment to revert ownership back to you.
2. “Hello, I’m calling on behalf of Google.”
If you receive a phone call with this opening line or a variation of it, odds are it’s a scam – especially if they try to convince you to pay to maintain your Business Profile listing or any number of search engine optimization services. Remember: Google Business Profiles are free, and neither do they expire. Google does not make unsolicited calls, and its representatives will never threaten to remove your listing for one reason or another.
That said, there’s a real possibility that a representative from Google may call to verify or confirm your business Profile. But, with your contact information being so readily available online, it doesn’t hurt to take a little extra precaution.
You may receive calls from Google operators for the purposes of:
- Verifying business ownership
- Confirming details for Google Maps
- Customer service as a representative follows up on a support ticket
- Support related to your Google Ads
Also, you might receive automated calls when customers make reservations or schedule appointments.
Let’s assume you’re having trouble determining if the call is real or fake:
- Any legitimate Google representative will be able to provide you with this information.
- Google will never ask for payment information over the phone
- Google will never ask or any other personal sensitive information, including usernames and passwords, date of birth, or social security numbers.
If you do receive a spam call, you can simply hang up or report the call to Google or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Do not engage and do not press any keys, as this could easily lead to more calls.
3. Hijacked or Maliciously Edited Business Profiles

Every business wants to show up on the first page of Google Search or Maps, but unfortunately, the number of slots is limited. As such, there are businesses out there that employ unethical SEO practices to boost their page rankings and push out the local competition. Some do this by siphoning leads or redirecting traffic from their competitor.
This is done by “suggesting an edit” in Google Maps to tweak a few account details, including the website URL. This is much easier to do with unverified listings. If your listing is verified, you’ll receive an alert each time an edit is made or entry is changed.
A more common issue is maliciously edited listing details. In this case, a competitor isn’t trying to siphon traffic; rather, they replace your business information with the wrong data. For instance, anybody can change the address of your business in your Business Profile.
4. Fake Reviews

Some negative reviews are inevitable, but spam can also come in the form of fake reviews, which can compromise your ranking as well as customers’ perception of your business. While you can’t delete a negative review just because you don’t like it, you can flag the following types of reviews for removal.
- Spam or fake
- Reviews that mention illegal activities
- Dangerous
- Derogatory
- Prohibited content
Some telltale signs of fake reviews include content that contains tons of spelling errors, strange tales that didn’t occur, and references to people who don’t work at your company. Only flag reviews that are in direct violation of Google’s review policy and deal with negative reviews through other online reputation strategies.
Flagging spam reviews allows the team at Google to take a look at the content and decide whether it meets the requirements for removal or not.
What Next?
Can anyone make edits to your Google Business Profile? Yes.
That’s why it’s imperative to respond to any ownership requests and edits immediately. You can secure your Business Profile listing by taking some precautions:
- Only the business owner’s email address should be set as the primary owner.
- Limit access to your Business Profile page. The fewer people who have access to your listing, the less likely it is to be compromised.
- Grant permissions based on need. There are four levels of page access, including primary owner, owner, manager, and site manager.
- Enable two-factor authentication to protect your Google account from unauthorized access.
- Address any Google account privacy and security issues. It also helps to limit which third-party apps have access to your account.
- Adding a second email account that you control as an owner is recommended in case you are unable to access the original primary owner account email.
The local aspect of customer acquisition is critical to attracting customers in the digital age. Claiming and verifying your Google Business Profile isn’t enough; you have to monitor your profile on an ongoing basis for any edits, fake reviews, and post consistent content.
How to manage changes and updates to your Google Business Profile
If these auto-updates are making you nervous, don’t worry! There are several measures you can take and periodic maintenance you can undertake to make sure your Google Business Profile is correct and up to date so you don’t lose consumers.
1. Claim your Google Business Profile
This is an obvious one, but the first order of business is to claim your Google Business Profile if you haven’t already. This is also a good time to make sure there are no duplicate or errant GBPs for your business out there. You can claim those and delete them or mark them as duplicates so searchers see a single source of truth when it comes to your Google Business Profile.
In order to claim your Google Business Profile, simply:
- Navigate to google.com/business to create or find your listing
- Follow each step of the process
- Verify your listing
Voila! You’re now ready to proactively manage your GBP.
2. Fully fill out your profile and keep it updated
Often, Google is sourcing information across the web to add to your profile so it’s more valuable. If you fully fill out your profile, you can combat this a little. Take some time to go through all the options available on your GBP and add relevant information.
Next, make sure to keep your Google Business Profile up to date. Changing hours? Update it asap. Added new services? Add them to your profile. New pictures? Add those too!
The more information you have, and the more you update it, the less chance you’ll have of Google making an unwanted change to your profile. And the easier it will be to catch any updates or edits.
3. Consistently manage suggested updates and changes
As users suggest changes or Google edits your profile, it’s important to be on top of any updates so you can correct inaccurate information. You should receive an email from Google letting you know a change has been made or you have updates to review.
It will look like this:

But you can also check in regularly on your GBP to ensure your listing has the best and most accurate information.
4. Keep all your business information consistent and updated
As mentioned, Google may update your Google Business Listing based on the information it finds across the web. This means that if you have inaccurate or outdated information about your business on an old listing site or government site (like a Chamber of Commerce page), Google may make an update that isn’t going to serve your business.
Make sure any information about your business online is correct and accurate, including on your website, your additional business listings, all review sites, and anywhere else information about your business is listed. Oftentimes, these can be found by Googling your business and cleaning up what you find.
5. Take advantage of GBP features
Google Business Profiles offer some really helpful and useful features for business owners. Features such as Questions & Answers, Google Posts, and adding specials or promotions can help your listing stand out and win you, new customers, without them ever leaving the search engine.
Regularly partaking in these features also gives you a consistent touchpoint to keep an eye on your listing and can show Google that you’re regularly engaging with your listing, meaning the information there is the most accurate.
Your Google Business Profile is a free tool that can help your company appear in search results, educate prospects about your company, and eventually gain new customers. While Google strives to deliver the greatest and most accurate information for searches, there will be occasions when it misses the target or receives incorrect information, which is why maintaining on top of your listing is critical.