Source: Google
CALIFORNIA:
Google said Friday the company is taking legal action against a bad actor for deceiving and scamming consumers. The consumer protection lawsuit targets a bad actor who perpetrated a coordinated campaign to deceive consumers and business owners by fraudulently attempting to manipulate Google’s services for small businesses.
As the lawsuit shows, this bad actor posted more than 350 fraudulent Business Profiles and tried to bolster them with more than 14,000 fake reviews. It then attempted to sell information about consumers who had been lured in through such false claims. While this deceptive content was detected and removed by Google, taking legal action will stop this bad actor from scamming other platforms.
“Customers trust Google to provide authoritative and reliable results. But that trust is lost if they spend money based on fake reviews. This has real-world implications: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cited a survey where consumers reported wasting $125 on average each year to inaccurate reviews. We work to stay ahead of scammers and protect small businesses by closely monitoring 24/7 for fraudulent content on our products, using a combination of people and technology,” Google wrote in a blog post on Friday.
While Google’s stringent detection systems promptly identified and removed the deceitful content, the company is now seeking legal recourse to ensure the bad actor can no longer scam users on its platform or other online platforms. By taking this legal action, the company aims to protect consumers from falling prey to deceptive practices. PTI
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