ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1
Name
2
Google Maps link
3
Type of Spam
4
Address
5
Phone Number
6
Date
7
Website Link
8
Status
9
10
Notes
11
CommentsEvidence LinksType Of evidence
12
Check Google Maps Street View, Google Maps, Google Search
13
Does Street View confirm they are at this address? You may find a vacant lot, grocery store, drugstore or even a parking lot.
14
Does the business name on the listing match what’s on their sign in Street View?
15
Make note of any businesses that share an address, phone number, or very similar name
16
Zoom in on Google Maps to identify other listings that are also using this same address. Check if they are the same business or looks unlikely the building can have that many businesses so probably is a fake address
17
Check the address. Do a Google search for the address, does it return a UPS store website or mail service, P.O. Box, post office or virtual office as an address? (these are not allowed).
18
19
Check Official Information
20
Does the business name on the listing match what is listed on their business license/certificate? You can look at business information that is registered by searching for them on your country's Company Official Databases
21
Other Official documents/registers
22
23
Check Website
24
What name is listed on their website? Often these people will list their name as “keyword 1, 2, 3” on Google yet the About us page on their website lists their real name.
25
Does the address on the listing match what is listed on their website?
26
Check if operating hours are same as the listing
27
Does the website advises they are an online-only/e-commerce businesses Business
28
Any clues they are a Lead Gen/fake Business, like they will put you in contact with a professional
29
Is it a fake looking website?
30
look at their terms and conditions, do they advised they are not responsible for the service/products?
31
Site seems broken or distributes malware, that’s a sign of a fraudulent listing?
32
33
Check Phone number (Tip: Call anonymous so they can’t call you back.)
34
How do they answer the phone?
35
Ask for directions to their office. How did they respond?
36
Phone number redirects to a different business?
37
is never answered or has a suspicious voicemail box?
38
is disconnected; or doesn’t even work in the first place?
39
Search on Google for the phone number, is it used by another business or one of those free SMS websites?
40
41
Evidence
42
43
Take screenshots of Google Street View of the address showing that is a private address or post office or another business is at the address or even an empty field
44
List a specific link to the zoomed-in version of Street View that shows the particular sign/building.
45
Take screenshot of the issues on the website: business name, terms and conditions, address
46
Record the calls when you call verify the phone number
47
Record the Government sources and Official Sources URL, include the URL to the source if you cannot show the search query
48
URL Link to the website If the address matches another business. For example, “This address is actually a Regus virtual office” and then link to Regus' location page.
49
And finally, do not use 3rd party sites like Facebook or Yelp
50
Drive by the location and take photos of the place plus Street Name plate
51
You can always reference other listings on Maps as proof that this listing shouldn’t be there (Ex: this business already has a listing here…)
52
53
Report Date
54
Results
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100