Fake Google Robocall Scams – Don’t Fall For It
Have You Been Targeted by a Robocall Scam?
If you have a phone, there’s a good chance you have been targeted by a robocall scam over the past couple years, and especially in 2016.
Day in and day out, robocalls are setup by crooks in an attempt to scam unsuspecting people. While most people have enough sense to hang up immediately, others listen to what the recording has to say.
After all, many times these scammers make it sound like they are calling from Google, or a bank, or even the IRS! And unfortunately, the longer a person stays on the phone, the more of a chance that an unsuspecting business owner will fall for the scam.
There are a variety of phone scams aimed at consumers and business owners, with these three being the most popular in 2016:
- Google listing scams (typically managed by shady SEO companies).
- Loan related scams.
- Free vacation scams.
Fake Google Phone Calls
If you’re a business owner, an offer to “fix” or help you claim your Google listing may sound like the perfect solution to all your SEO problems.
As an everyday consumer, a free vacation scam could suck you in. After all, who doesn’t want to take an all expense paid trip to Hawaii or Disney World?
This Is Now A Big Problem
It goes without saying that you understand the annoyance factor associated with robocalls. This is particularly true if you receive several of these phone calls every day.
But did you know that there is also a big economic impact? According to a Harris Poll conducted for Truecaller, 27 million Americans lost an average of $274 in phone scams in 2015. Overall, this works out to nearly $7.5 billion.
The Growing Google Business Listing Scam
It doesn’t matter if you are a business owner or not, you’ve probably been targeted by the ever popular Google business listing scam. The way this works is simple.
Shady SEO companies setup these scams to target small businesses that want to rank at the top of the search engines.
While each scam differs, the same basic approach is used. You’ll hear one of the following:
- Your website is not listed in Google, which could be costing you thousands of dollars a year in lost business.
- Your Google listing is not up to date, meaning that your website won’t be found in the search results.
- Your website is at risk of being removed from the search engine results altogether.
The point of this phone call is simple: for you to accept the help of the company in exchange for a fee, often times $1,000 or more.
Tip: although not as common, there are variations of the scam targeting Bing and Yahoo search engines.
USA Today says that fake Google calls are now the #1 phone scam in America!
The Loan Scam
Just as you forget about the Google robocall scam, another phone call rolls in. This time around a company is offering to lend you money at a crazy low interest rate. Or maybe they offer to refinance your current debt to save you hundreds per months.
It doesn’t matter if the caller illegally purchased your contact information or obtained it from an online loan application, you don’t want to fall for this scam.
If you fall prey, not only could it cost you money but you could be putting your identity at risk.
What can you do?
Right now, there’s not much you can do from stopping robocallers from targeting you. However, this doesn’t mean you have to become a victim.
Follow these tips:
- Hang up the phone as soon as you realize you are being targeted.
- Never agree to speak with a live party.
- Don’t provide any financial or personal information, such as your credit card number or Social Security number.
- Report Google phone scams to Google via this link.
Just like every other scam, this one will eventually die off. Unfortunately, for the time being, it’s costing millions of people hundreds of dollars every year.