Tens of thousands of fake listings are added to Google Maps each month that scam consumers into employing unaccredited contractors, a new study has found.

Google, in collaboration with the University of California, San Diego, has discovered scammers are a setting up their business location at a specific address, but are listing a fake suite number that the U.S. Postal Service has verified.

When a potential victim calls the “contractors” for a service, a representative gives them a cheap price quote – but the contractor coerces them into paying more on site.

The research paper uncovered more than 100,000 scams on Google Maps from June 2014 to September 2015.

More details here.

Source: University of California, San Diego