Aug
28
2015
Did you get a call from Google or Apple Maps?
Did you recently get a call from Google or Apple Maps? Look out, it was probably a scam. Telemarketing companies are aggressively flooding voicemail boxes with unwanted spam calls with messages like these:
Spam call from telemarketer about Apple Maps
“Hi, this is Sally calling to help verify your new Apple Maps business listing. If you are the business owner and would like to have your business listed in Apple Maps, press 1 now. If you do not want your business listed in Apple Maps press 2 now. Press 1 to be listed in Apple Maps. Press 2 to decline.”
There is a 99-percent probability that your business is already listed on Apple Maps. Apple uploaded its data from Yelp, Localeze and other sources. If you are not listed, you can check and update it yourself, or have a company like Access Publishing optimize your business listing for you.
Spam call from telemarketer about Google business listing
“This is the Google Maps status service provider calling to verify recent changes to your Google Local listing. Press 1 to be connected to a live agent. Press 2 to be removed from this calling index.”
Be wary of these types of messages. They are not actual calls from Apple Maps or Google. They are usually scams.
The computer-generated voice is basically making a threatening-sounding statement that is false. When you press 1 you are connected to a sales representative from a third-party company trying to sell over-priced and unnecessary services. We have already helped a local business cancel a bad service agreement. It’s like when phony yellow page companies send out an invoice for a listing and it looked as though you had already signed up. Scam!
One defense against these types of calls is to add your business to the Do Not Call List national registry. If calls continue, tell the telemarketers to add your number to their “do not call list”.
Get ahead of the curve on your online marketing
Access Publishing offers and affordable Internet marketing plan called Access Local Search. It helps over 100 companies in San Luis Obispo County rank higher in Internet search results pages and get more customers.