Locksmith ripoffs: Hidden camera investigation (Marketplace)
CBC News1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2021–2024
documentary · general · evergreen · 2021–2024 on HN
CBC Marketplace investigates locksmith scams in the Greater Toronto Area. It exposes networks of fake Google Maps listings and fake reviews, and uses hidden cameras to show how low quotes turn into overcharges.
Cited as a concrete demonstration of how fake local business listings on Google Maps are used for scams.
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3 comments from Hacker News
This video has a demo of what is happening: ▶ this video Essentially if you make a bunch of fake listings all around the State you work in people who are desperate will search for "X near me" and if you have the most dots it will resolve to you. This means more panicked buyers which directly translates to way more money.
It's rampant. Locksmiths, appliance repairs, flowers, you name it. Unfortunately, I have not had similar luck in reporting obviously fake businesses. ▶ this video
CBC's Marketplace did an investigation about this years ago. ▶ this video TL;DW: this is widespread in most cities in Canada. Scammers just setup fake businesses on google to have your nearest locksmith be some generic chain. I would expect this to be the same for the US.