ScamWatch – Page 2

ScamWatch, where we expose the tricks and traps that shady marketers use to swindle small businesses.

ScamWatch: Paying For Leads That Should Be Free

Last Updated: December 30, 2024

This edition of ScamWatch deals with something we’re seeing at an increasing rate. It’s very possible that some of these cases are not so much a scam as they are just opportunistic greed, but either way, it’s something you should be on the lookout for. We’re seeing links to profile pages from pay-per-lead providers like Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, Angi, or Housecall Pro end up in the “Website” or “Booking” fields of Google Business Profiles (GBPs) and other online directories. This causes visitors to be sent to platforms where every call, click, or email becomes a billable event, instead of free, organic leads.

Let’s break it down and talk about how to protect your hard-earned traffic.

Why It’s Happening

Sometimes, these links appear in your GBP or directories without your knowledge. It could happen for a variety of reasons:

Automated Systems: It’s possible that an automated integration between your accounts and the lead provider is populating this information.
Lead Providers Themselves: We’ve seen instances where providers may insert their links without explicit permission.

The result? Customers you’ve worked hard to attract are directed to a lead provider’s page. Instead of contacting you directly, they’re routed through a paid platform that charges you for traffic that YOU generated.

Why It’s a Problem

You’re Paying Twice for Leads: Imagine spending money on ads or SEO to bring people to your business, only to send them to a paid lead provider. It’s like paying to build a bridge and then getting charged a toll to cross it.
No Added Value: These links don’t provide any extra functionality you couldn’t offer yourself. Adding a booking form to your own website is simple, effective, and most importantly, FREE.
Lost Trust: Customers may think the pay-per-lead page is your actual business website, which can be confusing and may reduce credibility.

What to Watch For

Specifically, we’ve recently seen cases where Thumbtack links appear in the “Booking Link” section of GBPs. Our clients have told us they didn’t add these links themselves, nor did they approve them being added on their behalf. This sneaky placement can go unnoticed for months, costing businesses hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

How to Fix It

Audit Your Online Profiles Regularly: Check your Google Business Profile, Yelp, and other directories to ensure your website and booking links point to your own site.
Replace Paid Links: If you see a link to a pay-per-lead provider, replace it with a link to your own website or a booking form.
Add Booking Features to Your Website: Integrate a simple booking form on your site. Many platforms, like WordPress or Squarespace, make this easy with plugins or built-in tools.
Check for Automated Systems: Investigate whether integrations or APIs from lead providers are automatically updating your profile fields. Disable or adjust these settings as needed.
Stay Vigilant: Monitor for any unauthorized changes and act quickly to correct them.

Take Back Control of Your Leads

Lead providers have their place, but you definitely shouldn’t pay them for traffic you’re already generating. Plus, by driving traffic that you generated to these paid services, you’re artificially inflating their numbers and making the service look more effective than it actually is. By keeping a close eye on your profiles and ensuring all links point to your own assets, you can save yourself money and ensure your marketing efforts truly pay off.

Don’t let sneaky links drive up your costs—stay in control and keep those leads flowing directly to your business!

Is That A Real Google Phone Number?

Last Updated: October 22, 2024

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You’ve probably received one of those sketchy calls claiming to be from Google…who hasn’t at this point? We’ve all been there—someone calls saying they’re with Google and you need to verify your account, update payment info, or even pay to keep your Google Business Profile (which is free, by the way).

To help you steer clear of these scammers, we’ve put together a list of valid Google phone numbers (for the United States.) These are the real Google numbers you can trust, so the next time you get a “Google” call, you can be more certain that it’s legit.

Valid Google Phone Numbers

Google Maps

For issues related to your Google Business Profile (GBP) (formerly Google My Business)

650-206-5555
650-763-0461
844-899-8101
650-203-0000
650-417-9099
650-215-5133
650-215-5109

Google Voice Assistant

For inbound calls from the Google Voice Assistant. This is posted on Google’s website here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7690269

650-206-5555
650-763-0461
650-899-8667
844-899-8101
855-252-7709

Google Voice Support

650-933-2255

Google Ads (AdWords) Support

650-206-5555

Download Our Verified Google Contact Card

Want to make sure you always have the right Google phone numbers on hand? We’ve created a downloadable contact card with the verified phone numbers listed above. It’s an easy way to add them to your phone so you can avoid being fooled by scammers.

Download Google Verified Contacts (vCard)

Simplified List of Valid Google Phone Numbers

If you’d rather add these to your phone yourself, here’s a simplified list you can copy/paste from.

650-203-0000
650-206-5555
650-215-5109
650-215-5133
650-253-0000
650-417-9099
650-450-6792
650-763-0461
650-899-8667
650-933-2255
844-899-8101
855-252-7709

If you’re trying to place a call to Google, these numbers might be helpful.

Google Ads Support: 1-866-246-6453
Google Business Profile Support (formerly Google My Business): 1-844-491-9665
- Note: They will play a recorded message telling you to file your case online.
Google Workspace (G Suite) Support: 1-877-355-5787
General Google Support (US): 1-650-253-0000

These typically won’t be the numbers you’ll see in your caller ID though.

Google has also published some tips on how to tell if a call is from them.

You can check that out here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/6212928?sjid=4149871325749920604-NA

Conclusion

Protecting yourself from scam calls is more important than ever. By using the valid Google phone numbers we’ve provided and remaining cautious of any unsolicited calls, you can safeguard your business from falling victim to fraud. Always verify any suspicious calls and keep our downloadable Google contact card handy for quick reference. Remember, Google will never ask for sensitive information like payment details over the phone, so stay alert and use the resources we’ve compiled here to ensure you’re dealing with the real Google.

Domain Renewal Letters Sent By Snail Mail Are Scams

Last Updated: October 2, 2024

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In this edition of our ScamWatch series, we’re highlighting a specific type of scam that’s has been around for years, but just won’t go away—fake domain registration renewal letters sent by good old-fashioned snail mail.

What Are Fake Domain Registration Renewal Letters?

Picture this: You’re sorting through your mail, and you find a letter that looks official. It says your domain is about to expire, urging you to renew immediately. The letter looks professional and uses scary language like “final notice” or “urgent action required.” But here’s the catch—it’s a scam.

(Click an image to expand it)

These fake domain registration renewal letters are designed to trick you into thinking your website will go offline unless you take immediate action. The scammers hope to get you to pay for a bogus renewal service or to charge you way more than what your actual domain registrar would ask.

The critical thing to remember is this: if it arrives by mail, it’s almost certainly a scam. Unlike emails, which can sometimes be legit (though they require careful scrutiny), you can safely assume that 100% of domain-related letters sent via snail mail are fraudulent. Just throw them out.

Why Do Scammers Send These Letters?

While many scams these days target your inbox, domain renewal scams have a retro twist—they often arrive by postal mail. Scammers choose this method because it feels more official and less likely to be questioned. After all, most people are cautious about clicking on email links but may be less skeptical of a physical letter that looks official.

These fraudsters use public domain registration data, pulling your contact information from databases like WHOIS (whois.com). Then they mail you a letter, hoping the official-looking document convinces you to part with your money.

How to Spot and Avoid Fake Domain Letters

It’s easy to avoid falling victim to these scams once you know what to look for. Here’s a quick checklist to help you stay safe:

They’re always demanding way too much money. Domain registration should cost you between about $10 and about $20 per year. These scams are typically looking for several hundred dollars.
If it’s by mail, it’s a scam: As we mentioned, no legitimate domain registrar sends renewal notices via postal mail. All genuine renewal notifications come through email or your registrar’s online portal.
Verify through your registrar’s website: If you’re ever in doubt about the status of your domain, log into your account with your official registrar directly. Don’t trust any information that comes from a letter in the mail. Popular registrars include Porkbun, Godaddy, Ionos, Namecheap, Bluehost, and DreamHost. (We have no affiliation with any of these, they’re just popular providers. If you need a recommendation, please reach out to us and we’ll give you our thoughts on them.)
Keep track of your domain expiration date: One of the best ways to avoid these scams is to stay on top of your renewal schedule. Make a note of when your domain actually expires and set reminders to renew it through your registrar. (Pro tip: Include the name of your registrar in the reminder because MANY people forget who they registered the domain with)
Enable domain privacy protection: Protect yourself by enabling privacy protection when you register your domain. This keeps your contact details out of public databases, making it a bit harder for scammers to target you.

Related Scams We’ve Covered

Fake domain renewal letters aren’t the only scam targeting business owners. In fact, we’ve written about domain listing scams in the past, which work in much the same way. These scams also arrive with official-sounding language, urging you to pay for a “listing service” that your domain doesn’t need. Reading through that older, but highly-related post is a smart way to keep yourself protected.

Final Thoughts: Toss That Letter!

As part of our ScamWatch series, our goal is to help small business owners like you stay ahead of scams and keep your operations running smoothly. When it comes to domain renewal letters that show up in your physical mailbox, you can be confident they’re not legit. Throw them away immediately and stick to managing your domain renewals through trusted, verified channels.

By staying alert and informed, you can avoid falling for these tricks and ensure your business stays protected. If you ever have questions or come across something suspicious, feel free to reach out or revisit our articles for guidance.

ScamWatch: That Demo Isn’t As Unbiased As You May Think

Last Updated: September 27, 2024

Your search results are not my search results because Google shows significantly different results to each user. Failing to understand the extent of this personalization is leading many people to be taken advantage of, and I want to help put a stop to that.

We all know that ranking highly in Google’s search results drives more traffic, which then drives more sales. Unfortunately, some sales reps are more concerned about their own profits than being transparent and manipulate search results in a way that essentially misleads you about your true rankings. One way they do this is by performing a search during a video call or in a pre-recorded video to “prove” that your rankings are strong.

It seems foolproof — you just saw it happen with your own eyes. But what you might not realize is how easy it is to manipulate those results to create a narrative that the salesperson wants you to believe.

Let’s break down how this works and why it’s so important for your business to understand.

The Personalized Search Illusion

Google is fantastic at delivering information tailored to us individually. It tracks our preferences, our search history, and even takes location into account when displaying results. But that also means that Google’s search results are highly personalized. What you see on Google isn’t necessarily what your customers see, and that’s where the problem arises.

If a salesperson is trying to impress you by showing how well your business ranks, they’re unlikely to explain how they’ve been searching for your business repeatedly over the past few months. Google, in turn, learns to prioritize your website in their search results because it assumes they have a strong interest in it. So, when they type in a hyper-specific term like “professional tankless hot water installation service Highlands, TX,” your business appears to rank highly. You, as the business owner, feel reassured.

But what you might miss is that the town mentioned is very small, the search term is overly-specific, and the rep’s search history is packed with similar terms. All of this ensures that your business shows up prominently…for him/her. The issue is that potential customers, who don’t have this search history, may not have the same experience. In fact, they might find you buried on page 4, which is about as helpful as an ice cream shop on Pluto.

Real-Life Examples of How Different Search Results Can Be

To show how much search results can vary, I ran searches using two different Google accounts — one was my personal account, and the other was a generic work account with very little search history. Even though I searched for the exact same keywords, the results were noticeably different.

It Starts With Search Suggestions

Personalized search doesn’t just impact the final results — it even affects the suggestions you see when you first click the search box. Take a look at the difference between the suggestions on my work account (left) versus my personal account (right)… and I hadn’t typed a single thing yet!

If you don’t believe this is powerful stuff, check out Robert Epstein’s research at AIBRT which exposes how much Google sways our elections: https://aibrt.org/downloads/EPSTEIN_2022-GOOGLE’S_TRIPLE_THREAT.pdf

Hot Water Installation Houston, TX

For this example, let’s pretend you’re the owner of Nick’s Plumbing, and I’m the sales rep for your marketing company. You’ve called me, frustrated, because you’re not happy with your current rankings on Google. In response, I reassure you that your rankings are excellent. To prove it, I perform a quick search for “Hot Water Installation Houston TX.”

What I didn’t tell you is that I ran this search while logged into a specific account, carefully curated to show you the results I want you to see. According to the results on this account, you’re in the top spot! See, I told you I’m the best marketer out there…

However, if I had used my personal account, you’d be a lot less impressed. To find your result, we’d have to scroll past two paid ads, then two more sponsored listings, followed by the 3-pack of local results, then past the “People Also Ask” section. Then, you’d finally see your business.

Now, it’s worth noting that Nick’s Plumbing is still the first organic result — which is great! But think about which result any sales rep would choose to show you. Of course, they’d pick the search result from the carefully chosen account. But the personal account’s results actually provide a much more realistic view of what your customers are likely to see.

Appliance Repair Denver, CO

We see a similar pattern with this search. The personal account displays four ads first, then the 3-pack, followed by the organic listings. In contrast, the work account skips straight to the 3-pack, showing a more streamlined result.

While the difference isn’t as stark as in the previous example, the layout still presents quite differently depending on which account is used. If the rep doesn’t explain this to you, you’re left with a skewed impression of your ranking performance.

Random word search “hoops”

For this search, I picked a random word with no context to see how differently the results would come up.

Notice how the two sets of results are laid out. There’s a lot of common content between the two, but the order and presentation vary. The work account displays a horizontal carousel of cast members for a show called “Hoops” at the top of the page, while the personal account pushes this information further down and to the right-hand sidebar.

Additionally, the personal account shows several sections that the work account doesn’t:

Map listings
Image search results
Shopping results
YouTube listings

Depending on the narrative I want you to believe, I can easily choose the results that tell the story I want to sell you.

The Takeaway: How to Protect Yourself From This Misleading Tactic

The key takeaway is simple: don’t blindly trust the search results that sales reps show you. Here’s how to protect yourself:

Test in Private/Incognito Mode
- To see less personalized search results, use Google’s Incognito mode (or private browsing mode in other browsers). While this won’t completely eliminate personalization, it can provide a clearer view of how your business appears to new visitors.
Use Multiple Devices and Locations
- Check your rankings across various devices (tablet, phone, laptop) and using different internet connections (turn WiFi off on your phone to use mobile data, for example). Ask friends or colleagues in different locations to search for the same terms, which will give you a broader perspective of how your business is ranking.
Leverage Tools
- Several tools can help you obtain more generic search results. One option is our AdTrax service, which uses multiple proxy servers to anonymize results and tracks those results over time. While no tool will give you a perfect, unbiased result, this approach provides a better way to measure the effectiveness of a campaign over time by showing minimally-biased results and the trends over time.
Ask Questions
- If a sales rep shows you results that seem too good to be true, ask some tough questions. How did they perform the search? Was it in Incognito mode? What does their browsing history look like? Transparency is crucial, and any reputable SEO consultant will understand the need for these questions.

Conclusion: Be Vigilant About Personalized Search

As a business owner, it’s crucial to understand that Google’s personalized search results can be easily manipulated. Some salespeople use this to mislead you into thinking your rankings are better than they are. Just because you see your business ranking highly in their search doesn’t mean that’s what your potential customers see.

Stay informed, be proactive, and make sure you’re thoroughly testing your search rankings before drawing conclusions about your SEO success. By understanding these misleading tactics, you’ll be better equipped to assess your business’s true performance in Google search results.

Repeated Charges From Facebook – Is It A Scam?

Last Updated: September 27, 2024

If you’ve just started running ads on Facebook (Meta) and are noticing multiple small charges on your credit card, you’ve probably got several alarm bells going off. We get it—seeing a string of transactions labeled “Facebook” with random codes screams fraud and will set off all the alarm bells. But before you panic, let’s break down what’s really happening with Facebook’s billing practices.

Why Am I Seeing So Many Facebook Charges?

If you’re new to Facebook Ads, the company’s billing practices will most certainly catch you off guard. You’re going to see multiple Facebook charges on your credit card and they’ll all be from something like “Facebook WHNS8298DI” which is very suspicious. The Meta ads billing schedule is…unusual…to be sure. These initial charges typically range from $2 to $5, and they seem to happen back-to-back, which is why you’ll likely be hearing from your credit card company’s fraud protection department.

Facebook isn’t trying to scam you, and your card wasn’t hacked. Unfortunately, Meta decided, for some reason, to charge people in a fashion similar to scam artists. In theory, this is because they’re trying to mitigate their risk of being left holding the bag on services rendered without payment received. They’re trying to ensure your payment method works and that you’ll actually pay for the traffic they’re sending you. At the start of your ad campaign, Facebook will bill your card in small increments in rapid succession. Over time, that interval will space out and the dollar amount per transaction will increase.

Here’s a couple real-world examples from some of our clients to illustrate the point.

Facebook’s Billing Practices for New Ad Accounts

If you’re new to running ads, the process might feel overwhelming—and these charges only add to the confusion. Facebook’s billing practices for new accounts are designed to minimize risk (for them and for you). By making smaller charges more frequently, they’re verifying that your card is valid and that payments will go through.

This system can easily trigger fraud alerts on your credit card or bank account. We’ve seen it happen to business owners just starting out with Facebook Ads, and it’s completely understandable why you’d be concerned when you see this rapid succession of charges. But rest assured: it’s completely normal for Facebook’s billing schedule.

What Can You Expect as Your Campaign Progresses?

As you continue running ads and Facebook sees a consistent history of payments, the charges will start to change. Instead of seeing multiple small charges every day or every other day, Facebook will space out the transactions and start charging larger amounts less frequently. So, after a few weeks, instead of seeing $5 here and $7 there, you might see a single $50 or $100 charge once or twice a month.

It’s Facebook’s way of saying, “Okay, we trust this payment method now.” They’ll adjust their billing practices accordingly as your ad campaign gains more traction.

Why Do These Charges Look So Suspicious?

If you’ve been scrolling through your credit card statement and see transactions labeled as “Facebook” followed by a random alpha-numeric code, you’re not alone in thinking it looks shady. Many new advertisers freak out when they see this, but it’s completely legitimate. These codes are just how Facebook categorizes and processes their transactions—nothing to worry about.

What to Do if You’re Concerned About Fraud

It’s always best to log into your Meta Ads account directly, and verify the charges from that side. DO NOT click a link in an email to get to this account because there are many phishing schemed out there that look very legitimate but are 100% just stealing your login credentials. Instead, type the address in directly. If those charges match with what you’re seeing on your card statement, you’re OK. If not, then you have to keep digging because you might have some actual fraud taking place.

In Summary

If you’re new to Facebook Ads, the way Meta handles their ad billing schedule can be a bit jarring. Seeing multiple small Facebook charges back-to-back might seem like a red flag, but this is just their way of verifying that everything’s working properly before moving on to larger, less frequent transactions.

So, don’t worry if you’ve just started advertising on Facebook and your card statement looks strange—it’s all part of their billing practices for new ad accounts. If you’re still concerned or your bank flags the transactions, just confirm that these are legitimate charges and you’ll be good to go!

Prospect Genius