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ScamWatch: Don’t Pay for What’s Already Yours – The Google Business Profile Ownership Scam

Last Updated: December 8, 2025

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We’ve been hearing a lot of chatter lately from our clients about a sneaky new scam making the rounds, and it’s time we shine a big ol’ spotlight on it.

Here’s the setup:
You, a small business owner, get a call. The person on the other end – often with an overseas accent – says they’re offering you “full ownership” of your Google Business Profile (GBP) for a one-time payment. Sometimes it’s $300, sometimes a little more or less. They’ll promise you sole ownership, the ability to delete any reviews you don’t like, and full control over your listing.

Sounds official, right? Maybe even a little tempting?

Don’t fall for it.

Let’s break down why this is 100% a scam and what you actually should know about your Google Business Profile.

1. Google Business Profiles are always free

You do not have to pay to claim, manage, or use your GBP. Google offers this service to business owners completely free of charge. Anyone asking for money in exchange for “ownership” is either confused or trying to rip you off.

2. You can’t “own” your GBP the way they say you can

The terminology these scammers use is misleading at best. While you can claim your GBP and become the primary owner (which gives you full control), that process involves verifying your business – not sending someone your credit card info.

Think of it like your social media account: you sign up, prove it’s yours, and manage it as you see fit. But it’s still hosted by a platform (Google) that has its own rules and systems.

3. “Sole owner” is a made-up title

This is where the scammers get clever. They’ll toss around the term “sole owner” like it’s some kind of premium status. In reality, a GBP has one primary owner, and that person can assign managers or additional owners if they want to. But that’s a management structure – not a tiered payment system. You either have control of your profile or you don’t.

4. You cannot delete reviews just because you don’t like them

This is one of the juiciest promises scammers dangle – “Give us a few hundred bucks and you can remove any bad reviews you want.” Not true. Google has clear policies about reviews, and the only way one gets removed is if it violates those policies. Owning or managing your GBP doesn’t change that.

So, what can you pay for?

It’s completely valid to hire someone to help you recover access to a lost profile, optimize your listing, or manage your local SEO. That’s like hiring a lawyer to handle paperwork or a plumber to fix your leak – you’re paying for expertise, not for something that’s supposed to be free.

But you should never pay someone just to “own” your GBP. That’s like someone selling you the title to your own house after you’ve already moved in.

Final thoughts

Scams like these rely on confusion, urgency, and a bit of fear. They target hardworking business owners who are too busy running their companies to double-check every call that comes in.

So let’s keep it simple:
If someone says you have to pay to own your Google Business Profile, hang up.
If you’re ever unsure about a call or email like this, reach out to someone you trust – your marketing team, your web agency, or even a savvy friend.

We’ll be back with more ScamWatch tips soon. Until then, stay sharp out there.

 

 

 

FAQs


No — Google Business Profiles are always free. You do not have to pay to claim, manage, or use your GBP. If someone asks you for payment for ‘ownership,’ it’s a scam.


The scam involves someone contacting a business owner and offering “full ownership” of their GBP — for a fee. They may promise sole ownership, control of reviews, and exclusive listing control. But this ownership “for sale” does not exist.


No. The concept of “sole owner” as sold by scammers is made‑up. While you can be the primary owner and designate additional owners/managers, there is no legitimate paid upgrade. And having a GBP does not let you delete reviews at will — only reviews that truly violate Google’s policies can be removed.


Yes — but only to pay for expert services like recovering access to a lost profile or optimizing the GBP for visibility. You should not pay just to “own” the profile. Paying for optimization or recovery is like paying a professional for help — paying for ownership is the scam.


Hang up or ignore the request. Do not provide payment or login credentials. If you’re ever unsure, verify independently via official channels (e.g. your GBP dashboard or Google support) or consult a trusted agency — but never trust unsolicited requests demanding payment for GBP ownership.


Monitor emails for ownership‑request notices; only respond if you initiated them. Reject any unsolicited requests. Keep your account secure (strong password + two‑factor authentication). Regularly check your listing and access permissions. And never pay for ‘ownership’ — GBP is free.

Google’s August 2025 Spam Update: What Local Businesses Need to Know

Last Updated: September 10, 2025

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If you’ve noticed some changes in your Google rankings lately, you’re not imagining things. On August 26, 2025, Google rolled out a major Spam Update focused on cleaning up local search results. And yes, it’s hitting Google Business Profiles (GBPs) hard.

For any business that depends on local visibility this update could mean a drop in traffic… or a big opportunity to move up.

Let’s break down what’s happening and what you can do about it.

What’s This Update All About?

Google is targeting spammy tactics in local search. That includes:

  • Fake reviews
  • Keyword-stuffed business names (like “Appliance Refrigerator Oven Repair Dallas TX” or “Best HVAC Company in Denver”)
  • Duplicate or fake listings
  • Virtual offices and P.O. box addresses
  • Scraped or AI-generated content that provides little or no value
  • Cloaking (showing different content to users and search engines)

This is all being driven by SpamBrain, Google’s AI system that helps detect and demote low-quality listings. The update is still rolling out, so expect some ranking shifts over the next few weeks.

Now, Google says the goal is to make things cleaner and more trustworthy. And sure, we’re already seeing some of the junk disappear from local results. But let’s be realistic, this is a moving target, a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. If Google can make even a 20% dent in the spam clutter, that’s a win. Just don’t expect 100% success, because some of this junk will always sneak through.

We’ve All Seen These Tricks Before…

We’ve all run into listings like:

  1. Appliance Repair Dallas
  2. Appliance Repair Fort Worth
  3. Appliance Repair DFW

Annoyingly, we all know these are the same business, just using multiple keyword-stuffed names to game the system. It clutters up the map and confuses potential customers, and takes up spots that other businesses should be occupying.

This is exactly the kind of behavior Google is trying to crack down on (finally!) If you’ve been losing visibility to fake-looking listings like these, this update might (maybe, hopefully) finally level the playing field.

Why It Matters

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing people see when they search for services, shops, or professionals in their area. If you show up in the local pack (those top 3 map results), it can lead directly to calls, clicks, and visits.

Here’s what’s happening on the ground:

  • Some businesses saw traffic or visibility drop within 24 hours
  • Legit listings are climbing, while keyword-stuffed or fake ones are being pushed down
  • Less spam = more opportunity for ethical businesses to be seen

If you’ve been doing things the right way, you could benefit from this shift, but don’t expect the landscape to be totally clean overnight.

What You Should Do Right Now

No matter your industry, it’s a good time to give your online presence a quick tune-up. Here’s where to start:

1. Audit Your Google Business Profile

  • Make sure your business name matches what’s on your signage and marketing.
  • Skip keyword stuffing (e.g., “Smith’s Plumbing Dallas” should just be “Smith’s Plumbing”).
  • Confirm your address is a real, physical location, not a virtual office.
  • Merge or remove any duplicate listings using Google’s support tools.

2. Clean Up Your Reviews

  • Watch for unusual review patterns, like sudden 5-star spikes.
  • Use GBP’s built-in tools to report fake or suspicious reviews.
  • Ask real customers to leave reviews through follow-up emails or QR codes.
  • Encourage reviews with specific details, not just a star rating.

3. Strengthen Local Signals

  • Keep your hours, services, and photos current.
  • Post updates regularly (e.g., “Now booking fall checkups!” or “New products just arrived!”).
  • Make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent across sites like Yelp, Angi, and local directories.

What This Means for You

Whether you’re running a plumbing company, a boutique, a dental office, or a fitness studio, this update is reshaping the local search landscape. And it’s doing it in a way that favors transparency and real-world legitimacy.

Here’s what many businesses are already seeing:

  • Improved rankings for clean, compliant listings (some up 20–30%)
  • Protection from shady review sabotage, which is all too common in competitive markets
  • An edge without spending big, since real reviews and a clean listing cost next to nothing

And more importantly, it sets you up for long-term success as Google continues rolling out targeted updates like this one. Just keep in mind, spam isn’t going away entirely. If this update knocks down a fifth of it, that’s still progress.

Final Thought

The August 2025 Spam Update is a clear signal: Google wants authentic, trustworthy businesses at the top of local results. Or at least, that’s what they say.

If your profile is clean, your reviews are real, and your business details are accurate, this is your moment to shine. But don’t expect the spam problem to vanish. This is an ongoing battle, and there will always be people trying to game the system.

Need a hand making sure your GBP is squeaky clean? Or maybe you’ve gotten swept up in this dragnet and you’re dealing with a suspension? Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Just reach out and we’ll take care of everything.

 

 

 

 

Google August 2025 Spam Update FAQs for Local Businesses


The update began rolling out on August 26, 2025, and is expected to take a few weeks to complete. It applies globally across all regions and languages.


Google is targeting fake reviews, keyword-stuffed business names, duplicate or fake listings, virtual offices or P.O. box addresses, AI-generated or scraped content with little value, and cloaking tactics.


Spammy Google Business Profiles may be demoted, while legitimate profiles may move up in local pack rankings, leading to improved visibility and potentially more traffic.


SpamBrain is Google’s AI-powered spam prevention system that has been enhanced with this update to better identify and penalize listings that violate spam policies.


Audit your Google Business Profile and website. Remove keyword-stuffed names, fake duplicates, false reviews, and thin or AI content. Focus on genuine, valuable, user-first content and adhere to Google’s spam and quality guidelines.


Expect ranking volatility during the rollout. Avoid making hasty changes. Monitor metrics using Google Search Console and analytics, and wait until the update is fully rolled out before assessing impact or making adjustments.

Show Me the Google Business Profile and I’ll Show You the Violation

Last Updated: September 3, 2025

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Google feels more Soviet every day. They demand that we “optimize” our profiles, update them often, and keep everything accurate and fresh (in other words, do their work for them.) The problem is that Google’s rules for Business Profiles are so convoluted, ever-changing, and sometimes completely undisclosed that it’s almost impossible not to step on a landmine.

The Moving Goalposts

Remember when they encouraged everyone to set up review kiosks so customers could leave feedback on-site? Business owners invested time and money to follow the advice. But as soon as Google gained ground on Yelp, they flipped the policy. Suddenly, kiosks were forbidden, and anyone using them risked suspension. You changed nothing, yet overnight, you went from doing what they asked to being branded a violator.

These Days: What Triggers Suspensions Now

Fast forward to today, and while review kiosks are no longer the hot-button issue, the story hasn’t changed much. Businesses are still being penalized for well-meaning changes. The most common triggers we see right now are:

  • Adding extra categories that don’t perfectly fit your business, often because a tool or consultant suggested it as a ranking hack.
  • Tinkering with business hours in ways that don’t reflect your true availability, like extending them just to “beat” competitors.
  • Falling into unpublished or hidden rules, where entire industries have restrictions that aren’t even spelled out in Google’s documentation.
  • Adding new locations (for example, trying to add a nearby town) that can trigger Google’s system to suspend or re-verify your entire profile.

Why “Trick-of-the-Day” Advice Is Dangerous

This is where we see the most damage. Tools like Pleper, or sales reps promising quick ranking wins, often push these very tactics. They sound clever in theory (find a low-competition category, set longer hours than competitors) but in practice, they’re landmines.

The truth is, Google doesn’t reward shortcuts. If anything, they punish them. The category that seems like a smart add-on may cause a suspension. The extended hours might flag your profile as misleading. And the unpublished rules? You’ll never see them coming until it’s too late.

A Real-World Example: The Lawyer Who Lost His Reviews

We once worked with a lawyer who frequently handles cases involving juveniles in detention centers. Thinking it would help him show up for relevant searches, he added “juvenile detention center” as one of his business categories. What he didn’t know was that certain categories (like jails, detention centers, and police stations) are not eligible to receive reviews. As soon as he made the change, all of his reviews disappeared overnight.

This wasn’t manipulation. It was an honest attempt at optimization that ended in disaster.

The Bigger Problem

We see situations like this all the time through our GBP Rescue service. Business owners are told to “optimize” their listings, so they do. They’re given advice by tools, salespeople, or even Google itself, and they follow it in good faith. But because the rules are complicated, ever-changing, and sometimes not even published, they end up in trouble anyway.

The worst part is that once you’re caught in a violation, recovery is slow and uncertain. Google gives you limited chances to appeal, and the turnaround time can take weeks. That’s business you may never get back.

Proceed With Caution

This isn’t to say you should never update your GBP or use tools to help. But you do need to be cautious. If a piece of advice sounds like a clever shortcut, or if it feels like a gray area, it probably carries more risk than reward.

At the end of the day, most small businesses just want to play by the rules. The trouble is, Google doesn’t always make those rules clear, and sometimes, they don’t publish them at all. That’s why we recommend keeping your optimizations simple, sticking closely to the guidelines we do know, and getting expert help if you’re unsure. And if you ever find yourself penalized for an honest mistake, our GBP Rescue service is here to help you get back on track.

 

 

 

Google Business Profile Violation FAQs


Your Google Business Profile may have been suspended after updating it due to violating Google’s complex and often unpublished rules. Common changes like modifying categories, altering business hours, or adding locations can trigger automatic suspensions, even if done in good faith.


Common mistakes that lead to Google Business Profile violations include adding extra categories that don’t exactly match your business, adjusting hours to appear more competitive, attempting to list new service areas without proper verification, and unknowingly triggering hidden or unpublished rules.


Yes, adding new categories to your Google Business Profile that do not precisely match your core services can result in suspension. Google may interpret these changes as misleading or manipulative, especially if suggested by third-party tools or consultants.


All your Google reviews may disappear if your business category is changed to one that is ineligible for reviews. For example, adding categories like ‘juvenile detention center’ or ‘police station’ can instantly trigger the removal of all reviews, even if the change was made unintentionally.


Prospect Genius’s GBP Rescue service helps businesses recover from Google Business Profile suspensions and penalties. The service supports owners who were penalized due to unclear rules or bad advice, offering expert help to restore visibility and correct compliance issues.


To safely optimize your Google Business Profile, stick closely to published guidelines, avoid risky ‘trick-of-the-day’ tactics from tools or consultants, and make only accurate, honest changes that reflect your real-world operations. When in doubt, consult professionals like Prospect Genius.

Why Were My Google Reviews Removed?!

Last Updated: February 11, 2025

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If you’ve recently noticed that your Google Business Profile (GBP) reviews are disappearing, you’re not alone. The internet has been ablaze for the last week or so as business owners are trying to figure out why they’ve been seeing their hard-earned reviews disappearing from their GBPs. Some have seen their review count drop by dozens, while others have fluctuated wildly, gaining and losing reviews seemingly at random.

So, what’s going on?

A Known Bug (But No Immediate Fix)

Google has acknowledged that this is a known issue with the review counts and claims to be working on a fix. In many cases, the reviews themselves haven’t actually been deleted, it’s just the displayed number that’s inaccurate. On Reddit and other forums, business owners are reporting major drops in their review count overnight.

We’ve seen this firsthand with our own clients:

  • Appliance repair company – started with 1,001 reviews, dropped to 970, then dropped to 926
  • Plumber – started with 200 reviews, dropped to 195
  • Piano instruction business – started with 45 reviews, dropped to 40

Some businesses have seen their review count bounce back temporarily, only to lose them again. One of our plumber clients saw their count drop from 198 to 18, only to return to 198 later.

Another Factor: Inactive Google Accounts Getting Deleted

As we’ve mentioned before, Google announced that it will be deleting accounts that remain inactive for two years. In its support article on the topic, Google states that “all of its content and data can be deleted.” Most experts interpret this to mean that any reviews left by those accounts will also be removed.

However, a smaller group speculates that Google may simply disassociate the reviews from the original account and display them under a generic “Google User” label instead.

If the majority opinion proves correct, this will only add to the chaos because not only will review counts be inaccurate, but actual reviews may also start disappearing permanently.

What Can You Do?

Unfortunately, there’s no magic fix for this situation. But the best thing you can do is keep getting more reviews.

We know, it’s frustrating to hear the same advice over and over, but the only way to combat disappearing reviews is to keep earning new ones. If you’re not actively requesting reviews, now’s the time to make it part of your daily routine. For ideas on how to do this, check out this article from a while back where we put together a guide on getting more reviews: Reviews: Why You Must Get Them (And Tips for Getting More)

If you’re not using our ReviewStream service, you might consider it. It’s an easy, hands-off way to get reviews every month. You just feed it your list of client emails and it will ask them to leave a review each month.

Final Thoughts

Losing reviews is frustrating, but this isn’t the first time Google has had a glitch like this, and it probably won’t be the last. The best way to protect your online reputation is to keep your review count growing so that even if you lose a few, you’re still ahead.

 

GBP Suspensions Due To “Google Account Restricted”

Last Updated: December 19, 2024

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If you’ve ever dealt with a Google Business Profile (GBP) suspension, you know it’s frustrating, confusing, and disruptive to your business. One sneaky root cause we’re seeing more often is tied to a “Google account restricted” email. Let’s break it down.

What Does “Google Account Restricted” Mean?

This issue pops up when an email tied to your GBP (whether it’s the owner’s or one of the managers’) gets flagged by Google for bad behavior. When that happens, Google will suspend any profile tied to that email address. Ouch.

It will look like this:
Google account restricted - sample message illustrating how it will appear to the user

The tricky part? Many GBPs have more than one email associated with them, so figuring out which email is restricted can feel like solving a mystery. For a marketing company like Prospect Genius, we can tell if it’s our email causing the problem by looking to all the other GBPs tied to that account. But most business owners have just a single GBP so it’s much harder to rule out any of the emails that way.

Why This Happens

Since some marketing companies don’t follow Google’s rules, we’re starting to see a rise in the number of “restricted account” issues tied to emails owned by these firms. Unfortunately, if they get flagged for bad behavior on a different GBP, yours will get taken down too, just because it’s tied to that “restricted” account. This makes it critical to choose your partners wisely.

What You Can Do to Protect Your GBP

Here are our best tips for staying ahead of this headache:

  1. Monitor Your GBP Regularly
    Keep an eye on your profile’s status. Suspensions can happen without warning, so it’s better to catch them early.
  2. Vet Your Marketing Providers
    Do your homework on any marketing company you work with. Are they following Google’s guidelines? A rule-breaking company could bring your GBP down with them.
  3. Track Who’s Connected
    Know exactly which emails are listed as owners or managers of your GBP. The more people connected, the more potential for issues. If you have a “restricted” account, you’ll need to identify and remove it ASAP.

Don’t Risk DIY Debugging

Remember: Google only gives you two chances to reinstate a suspended listing. Use them wisely. If you’re unsure what caused the suspension, call in a pro early in the process. Waiting until after your two tries are up severely limits your options.

The Bottom Line

While “deceptive content” remains the most common reason for GBP suspensions, these “Google account restricted” cases are increasing. Stay proactive by monitoring your account, choosing trusted marketing partners, and seeking help when you need it.

Keeping your GBP in good standing is critical to staying visible online. With the right precautions, you can avoid being caught in someone else’s mistakes.

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