Keep Your Company’s Information Safe
Lately more and more companies are being targeted by callers saying they are calling from Google. Most of the callers are companies selling some kind of online service while misrepresenting themselves as Google. Other times, however, these calls can be even more nefarious. You may be asked to give your credit card number and/or other financial account information. Please remember this absolute: Google never calls for payment information.
One of the most common ploys of these callers is to ask for a small payment—something people won’t think of as a big deal. Often they claim your website has key terms that are not being released for searches until a small payment of $5.00 is made. It is easy to be willing to pay such a small sum to get “20 more key terms visible to the search engines.” However, once you’ve given away your payment information, who knows when and what it will be used for. What is certain is that Google is not calling for payment.
Other callers ask for a lot of company information, stating they need to verify the information in order to increase search engine rankings. Instead, the caller is interested in gathering demographics for their own marketing campaign, or to sell the information to other companies for marketing purposes.
When You May Hear from Google
Yet another call scam strategy states your Google Plus page is not verified. The only time you will receive anything from Google is to verify your Google Plus account. Before you get that call, though, our clients will always receive a call from someone in our office explaining the verification process. That is the only time Google will call, and you will have heard from us first.
If you have been contacted regarding your website or any information questioning your online presence, we are here to help. Call EWS whenever you have questions or concerns about these callers. Remember, you will not get a call from Google. Not even when you are running a SEM campaign. Above all, never give out any payment information to these callers. If you haven’t heard from us about an upcoming Google contact, assume the call is fake.
If you have been contacted by phone or by mail by someone saying they represent Google, you can report them through Google’s Contact Us page.