Google has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Ethan QiQi Hu and Rafadigital, accusing them of creating 350 fraudulent Business Profiles and 14,000 fake reviews for a business verification service for Google.
The tech giant has already removed the allegedly fake content but is taking legal action to prevent similar fraudulent activities in the future.
Google claims that Hu and his companies manipulated business listings on Google, deceived consumers and small business owners, and sold fake listings and consumer information. The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the defendants from advertising or selling business verification services, creating fake profiles, and requests appropriate compensation.
In 2022, Google detected over 20 million attempts to create fake Business Profiles, highlighting the widespread problem that the FTC estimated costs the average American internet user $125 per year.
Business Profiles on Google provide users with essential information about companies, including addresses, phone numbers, operating hours, customer reviews, and images. According to the lawsuit, Hu and his team abused Google products to create non-existent business listings and supplemented them with fake reviews.
They then sold these listings and the inquiries from deceived consumers to individuals and entities looking to promote their businesses on Google platforms.
Hu allegedly employed deceptive tactics during verification calls with Google agents, using props relevant to the fictional companies to convince them of their legitimacy.
Additionally, Google claims that GMBEye’s website promoted services that bypassed Google’s standard procedures and guaranteed top positions in Google Map searches. The lawsuit states that Rafadigital’s advertising made exaggerated and unachievable promises, such as ensuring a website shows up as the top result on Google and outranking local competitors.
Google is seeking a ban on the defendants’ advertising and selling of business verification services, the creation of fake profiles, and appropriate compensation to be determined by the jury.
