Pinning Down Abuse on Google Maps
Pinning Down Abuse on Google Maps Danny Yuxing Huangx, Doug Grundmanz, Kurt Thomasz, Abhishek Kumarz, Elie Burszteinz, Kirill Levchenkox, and Alex C. Snoerenx x{dhuang, klevchen, snoeren}@cs.ucsd.edu, z{dgrundman, kurtthomas, abhishekkr, elieb}@google.com xUniversity of California, San Diego zGoogle Inc ABSTRACT also ripe for abuse. Early forms of attacks included defacement, In this paper, we investigate a new form of blackhat search engine such as graffiti posted to Google Maps in Pakistan [13]. How- optimization that targets local listing services like Google Maps. ever, increasing economic incentives are driving an ecosystem of Miscreants register abusive business listings in an attempt to siphon deceptive business practices that exploit localized search, such as search traffic away from legitimate businesses and funnel it to de- illegal locksmiths that extort victims into paying for inferior ser- ceptive service industries—such as unaccredited locksmiths—or vices [9]. In response, local listing services like Google Maps em- to traffic-referral scams, often for the restaurant and hotel indus- ploy increasingly sophisticated verification mechanisms to try and try. In order to understand the prevalence and scope of this threat, prevent fraudulent listings from appearing on their services. we obtain access to over a hundred-thousand business listings on In this work, we explore a form of blackhat search engine opti- Google Maps that were suspended for abuse. We categorize the mization where miscreants overcome a service’s verification steps types of abuse affecting Google Maps; analyze how miscreants cir- to register fraudulent localized listings. These listings attempt to cumvented the protections against fraudulent business registration siphon organic search traffic away from legitimate businesses and such as postcard mail verification; identify the volume of search instead funnel it to profit-generating scams.
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