If your business phone rings and a recording says “Your Google listing is about to be removed” or “Press 1 to verify your Google Business listing,” hang up. Google does not make those calls. This guide shows you how to recognize the scam, what to do if you already gave them money or access, and how to lock your profile down so it never matters.
How the scam works
Robocall operations buy lists of local businesses and dial them by the thousands. The script is always some version of urgency: your listing is “unverified,” “suspended,” “not showing on Maps,” or “about to be deleted.” Press 1 and you reach a live agent who will either:
- Sell you something you don’t need — a monthly “Google listing management” fee of $99–$499 for work you can do yourself in ten minutes.
- Ask for your login or verification code — so they can take over your Business Profile, change the phone number, and redirect your customers.
- Claim you owe Google money — Google Business Profile is free. There is nothing to pay.
Five tells that it isn’t Google
- It’s a recorded message. Google does not robocall businesses about their listing. Ever.
- They want a verification code. Google will never call to ask for the code it just texted you. That code is the key to your profile.
- There’s a deadline. “Respond today or lose your listing” is a sales tactic, not a Google policy.
- They can’t name your profile manager. A real Google rep (rare, and only if you opened a support case) knows the account email on the profile.
- The caller ID is local. Spoofed numbers that match your area code are designed to get you to pick up.
If you already paid or shared access
- Sign in to your Business Profile right now at business.google.com and check Users. Remove anyone you don’t recognize. Confirm the phone number, website and hours are still yours.
- Change your Google password and turn on 2-step verification for the account that owns the profile.
- Call your card company and dispute the charge as fraud. Most issuers reverse these within days.
- Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov and, for the robocall itself, at donotcall.gov. It takes two minutes and the reports do get used.
Lock your profile down for good
- Make sure the profile is owned by an email you control — not a former employee, not a past agency.
- Add a second owner (a partner or your web team) so one lost login can’t lock you out.
- Turn on profile notifications so you get an email the moment anything changes.
- Check the profile monthly — phone, hours, categories, and whether Google has “suggested” edits you never approved.
What Google actually does
Google verifies listings by postcard, video, phone text or email — and only when you start the process. If you want to confirm something you heard, go to business.google.com yourself. Never follow a link or number from a cold call.
Free checklist: the 10-minute profile audit
- Business name matches your storefront and legal name (no keywords stuffed in).
- Primary category is the one customers would search for.
- Phone and website are correct and the website loads with https.
- Hours are current, including holiday hours.
- At least 10 real photos, with a logo and cover set.
- Every review from the last 90 days has a reply.
- Products or services are listed with descriptions.
- Q&A section has your most common questions answered by you.
- No unknown users under Business Profile settings → People and access.
- A post went up in the last 30 days.
If you’d rather have someone run that audit for you, that’s exactly what we do — and unlike the robocall, the audit is actually free.