You have two ways to report a fake locksmith on Google Maps. "Suggest an edit" takes a minute and is built for one wrong place. Google's Business Redressal Complaint form takes longer, but it is built for fraud, and it takes a whole batch of listings at once. If you are fighting a ring of fakes, use the form.
Every figure below links to where it came from. This post is for the shop owner who keeps losing lockout calls to listings that don't exist.
What counts.
- Locksmiths are the top target. In Google's own study, 42.7% of locksmith listings on a given day were fake.
- The fakes leave a trail. Mailbox addresses, ZIP codes that move, and throwaway phone numbers.
- "Suggest an edit" handles one place. The Redressal form handles fraud, 10 to 100 URLs at a time.
- Google won't tell you what happened. Track your reports yourself.
- Clean up your own listing first. The same filters that catch fakes can catch you.
How Bad It Is for Locksmiths
No trade gets hit harder. A team of Google and university researchers studied every listing Google suspended for abuse from June 2014 to September 2015. They published it in 2017 as Pinning Down Abuse on Google Maps.
Locksmiths were 25.7% of all the abusive listings worldwide. In the US alone, they were 43.9%. On a typical day, 42.7% of all locksmith listings were fake. Those fakes pulled 11.1% of the views on locksmith searches. In one New York town, 83.3% of locksmith results were fake.
That was ten years ago. It has not gone away.
In March 2025, Google sued alleged scammers over fake Maps listings, CBS News reported. It started with one complaint. A Texas locksmith found an unlicensed locksmith pretending to be them on Google Maps. Google dug in and took down more than 10,000 bad listings. Some were made up. Others were real accounts that had been hijacked. Google found the scams clustered in what it calls "duress verticals," like locksmiths and towing. Those are the jobs people need fast, under stress.
So one locksmith's report took down 10,000 listings. That is the reason to file.
Fake Locksmith Listings, by the Numbers
Spot the Fake Before You Report It
Google wants proof, not a hunch. So learn the marks a fake leaves. The 2017 study found the same patterns again and again.
- A mailbox for an address. 17.0% of fake locksmiths were verified at a UPS Store address. Only 0.4% of real ones were.
- A ZIP code that moves. 80.4% of mail verified fake locksmiths changed ZIP code after they got verified. Only 9.7% of real locksmiths did.
- A throwaway phone number. 90.6% of fake locksmiths used cheap VoIP numbers. The calls went to a call center, not a shop.
- A switched category. 16.8% of fake locksmiths started out as some other kind of business, then changed to locksmith.
Then hold the listing up to Google's own rules. The Business Profile guidelines say a P.O. box or a remote mailbox is not an acceptable address. A rented mailing address you don't work from is a virtual office, and it can't have a profile. A service area business gets one profile, not one per town. The phone must be under the business's direct control. It can't refer callers to another company. And the name must be the real world name, with no extra keywords or hours stuffed in.
Each broken rule is something you can quote in your report. That matters, as you'll see below.
What a Real Search Looks Like Today
On October 22, 2026, we ran a Google Maps search for "locksmith" in Los Angeles through DataForSEO and kept the first 40 results. Seven were KeyMe key kiosks. We looked at the other 33 for the marks above.
| Sign | Listings out of 33 | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Suite, unit or apartment number in the address | 11 | Real shops use suites. So do mailbox stores. One was an apartment. |
| Hours wording like 24/7 in the name | 6 | Google lists hours in a name as not allowed, unless it is the real name. |
| Perfect 5.0 with under 20 reviews | 6 | New, or bought. Check the review dates. |
| No website | 6 | Common for old shops. Also common for fakes. |
| Address hidden | 3 | Normal for a mobile locksmith. Check the service area. |
| Not claimed by an owner | 2 | Nobody controls it. Easy to hijack. |
| Same phone number on two listings | 1 pair | Two shops at two addresses, one phone line. |
None of these proves a listing is fake. Plenty of real shops have a suite number or no website. But when one listing stacks three or four signs, look closer. Drive by the address. Call the number and ask for the shop's street address. Then file with what you found.
The Two Ways to Report, Side by Side
Google's help page on reporting a business on Google Maps lists separate routes. Using the wrong one is the most common reason a report goes nowhere.
| Suggest an edit | Business Redressal Complaint form | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | A place that is closed, not there, or misleading | Fraud in a business's name, phone number or website |
| Where | On the listing in Google Maps | A form on Google's Business Profile help site |
| How many | One listing per report | Many. Google suggests 10 to 100 URLs at a time, or a spreadsheet |
| What you give | A reason from a menu | Your name, your email, the URLs and a written case |
| Status updates | Not promised | None. The form says you won't hear back |
| Best for | A single fake down the street | A ring of fakes, or anyone posing as you |
Use Suggest an Edit for One Listing
Open Google Maps and find the listing. Pick Suggest an edit. Pick "Place is closed or not here." Then pick "Offensive, harmful, or misleading" and submit. Those are the steps on Google's own help page.
Do this from your own Google account, not a new one. Then check the listing again in a week.
Use the Redressal Form for Fraud
Google's help page says to use the Business Redressal Complaint form when a name, phone number or website looks like fraud. That describes most fake locksmiths. The form only reviews fraud in the name, phone, URL or address. A plain typo goes through Suggest an edit instead.
File a Redressal Complaint That Gets Read
The form says Google won't process a complaint that isn't filled out properly. It also says Google can't promise any action. So make it easy to say yes.
1. Collect the Maps URLs
Search each listing in Google Maps, click it, and copy the full link. The form only takes Google Maps links. Put them in a spreadsheet, one per row, with the name, the address and the phone.
2. Pick the Bad Field
The form asks which part is the problem. Title, address, phone number, website, or "This business doesn't exist." Pick the one you can prove. For a mailbox address, pick address. For a call center number, pick phone.
3. Quote the Exact Content
The form asks you to quote the exact content you say is fraud. So quote it. Copy the listing's address word for word and say what is really there. Copy the phone number and say who answered. Vague reports get skipped.
4. Say Who Gets Hurt
For a phone number or a website, the form asks how it harms people or other businesses. Say it plainly. A customer locked out at night calls this number. A call center answers. A stranger shows up who isn't the shop on the listing.
5. Send a Batch, Then Track It
Send 10 to 100 URLs per form, the batch size Google suggests. Keep your spreadsheet. Add the date you filed. Check each listing every week and mark it gone or still up. Since Google won't send an update, your sheet is the only record you'll have.
When a Fake Uses Your Name
This is the case Google acted on in 2025. The Texas locksmith in the CBS News report was being impersonated. CBS described two tricks. One is a fake listing posing as a licensed shop. The other is a real shop's number that gets routed through a lead service to someone else.
If a listing uses your name, file the Redressal form and put your business as the one being harmed. The form has a field for exactly that. Add your own Maps URL so Google can compare the two. Add your license number if your state issues one. Our state by state locksmith license list shows which states do.
Then check your own listing. Make sure nobody added a phone number or website to it. A hijacked real listing was part of the same 2025 case.
What Not to Do
- Don't report a real competitor just because they outrank you. The form is for fraud. Misuse it and your next report means less.
- Don't fight back with bought reviews. The 2025 lawsuit went after people selling fake five star reviews too.
- Don't set up a second listing to crowd them out. That breaks the same one profile rule you are reporting.
Keep Your Own Listing Clean
Google's filters can't tell a good shop from a bad one. They see patterns. If your listing looks like a fake, it can get pulled with them. We see this often with locksmith clients.
- Use your real name. The one on your van, your invoices and your license. No city or "24/7" tacked on unless it is truly your name.
- Use a real address, or hide it. No mailbox stores and no virtual offices. A mobile locksmith with no shop hides the address and sets a service area.
- Keep the phone yours. Google asks for a number under the business's direct control. Use a local number instead of a call center line.
- Keep one profile. One per real location. Not one per town you drive to.
Get those right and the filters work for you, not against you. Our post on locksmith Google Business Profile suspensions covers what to do if you get caught anyway. And our guide to ranking a locksmith on Google Maps covers how to take the spots the fakes leave behind.
We work with one locksmith per zip code. If you would rather have us file the reports and clean up your listing, our local SEO for locksmiths page shows what we do.
Cited Here
- Huang, Grundman, Thomas, Kumar, Bursztein, Levchenko and Snoeren, Pinning Down Abuse on Google Maps, WWW 2017, accessed October 2026
- CBS News, Google finds 10,000 fake listings on Google Maps, sues alleged network of scammers, March 19, 2025, accessed October 2026
- Google Maps Help, Report a business on Google Maps, accessed October 2026
- Google Business Profile Help, Business Redressal Complaint form, accessed October 2026
- Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google, accessed October 2026
- Our own pull, October 22, 2026. The top 40 Google Maps results for "locksmith" in Los Angeles, California, through DataForSEO, counted by the signs in the table above.