Locksmith scam

Not to be confused with sticker scam.

Nearly every locksmith that appears on Google Maps is a fake business that redirects to a call center ... that dispatches a scammy, distant, barely trained locksmith who'll come and charge you 5-10 times more than you were quoted.

— Cory Doctorow, Superb investigative report on the fake locksmith scam (BoingBoing, 2016)

For me, it was always like I was looking at a five-alarm fire. To [Google], it was smoldering.

— Dan Austin, quoted in Fake Online Locksmiths May Be Out to Pick Your Pocket, Too. (The New York Times, 2016)

The locksmith scam is a multi-faceted scam, targeting people who have been locked out of cars or buildings. Side-effects of the scam include damage to the reputations, and to the ability to advertise, of uninvolved, legitimate locksmiths.

Locksmith scams have been reported in the U.S., the U.K., and New Zealand.

Structure

Such scams may involve:

• Lead generation, designed to confuse potential customers into believing that the scammer is a legitimate, but low-priced, locksmith:

• Creating websites, search engine advertisements and business directory listings designed to resemble those of legitimate locksmiths.

• Using retouched photographs depicting locksmith stores at locations where no store actually exists.

• Procuring dishonest reviews.

• Using names similar or identical to those of legitimate locksmiths.

• Using addresses that are either fictitious, or are P. O. boxes, or belong to an existing home or business (sometimes, but not always, a locksmith business).

• Driving up the price of online advertisements to make them unaffordable for legitimate locksmiths. (Locksmiths businesses are among those worst affected by click fraud.)

• Calls being routed to a call centre, rather than to an actual locksmith.

• Unrealistically low prices advertised, or quoted by the call centre, together with the caveat, "and up".

• Lead conversion, in which the mark is bluntly persuaded to part with money:

• Using vehicles that have no signage or only magnetic stick-on signage, to reduce accountability.

• Using staff lacking identification or uniforms, again to reduce accountability.

• Disinterest in the customer's right to access the vehicle or building to which the call-out relates; for example, failing to ask the customer for ID or proof of ownership.

• Refusing to provide a written estimate, also to reduce accountability.

• Insisting upon the use of destructive rather than non-destructive entry, typically by destroying the original lock and necessitating the purchase of a replacement lock.

• Charging excessive prices, even if low prices were advertised or quoted by the call centre (i.e. bait-and-switch).

• Insisting upon payment by cash or debit card (because if paid by credit card, the charges are potentially reversible).

Legal action

Locksmiths and other observers have noted that search engine companies make substantial income from paid-for listings, regardless of whether the listings are legitimate or spam.

In the U.S. in 2005, a Bronx-based company was sued by the Chicago Department of Consumer services for alleged consumer fraud.

In the U.S. in 2009, three alleged locksmith scammers were unsuccessfully prosecuted in St. Louis.

In the U.K. in 2010, a locksmith scammer was successfully prosecuted.

In the U.S. in 2014, a locksmith based in Virginia sued Google, Yellowbook (Hibu), and Ziplocal, under numerous laws, requesting that those companies "remove fraudulent locksmith listings from their search results". This, too, was unsuccessful, due to the companies' immunity under the Communications Decency Act.

In the U.S. in 2017-2018, a group of 14 locksmiths filed a lawsuit against Google, Yahoo, and Bing, alleging that these search engines allowed spam listings to drown out legitimate, organic search results.

Google claims to have removed billions of advertisements that violated its policies, and to have improved its verification systems to combat listings fraud. However, although Google now requires people advertising locksmith services in the US or Canada to complete its "Advanced Verification" process, it does not do so in other markets. Also, Google has reportedly resisted removing fraudulent listings.

See also

• Adversarial information retrieval
• Criticism of Google
• Deregulation
• Hijacked journal
• Misinformation
• Passing off
• Sybil attack
• Typosquatting