{"id":114429,"date":"2018-11-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=114429"},"modified":"2025-07-01T22:42:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:42:02","slug":"google-maps-look-out-for-this-scam-targeting-your-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-maps-look-out-for-this-scam-targeting-your-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps: Look out for this scam targeting your bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-114434\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Scammers targeting banks on google maps\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-664x374.jpg 664w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-238x134.jpg 238w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-436x246.jpg 436w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-370x208.jpg 370w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-304x170.jpg 304w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/google-maps-bank-scam.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We recently learned exciting news about a Google Maps update that makes it easier for you to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/did-google-maps-just-become-a-messaging-app\/?ex=BB-682.0\">contact the businesses you need to use from inside the Google Maps app<\/a>. Messages is a brand new feature that opens up a whole new world of functionality to Google Maps and pits it against other big apps like Facebook Messenger and the fairly new <a href=\"http:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/whatsapp-business-is-live-what-is-whatsapp-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WhatsApp Business<\/a>. Now we have to bring you news of new way that scammers are targeting banks on Google Maps<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Google Maps\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_optimized,f_auto\/p\/95612986-96d5-11e6-af7c-00163ec9f5fa\/3278374776\/google-maps-logo.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Google Maps<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-maps.en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Google Maps<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--70\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"70\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"7\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-maps.en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h2>Hackers are changing the contact details of banks on Google Maps to try and trip you up<\/h2>\n<p>Google Maps allows users to submit changes and corrections to listings on the navigation app. This allows fraudsters to change the contact details of financial institutions like banks so that when customers try to call or message their banks the fraudsters can intercept the correspondence. With the first interactions with financial institutions always being confirming security details on the account,<strong> this leaves customers very vulnerable to having their accounts compromised.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This scam was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/technology\/a-new-bank-scam-using-google-maps-loophole\/article25541414.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first reported in India and picked by local newspaper The Hindu<\/a>. After receiving more than three complaints from the Bank of India, Police in the state of Maharashtra notified Google and put out a local warning relating to the scam. There is nothing stopping scammers in other parts of the world from trying the scam in their area.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-related-articles-white\">\r\n<p class=\"sc-related-articles-white__title\">More Softonic Articles<\/p>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"5 tips to prevent security issues with your phone \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/5-tips-to-prevent-security-issues-with-your-phone\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/Screen-Shot-2018-03-19-at-12.34.02.png)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>5 tips to prevent security issues with your phone \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"8 tricks to strengthen your WhatsApp security \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/8-tricks-to-strengthen-your-whatsapp-security\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/11\/whatsapp-web-screenshot-1024x576-1024x576.png)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>8 tricks to strengthen your WhatsApp security \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"7 mistakes that put your internet security at risk \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/mistakes-internet-security-risk\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/06\/5mistakesHeader-1024x576.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>7 mistakes that put your internet security at risk \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"8 tricks to boost your security on Google Chrome \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/8-tricks-to-boost-your-security-on-google-chrome\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/11\/crome-security-1024x576-1024x576.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>8 tricks to boost your security on Google Chrome \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>In the story reported by The Hindu, Google acknowledged the problem but didn\u2019t mention any specific fix. A Google spokesperson said, \u201cOverall, allowing users to suggest edits provides comprehensive and up-to-date info, but we recognise there may be occasional inaccuracies or bad edits suggested by them. When this happens, we do our best to address the issue as quickly as possible. The Google Safety Center outlines tips to help consumers stay safe online.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There doesn\u2019t seem to be any sort of automatic defense against this problem in development, but Google will act quickly whenever an incident comes to its attention.<\/p>\n<h3>How to stay safe<\/h3>\n<p>This all means then that we need to be extra careful when we\u2019re searching online for contact details to financial institutions like banks. If you do find yourself looking for a phone number online, don\u2019t trust it unless the number is also listed on the bank\u2019s official website. Should you come across the number through Google Maps or some other third-party website, a simple Google search including the number and the name of the financial institution in question should yield the contact page on the official website. If it doesn\u2019t, you should suspect the number in question and think about reporting it.<\/p>\n<p>For more tips on consumer safety online, check out the Google Safety Center <a href=\"https:\/\/safety.google\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<!-- Shortcode [playwire] does not match the conditions -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hackers are changing the contact details of banks on Google Maps to try and catch you out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":114434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[1082,2346,1068,1061,1034,1027,1033,1035],"usertag":[839],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-114429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-android","tag-app-subdomain-redirectiongoogle-maps","tag-google","tag-google-maps","tag-money","tag-security","tag-shopping","tag-social-media","usertag-vpn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326977,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114429\/revisions\/326977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114429"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=114429"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=114429"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=114429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}