I received a call today from phone number 571-279-8054 claiming to be Google. The beginning of the message was cut off, but stated, “To verify your listings press 1 or press 9 to be removed from the list. Again, press 1 to validate your Google listing.”
They first called on March 4th, 2015 and just now on March 19th, 2015. I suspect it’s a scam/phishing/marketing ploy, but maybe someone from Google can chime in?
For the record, I recommend not responding to the message in any way. Best case, they confirm that you are a human and are likely a sucker for their tricks. Worst case, you get charged some enormous fee for special phone usage. (like when people had missed calls from the Bahamas.)
Just spreading the word. Good luck. 🙂
Update (3/23/2015) :
In addition to the number above (571-279-8054) I just received another call from a local number (412-347-3486) stating that they were Google and I needed to press 1 to update my listing or 2 to be removed from the list. If this phone call really was from Google, I’d expect to see an associated email or other notification. Google is normally very good about these things, so I’d be surprised to find out this is anything other than a scam.
Update (3/24/2015) :
With a tiny bit of internet research, I’ve discovered that Google has a scam reporting page in place. Whether you’re receiving fake telemarketing calls like those above, or even text messages, you can learn more and report the issue at the link below. They also mention that Google does not make robocalls. So, any automated call or message claiming to be from Google is likely a scam.
https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/2952493?hl=en#telemarketing