This is not Google. Google does not call businesses to sell listing management. It also never threatens suspension over the phone. These calls typically use vague company names and generic scripts. They rarely reference your actual business by name, and often create manufactured urgency.
How the Call Usually Goes
The script is consistent enough to spot before you hang up. The caller claims there’s an “urgent issue with the keywords” on your Google Business Profile, then warns the listing will be suspended or removed unless it’s fixed immediately. There’s typically a manufactured deadline — often tied to the office supposedly “closing” that day — designed to stop you checking with anyone else first. The caller ID rarely matches a genuine Google number, the caller rarely uses your actual business name, and the script barely varies between the calls different businesses report receiving.
What Google Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Google does not cold call businesses about Business Profile performance, keyword rankings, or suspension risk. Google does not sell Business Profile optimisation as a paid service, and it will never ask for payment or login credentials over the phone. The only circumstance in which Google calls is when you’ve scheduled a support session yourself through the Business Profile help centre — and even then, it won’t ask for your password.
- Hang up — don’t press any buttons
- Don’t call the number back
- Never share login details or payment information over the phone
- Genuine Google contact is rare and never asks for payment or credentials
If You’ve Already Given Information
If a payment was made, contact your bank immediately to flag the transaction and check for a chargeback. If login details were shared, change your Google account password straight away and review the Business Profile’s list of managers for any account you don’t recognise, removing it if found. Report the call to Google directly through the Business Profile help centre, and consider reporting it to Action Fraud if a payment was taken.
Other scams that use Google’s name
The phone call isn’t the only version of this. Phishing emails and texts mimicking Google’s login page try to harvest your Business Profile credentials the same way the calls do — always check the sending domain rather than the display name before clicking anything.
Unsolicited offers to “remove negative reviews” for a fee are also a scam pattern: Google doesn’t sell review removal, and the only legitimate route is reporting a review that breaches Google’s policies, which is free. The same goes for anyone guaranteeing a #1 ranking or a top Map Pack position for a flat fee — no one can guarantee organic or Map Pack placement, including Google itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only if you request a support session yourself through the Business Profile help centre. Google does not initiate calls about keyword performance, rankings, or suspension risk, and it never asks for payment or login details over the phone.
It’s a closely related pattern — unsolicited calls invoking Google’s name to create urgency and extract payment or account access. The advice is the same either way: Google does not cold call about ad performance or listing management.
Report it through Google’s Business Profile help centre, and block the number on your phone. If a payment was made, report it to your bank and to Action Fraud.
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