Voice search (activated) scam SEO telemarketers
I need to publish my cell number for business naturally that attracts more scammers than actual customers. I have gotten hundreds of calls because "my Google business listing is not verified".
It is a scam! Companies who try to sell SEO (search engine optimization) are often scammers. If you want to improve your SEO many web hosts have tutorials and tools built into their platform that you already pay for.
Further, your SEO is working just fine if the scammers are finding you already!
I have Verizon which does not care about spam. Their call blocker only works on a tiny fraction of spam calls. Thankfully, most of the calls spoof caller IDs from 5 exchanges. I installed the free Simple Call Blocker and it helps tons. But not enough of course, some exchanges are local and I don't want to block them. ( I am in no way affiliated with this app. It is free, no tracking, no ads and it works).
Over the last few years I have tried everything to stop these daily calls. I actually verified by business with Google. I had to make a selfie video and all that jazz. I also got listed on Apple and Bing (who the heck uses Bing Places?). As far as I can tell, business cannot register with Amazon for Alexa results.
I tried explaining to the telemarketers that I wasn't interested, it was pointless. I also tried playing dumb to keep them on the phone as long as possible. One minute and 48 seconds is my record. Most seem to realize you are wasting their time pretty quickly.
I use the built in phone call recorder which makes an announcement when it starts. Timing the announcement is key, if a human hears it they will hang up. So I switched to starting the recording as soon as I press zero.
Being nasty does nothing. So does trying to find out who they work for usually they stick to "Voice Search" of "Voice Search Activated".
Asking their address also causes them to hang up right away. However, sometimes they will claim 40+ locations.
I have started pretending to be a customer who loves their service. Another Reddit post tipped me off to the pricing. The image is the transcript.