Will Google call a tradesperson and ask for money to keep a listing?

No. Google says a call from Google will not ask you to pay, to sign up for a service, or to hand over personal information, and it will not guarantee a special spot. Hang up, press nothing, and check the profile by typing the address yourself.

Should I read a Google code out to someone who says they are verifying my listing?

No. A code texted by Google is the check that the person entering it controls the account. Google says it will not ask you for private or sensitive information. Do not read the code out.

How do I tell a real Companies House email from a fake invoice?

A real Companies House email ends in .gov.uk. Filing is done on GOV.UK. Letters that demand a private fee, including a known example asking for £48 for enhanced web filing access, are listed by Companies House as scams. Do not pay, and do not follow the QR code.

I returned a directory form. Do I have to pay the invoice?

Read the form you sent back. Action Fraud warns that some forms say to return them even if you do not want the listing, and that the small print treats the return as an order. Do not pay an invoice you do not recognise without reading that form. Report directory fraud to Action Fraud.

Calls and letters that pretend to be Google or Companies House

Hang up on a caller who says they are from Google and that your listing comes down today unless you pay or read out a code. Google says it will not ask you for payment on the phone, and it will not guarantee you a special place. The same rule covers a letter that looks like Companies House and a directory form that says to send it back even if you do not want the listing.

Blake Folgado, Co-founder, Tradehand19 October 20267 min read

A clay gas engineer reads a printed page at a van's open side door

Key takeaways

Google will not ask for payment, a signup, or personal information on the phone, and it will not guarantee a special spot.
If a caller asks you to read out a code that just arrived, that code is the login. Do not read it out.
A real Companies House email ends in .gov.uk. A letter demanding money for a filing you can do yourself is a known pattern.
A directory form that must be returned even if you decline can be the order, in the small print.

The call that says Google will delete you

Google's own help page on fraudulent calls says people ring businesses claiming to work with Google or for Google, then sell a scheme. On a real Google call you are not asked to sign up for a service, pay money, or give personal information. Google also says it will never ask for payment information over the phone or guarantee you a special spot in its products.

If the caller says your listing is flagged, suspended, or coming down today, hang up. Do not press a button because a recorded voice tells you to. Google says pressing buttons can send you into more of these calls. Do not argue and do not "just confirm the details".

Then check the listing yourself. Open a new browser tab and type the address. Do not use a link from the call, the text, or the email. Sign in at the Business Profile you already use. A real problem shows there. A dashboard with no warning means the call was the product.

A cousin of the same call asks you to read out a code that has just arrived by text. That code is how Google checks it is you. Handing it to the caller hands them the account. Google says it will not ask you for private or sensitive information.

Source: Google Business Profile Help: fraudulent calls and texts

Paying to keep a free listing

A Google Business Profile does not have a fee. Google's rules for third parties say that if someone charges you to manage the profile, they must tell you in writing, before they start, that Business Profile itself is provided at no extra cost. The fee, if there is one, has to show on the invoice.

You, or your company, must keep ownership or be able to take it back. Google requires the third party to let you disconnect them and regain exclusive control within seven working days of you telling them to stop. If they created the profile inside an account you cannot open, that is the problem to fix before the next direct debit, not after. How to see who owns it is in what the seller keeps when you leave.

A ranking promise on the same call is a separate pitch. Google's hiring guidance, covered in ranking promises sold to tradespeople, is that nobody can guarantee first place.

Source: Google Business Profile Help: third-party policies

Letters that borrow Companies House

Companies House publishes examples of letters that are not from them. One known letter asks a company to pay £48 for "Enhanced Web Filing Access". Others invoice for company registration, a "unit charge", or a "secure vault". They use a logo, a QR code, and a short deadline.

A genuine Companies House email comes from an address ending in .gov.uk. Official filing is done on GOV.UK. If a letter asks you to pay a private company for something Companies House already lets you do, do not pay it and do not open the QR code. Companies House asks you to contact them on 0303 1234 500 about a suspicious letter, and to send scam emails to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk.

The same shape turns up for trade marks: an invoice to "renew" or list a mark on a private register, at a price well above the Intellectual Property Office. Companies House and the IPO have warned about both together. A disclaimer in small print that the sender is not the government does not make the letter something you owe.

Sources: GOV.UK: reporting scams pretending to be from Companies House, GOV.UK: Companies House and the IPO warn about unsolicited payment requests

The directory form that is the contract

Action Fraud describes a pattern aimed at businesses. A letter, email, or fax offers a free listing in a directory. It asks you to return the form even if you do not want the listing. The small print says that returning the form is an order, and the invoice follows. If you query it, the sender may write again as a debt collector.

The directory may barely exist. A phone version of the same approach offers an advert in a magazine "for the emergency services" or "for your trade body", sometimes with one glossy copy in the post. Circulation is the thing to ask for, in writing, before any signature. A sample copy is not a print run.

Do not pay an invoice you do not remember ordering. Check it against the contracts you do have. Staff who open the post need the same instruction, because the form is written to be signed by whoever is nearest the envelope.

Source: Action Fraud: business directory fraud

What to do after you have engaged

If you read out a code, change the Google password from a device you trust, turn on two-factor, and check who has access to the Business Profile. If you paid, keep the letter, the text, and the bank reference.

Report it to Action Fraud. Companies House letters and emails go to the contacts above as well. Stopping the payment on a card is a question for the bank, and it is separate from whether a signed directory form created a debt. Read anything you returned before you assume the invoice is void.

Sources: Action Fraud, GOV.UK: reporting scams pretending to be from Companies House