Apple Maps scammer speaks with a Jolly Roger bot about local listings

Hello all! In this call, a Jolly Roger bot named Jolly Jenny speaks with a telemarketer who has called to help a business with their Apple Maps listings. I guess people are wary of the “Google Maps” scam, so this is a variation where the agents says all these new words like “IOS 11 update” and “Siri searches” and “smartphone market share”. But essentially it is the same thing. For a fee, this agent will add you to some Apple Maps index so you show up in local searches. You can hear other agents in the background saying the exact same pitch in the exact same tone of voice.

Although it is entertaining, there are some interesting tidbits here. She sounds very professional throughout the interaction. She assumes she called a business but Jolly Jenny is obviously at home dealing with at lot of distractions. In this day where people work from home all the time, this is not unusual and the agent deals with these personal distractions well.

Jolly Jenny attempts to engage the agent with a few personal questions. The agent deflects the questions and does not engage in a lot of personal interaction (although she does have tattoos!). She also says she “works with teenagers” which is interesting here. Perhaps these call centers employ a lot of young people? I also noticed at least one other female agent in the background speaking the same pitch. There might have been more. But I did not hear any “foreign accents” or any male agents. It could be this operation has decided “young female native English speakers” are the most successful at this. I also think the agents believe they are providing a legitimate service, which makes them even more convincing.

And as part of a bigger picture, this scam is part of a recent economic ecosystem around the idea I call “feeding The Algorithm”. The Internet is so complex now, and there is so much automation, that all business or marketing plans include feeding The Algorithm, whether The Algorithm is managed by Google, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, Tritter, or anything that requires attention. Heck, I do it too with Jolly Roger Telephone. What time of day should I post this? How often should I podcast? What keywords should I use? And there are plenty of companies out there that will help you feed The Algorithm. But unfortunately, there are a bunch who are scamming you also. And, if the FTC, BBB, or any authorities busted this company, who is to say it’s a scam? This company can claim they are providing legitimate “Algorithm feeding” services. So it makes it really tricky to deal with this type of call. However, there are plenty of articles about these “map listing” scams that I feel no sympathy for this company.

Anyway, please enjoy! And if you are tired of dealing with telemarketers and cold-callers, let our Jolly Roger bots deal with them for you! You don’t have time to chat with them, and it helps everyone else too.

Thanks for listening!