Thank you. That makes sense for a lot of cases. I saw some business names that had 50+ locations in one city, but I guess given enough motivation, that can be done.

Related: I submitted edits for some of the businesses (marking them "Doesn't exist") and Google rejected the edits. My Maps contribution history says "NOT APPLIED - Google couldn't verify your edit" for a long list of fake businesses. If that's how they process reports - about new businesses with obviously anomalous reviews - it's no wonder this continues.

The 'fixing up mistakes in the map' team is quite separate from the anti-spam team.

Using volunteer reports for anti-spam doesn't work because the spammers play a numbers game, and perhaps only 10% will be reported by a good citizen like you.

I guess I don't see them as mutually exclusive. I agree that relying on volunteer reports isn't sufficient, but from what we're looking at here, neither is relying on an anti-spam team/proactive detection.

(Google Maps PMs, if you're reading this: feel free to contact me to hear my experience. There are some seemingly simple, low-false-positive ways to improve reporting of fake businesses and accounts.)