This needs to be at the top. Google confirms that it was their representatives who pulled off the scam, not someone posing as Google. We can all stop making excuses for them now
What we know:
1: Google employees or contractors or partners did this (called Mocality listed businesses, said they were from Google/Mocality and sold websites etc.)
2: Apparently they were a rogue person/team/unit inside of Google
3: But there seemed to be a lot of callers involved
4: They moved the calling unit to India
5: Google HQ now knows about this
Speculation
1: Nobody in Google HQ knew about this at the time
2: The person or people involved in Google Kenya were quite high up to be able to motivate that many people
3: The India team was not part of Google's team. (or perhaps they were). They got involved because the heat was on in Kenya.
4: Mocality suffered a loss here (e.g. use of data to be used to solicit businesses against their terms and conditions), the people doing so were at Google and representing Google and thus Google has opened themselves up for a considerable legal mess.
5: The Nigerian courts and legal system are too hard/expensive/slow for Mocality and Google to navigate, so Mocality have turned to PR to motivate Google to change.
6: That approach is working, and it should be working. Google needs to do something urgently to fix this.
7: Getting rid of the partners is insufficient remedy for Mocality. There needs to be some compensation involved for the solicitation of a considerable percentage of Mocality's listings.
8: Ultimately the best way for Google to handle this is to purchase Mocality.
Questions
1:Was the India team a Google team one or outsourced to some rascals there?
2: What will Google do to compensate Mocality of this scam?
3: Has Mocality retained a lawyer in Nigeria, have they formally asked Google to Cease and Desist and requested compensation?
4: Why has Google not approached Mocality wrt purchase of their data?
5: Who has the relationship with any businesses that did sign up to the scammers? What will happen to that relationship and to the money paid?
Kenya is sorta different country.. :)
They are not perfect, but they seem very transparent by admitting it.
I wonder if its also dishonest people working in search results...