Strangers rang a Maryland couple’s doorbell around the clock expecting to pick up marijuana after the home was falsely listed on Google Maps as a 24/7 marijuana dispensary.
The steady flow of would-be stoners caught on camera went on for weeks, despite the homeowners’ best attempts to convince them they’re not a pot shop.
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WATCH HEREHere’s what happened, how the couple struggled to get the listing removed and how NBC4 Responds was able to help.
The trouble at the home Edd Beavers shares with his wife in Laurel began in April. People started showing up day and night. Video shows them on their doorbell camera.
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SIGN UP “The first one was just before midnight, and we had no idea, so it was very scary,” Beavers said.
Afraid, Beavers, who uses a wheelchair, watched the live feed from the camera as stranger after stranger showed up. Many looked as confused as he was.
“The scary part, the first time, was people peering through the windows to see what they could see,” he said. “We had no idea what was going on.”
It turned out the strangers weren’t lost delivery drivers; they were customers who had paid online for gummies and other cannabis goodies and had come to pick it up. Google Maps showed the Beavers’ home address as a 24/7 marijuana dispensary called Green House Gass.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Beavers said.
He said he notified the police and Google, and filled out form after form without seeing any change online or at his door after two weeks.
How a scam listed the couple’s address as a dispensary
So, how did Beaver’s home address get mixed up with a dispensary?
News4 learned a scammer set up a fake weed website and listed the Beavers’ home as its storefront.
Some disgruntled customers wrote scathing reviews.
“Scam,” “Do not trust” and “They expect you to pay without receiving a single thing,” reviews said.
Beavers said the experience left him afraid for his safety.
“They think, ‘Well, this is a cannabis dispensary. They got money.’ They’ll come here and rob the place,” he said.
Eventually, he posted a sign to alert customers they had been scammed.
“This is not a dispensary. Google has scammed you with a wrong address. File a complaint with Google,” it said.
What happened when News4 reached out to the ‘dispensary’
News4 contacted a person identifying himself as James, the dispensary manager, through a Telegram account listed online. He insisted the address was correct, despite News4 telling him it’s a private residence.
When News4 asked “James” for proof of a Maryland dispensary license, which is required by law, he sent a screenshot of what appeared to be a medical marijuana identification card, along with a document supposedly from the Department of Defense, in the United State – singular – of America related to military leave.
News4 sent the document of the Defense Department for a look, and they declined comment.
What happened after News4 contacted Google
News4 Responds reached out to Google after Beavers couldn’t get the listing taken down on his own.
A spokesperson told us they opted to take it down.
“After reviewing this listing, we have removed it from Maps for violating our policies,” a spokesperson said.
News4 asked Google if it verifies a business before posting its address and website on Maps. We haven’t received a response. On its website, Google has a verification process businesses must follow in order to have their profiles appear.
Police said the issue was something Google had to fix because no crime was committed in Laurel. There was no investigation, other than police going to the Beavers’ home and writing a report.
Beavers said he’s glad the buzz is over at long last.
“That’s what we want to do, is get it removed so that we can go back to a peaceful existence,” he said.
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