[Trending News] Voice of America Centre changed to 'Voice of Mexico Center' on Google

WEST CHESTER, Ohio — The Voice of America Centre mall’s name has changed on Google search results to the “Voice of Mexico Center.”

While the mall’s website still has it listed as The Voice of America Centre, when you search for the location on Google or look it up on a map, it shows as the Voice of Mexico Center.

The outdoor shopping center is located in West Chester, off Voice of America Drive. That road has not been changed in any way to reflect the “Mexico” alteration.

On Monday, we showed some shoppers what comes up when you type in the shopping center’s name in Google.

“Who did that? I mean that’s ridiculous,” said Carol Neuzil. “It’s been Voice of America for many, many years.”

“Funny it says Mexico, that’s weird,” said Frank Sciutto.

Watch our story from Voice of America Centre now:

Voice of America Centre changed to ‘Voice of Mexico Center’ on Google

Google has an intentional step-by-step process for businesses to change information, including renaming their business name, while remaining verified on the search engine’s website.

In step two of that process to change information, Google states on its webpage that a business may need to be verified using more than one method. The methods needed depend on factors including the business category, public information, region and business hours.

The page also states that after following the verification steps, Google reviews the information provided to help “maintain the integrity” of the business profile. Reviews can take up to five business days to verify. This is unlike Wikipedia, where changes can be made by users directly.

Mid Atlantic Properties, the developer of Voice of America Centre, said they’re aware of the listing and working on getting it changed. By Monday afternoon, the name was changed back.

“It looks like it’s some kind of prank, trolling-type incident,” said Dave Hatter, cybersecurity expert.

Hatter said either the Google verification process failed in this incident, or it’s possible the email associated with The Voice of America Centre may have been compromised, which resulted in the name change on Google. He said this incident should serve as a warning for all businesses to use sophisticated passwords for emails, and to utilize the multi-step verification process.

“Can I request a password reset? Yes. Can I reset your bank’s password and then reset your email password, and now I’ve locked you out of both and steal all of your money? Yes, yes I can do that,” said Hatter. “Once the bad guys are in your mail, they start creating folders and mail flow rules so they are now impersonating you, they are operating out of a legitimate email account, they’re communicating with people, but you as the legitimate owner never see those emails because they’re going into folders you don’t know about.”

The timing of the change comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” It’s unknown if the change is connected in any way to that executive order.

Google Maps now shows the ‘Gulf of America’