Beware Imposter Factory Listings on Google Maps
Before your deposit leaves your phone, know this: not every “factory” listing you find on Google Maps is what it claims to be. Some are misleading, and a few are outright imposters.
A real example
There is an unclaimed listing for “Royal Mabati Eldoret” that links out to a completely different company’s website. Someone searching for Royal Mabati in Eldoret could reasonably call that number believing they have reached Royal, when they have not. This is not hypothetical; it is live in the data we pulled.
How imposter listings work
The mabati trade runs on phone numbers shared informally, so a convincing name and a number are often all it takes to intercept a buyer. Unclaimed listings make this easier, because nobody at the real company is managing or monitoring them.
The three checks
- Claimed and reviewed: buy from factories whose Google profile is claimed and carries recent reviews. An unclaimed profile is a warning sign.
- Name, phone and website match: confirm all three point to the same company across sources.
- You are paying the company, not a person: a genuine factory invoices to a registered business account, not a personal mobile number.
Our full walkthrough is in How to Spot a Fake Mabati Factory. Every company in our directory links straight to its own official website, which is the safest place to start.