It’s one of the world’s most popular navigation apps.
But Google Maps has been causing chaos for some shoppers after pranksters set up a ‘phantom’ Aldi in the middle of the Welsh countryside.
The small village of Cyffylliog has been inundated with an ‘endless stream’ of confused shoppers looking for somewhere to buy their groceries.
Following Google’s directions actually brought them to an empty field on a remote farm tens of miles away from the nearest supermarket.
While it might have been added as a joke, the fake Aldi has since led to chaos for this small community as deliveries have begun to arrive in search of the non-existent supermarket.
The misguided prank has even led to real Aldi deliveries arriving on one farmer’s doorstep and becoming stuck on the narrow lanes.
A Müller milk lorry became wedged in the county road and had to be rescued by residents, leading to hours of delays.
In a post on Facebook, a local farmer wrote: ‘Now we have an endless stream of day trippers and holiday makers turning up and looking confused – This was our first actual Aldi delivery!’
The rural Welsh village of Cyffylliog has been plagued by confused holidaymakers after a prankster added a fake Aldi to Google Maps
Shoppers looking for the Aldi supermarket listed on Google Maps were disappointed to find only an empty field down a winding country road (stock image)
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The pin was placed at Cae Gwyn Farm, near Cyffylliog, a few miles west of the town of Ruthin.
No one is quite sure who originally added the location, but residents believe it was intended as a prank.
Adding a location to Google Maps is surprisingly easy using the ‘Missing Place’ feature.
On the browser version, the process is as simple as right-clicking and selecting ‘Add a missing place’.
Users can then add a name, set the category of the location, and even include details like pictures or opening hours.
This tool can be very helpful for small businesses which might not get regular updates from Google but in the wrong hands, it can cause chaos.
Since the location was added, the residents of Cyffylliog have seen countless holidaymakers in their cars ‘looking confused’
In a post in the local Facebook group, a resident said: ‘We’ve had people knocking on doors asking where the Aldi is, delivery vans with groceries trying to find a nonexistent loading dock and even a bloke with a pallet of bread who thought he’d been hired to stock shelves.’
A milk tanker became stuck on the roads near the village (pictured) while attempting to make a delivery to the non-existent Aldi. The road was blocked for hours and the lorry had to be rescued before order was restored
While most cars were able to turn around once they realised their error, larger vehicles became stuck on the winding roads.
In the most disruptive event, a milk tanker became stuck on the road just before the turn-off to the fake Aldi.
In a post on Facebook, a local farmer wrote: ‘Poor fella tried pulling up Allt Henblas and backing the trailer up our hill in a misguided attempt at turning around. Went down with a tractor but the fella had no idea where the towing eye was, so I left it to the experts.
‘They straightened him out to go to Hiraethog to turn around. As he was rounding the corner at the bottom of the hill, he slowed down to open his window and thank us – and nearly got stuck again. Bless his cotton socks.’
The news of the stuck lorry was shared with a warning to residents that there could be hours of delays as the road was completely obstructed.
Local resident Dafydd Hughes told News Rated: ‘It’s one thing having tourists turn up looking for Aldi, but when you’ve got a lorry full of milk clogging up the road, you start to question what’s happening in the world.
‘Honestly, if we had a pound for every car that’s shown up, we could’ve opened our own Aldi by now.’
The Google Maps location has been removed since the milk lorry became wedged, but residents say they have been trying to get the pin removed for some time.
The Google Maps location has now been removed and Google says that adding any fraudulent information is a violation of its terms of service and could leave the prankster banned from Google Maps
A Google spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The listing has already been updated and live in Google Maps. Our automated systems and trained operators work around-the-clock to monitor Maps for suspicious behavior, including incorrect edits to places.’
An Aldi spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Our understanding is that the incorrect Aldi store is no longer featured on Google Maps, so there is no risk of any further disruption.’
This is not the first time that Google Maps has provided users with misleading information.
Earlier this year, Google removed a fake location which had been added inside the Srebrenica Memorial Centre cemetery, Bosnia and Herzegovina in which victims of the Serbian genocide are buried.
The fake location was named Ratko Mladic Park after General Ratko Mladic, known as the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, who led the Serbian forces during the massacre.
Similarly, a 2017 study conducted by the University of San Diego found that tens of thousands of fake listings were being added to Google Maps every month.
The researchers found that the listings most frequently belonged to services like plumbers, locksmiths, and electricians trying to appear more legitimate by creating a fake office.
According to Google’s terms of service, adding ‘fraudulent or malicious data’ to Google Maps is considered spam and users found to be involved will be banned.
