It can be tough to suss out what’s real on the internet, but an empty warehouse sitting at the listed address for a bustling law office should be a pretty dead giveaway. In practice, though, vacant addresses or adverts popping up on platforms like Google Maps could be diverting clients away from verifiably local firms who could use the business.

According to Mischelle Davis, director of operations and communications at the Davis Law Group in Seattle, the problem may actually be getting worse. For example, it used to be that a lawyer from Tacoma might pretend to have an office in Seattle in order to extend the reach of his or her business.