Try searching for a speciality business in the middle of nowhere (where there are zero providers).
I recently did this, and ended up in a warren of sites like "10 best Widget repair in Smallsville, MO", where all the addresses were for nonexistent businesses in other states, with sort of plausible names tangentially related to widgets. (High plains frobulator sales, Mesa, AZ, or whatever).
I'm pretty sure a deep learning algorithm produced that corner of the internet. It definitely contained lots of referral links and phone numbers. Never managed to reach a human or figure out what the scam was.
I've been noticing something similar with "phone-number look-up" sites.
I put that in quotes as I've entered numbers I know and find that what's being presented is apparently randomly-generated IDs.
The overt use is checking when unknown numbers call (or going through call history) and trying to get a sense of who the number is associated with.
The general location is usually plausible (so the generators are relying on local exchange numbers), but the specific street addresses and subscriber names appear generated, and specific street addresses may not actually exist.
These are usually lead gen sites. Done well they can take over smaller areas outside of major metro areas and drive sales leads to those larger companies that can travel vs the small local guy. I live in a small community and it has always been a problem usually started by the fact that the small local guy already has more work than he can handle and doesn't see the need to be online.
I recently did this, and ended up in a warren of sites like "10 best Widget repair in Smallsville, MO", where all the addresses were for nonexistent businesses in other states, with sort of plausible names tangentially related to widgets. (High plains frobulator sales, Mesa, AZ, or whatever).
I'm pretty sure a deep learning algorithm produced that corner of the internet. It definitely contained lots of referral links and phone numbers. Never managed to reach a human or figure out what the scam was.