Degradation of KeyMe

Original Vision Quickly Abandoned

KeyMe originated in 2012 as part of an anti-locksmith movement. The Columbia Business School graduate, Greg Marsh, had idea for a kiosk that can generate a key after being gouged by a scammer locksmith. KeyMe raised millions of dollars of angel venture capital to bring the tech-forward idea to fruition – a kiosk that would allow you to store a scanned copy of your key that you can retrieve at any time, eliminating the need to ever call a locksmith.  However, when executing the idea, Mr. Marsh ran into significant cyber security threats to storing security sensitive information on the cloud – realizing why the centuries old profession was not quick to change. Nonetheless, Mr. Marsh was not discouraged, and having raised nearly $200 million-dollars, he shifted gears and joined the locksmithing industry he once sought to “disrupt”.

An In with Google

And disrupt he did! However, instead of promoting innovation in an old-age industry through technological advancement, KeyMe simply took advantage of Google’s Maps platform and joined the ranks of hundreds of scammer locksmiths that already littered Maps. With millions of dollars of investment capital, came the knowledge of former management-level Google employees, including Gummi Hafsteinsson and Christian Hernandez, both of whom sat on the Board of KeyMe and may have influenced KeyMe’s ability to dominate Google Maps search results for “locksmith” services, despite merely operating self-service kiosks. KeyMe has discovered a way to beat Google at its own game and infiltrate an already spam-ridden category on Maps. Fast forward, in October 2020, KeyMe announced rebranding, and changed its name to KeyMe Locksmiths, a move that was done to dominate the search results by using a strategy known as “key word stuffing” aimed at increasing prominence in search results.

“Locksmith in a Box”

The name change aimed to bypass Google’s in policies that they could no longer be listed in the locksmithing category. KeyMe Locksmiths had bypassed the Google Policies and Guidelines to gain access to business maps on the same level as retail locksmith stores. The primary category of KeyMe Locksmiths is displayed as key duplication services, but they keep coming up when searching for a locksmith due to strategic name change. This allowed KeyMe to bypass the Google algorithm and to show up in searches for a locksmith, rather than relegating KeyMe to the less common search for key duplication services, giving this call center an unfair competitive advantage that simply cannot be matched by any retail locksmith. This brings into question, why isn’t there a clear distinction between key duplicating services of the kiosk and a locksmith retailer, similar to a very clear distinction between the searches as, for instance, Chase Bank and Chase ATM. If a user searched for Chase Bank and came to the specified location and only found an ATM, it would be a disappointment at being misled. Same needs to happen with the KeyMe kiosks and a locksmith retailer.

Skirting the Policies and Guidelines

KeyMe Locksmiths is circumventing the rules and guidelines that other retailers have to follow, gaining a significant unfair advantage. KeyMe is a vending machine and a lead-generation company, that is competing against pop and pop locksmith retail stores, not to mention having a significant financial advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital investments and valuable insight into how Google operates from former insiders. KeyMe Locksmith, masquerades as a locksmith company, however, KeyMe does not employ a single locksmith nationwide! KeyMe Locksmiths maintains a foreign call center to which the local numbers on more than 6,000 Google Maps listings are forwarded. KeyMe then sells the lead to a local contractor, most often of questionable character, many of whom hire technicians without a license, even in licensed states like New York and Texas. This is often to the detriment of the uninformed consumers, who often find themselves forced to use these services in stressful situation.  KeyMe, which initially strove to build “the most trusted consumer reputation in the $12 billion per year locksmith industry” devolved into the familiar locksmith scam scheme perpetrated since the Yellow Pages.

Gross Inaccuracies – Ghost Locations

Diverted from its original vision of bringing innovation to the locksmithing industry, KeyMe joined the top ranks of locksmith scammers! As of August 2024, it has been discovered that KeyMe Locksmiths maintains nearly ONE THOUSAND of fake listings that were outdated (bankrupt retailers such as Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Rite Aid, Big Lots, etc.) and misleading, out of a total of 7,000 active Google Maps listings. This amounts to 15% of the company’s total listings. This can also be viewed in terms of dollars and cents. It the company’s annual revenue amounts to $37 million dollars, that’s an annual revenue of $5.5M derived from these fake listings. However, this number is potentially much higher when you take the various markets into consideration. For example, listings in NYC have higher revenue than listings in the Midwest.  And if viewed from the perspective of other locksmiths, that’s 1,000 search results taken up by fake listings and revenues of $5.5M diverted away from other legitimate companies.

To make matters worse, KeyMe Locksmiths refuse to take corrective action to remove their fake listings, despite repeated communications with the company to cease this deceptive practice. Not only has our organizations reported these fake locations to KeyMe, there is record of numerous customer reports on Google Maps of the kiosks being removed from various retail locations, which the company acknowledged, but again failed to remove from Maps. KeyMe Locksmith knowingly and intentionally maintains these fake listings to gain an unfair competitive advantage. This practice deceives the consumer, supporting the fact that KeyMe Locksmiths does not aim to operate as a key duplication service, but prioritizes its service calls. However, despite KeyMe’s lack of cooperation, our organization has coordinated efforts with other parties, including the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, various retailers, and Google to remediate this problem.

Gross Inaccuracies – Locations

In addition to refusing to close down online listings where the kiosks no longer exist, KeyMe Locksmiths continues to persist in deceptive practices of displaying gross inaccuracies in listing information that mislead consumers. Hundreds of listings do not contain the “Located in” information, making it extremely difficult for the consumer to find the kiosks that are supposed to be located in a specified retailer, sending customers on a wild goose chase to locate the kiosk. Many listings contain general shopping plaza information, which is also difficult to navigate by address to find the physical kiosk for key duplication services. This practice deceives the consumer, supporting the fact that KeyMe Locksmiths does not aim to operate as a key duplication service, but prioritizes its service calls.

Gross Inaccuracies – Operating Hours

There are also gross inaccuracies in the operating hours on KeyMe Locksmiths listings. As of March 2025, nearly 36% percent of the listings (2,138 out of 5,930) have inaccurate hours of operation that do not correspond to the operating hours of the retail locations where the kiosks are located. Many listings in retailers like Menards, Rite Aid, and Kroger list open 24 hours. This again, shows that KeyMe prioritizes the service call business rather than the kiosk key duplication since the consumer would find a closed retailer at the time when KeyMe claims it is open at that specific address.

Gross Inaccuracies – Miscategorization

KeyMe Locksmiths is simply a kiosk that cuts very basic keys. However, KeyMe has been able to penetrate the locksmithing category on Google Maps, given the “in” with former Google product management-level employees who are experts in the Maps platform. Although, when placed under pressure to remove the locksmith category, KeyMe only superficially addressed the problem. While still having listings show up as locksmith as the primary category, there are secondary and tertiary categories that are invisible on the listing itself. A kiosk company has managed to categorize itself in categories such as locksmith, emergency locksmith service, or lock supplies, with only 283 listings (4.7%) that appropriately categorize it as key duplication service. This again, shows that KeyMe prioritizes the service call business rather than the kiosk key duplication.