Google Maps prankster places fake Aldi supermarket in middle of countryside, sending ‘endless stream’ of shoppers to quiet Welsh village

By William On Jan 7, 2025

It is one of the world’s most popular navigation apps.

But Google Maps has caused chaos for some shoppers after pranksters set up a ‘phantom’ Aldi in the middle of rural Wales.

The small village of Cyffylliog has been inundated with an ‘endless stream’ of confused shoppers looking for a place to do their shopping.

Following Google’s directions actually took them to an empty field on a remote farm, dozens of miles from the nearest supermarket.

While it may have been added as a joke, the fake Aldi has since caused chaos in this small community as deliveries come in looking for the non-existent supermarket.

The misguided joke even led to real Aldi deliveries ending up on one farmer’s doorstep and getting stuck in the narrow streets.

A Müller milk truck got stuck on the provincial road and had to be rescued by local residents, leading to hours of delays.

Posting on Facebook, a local farmer wrote: ‘Now we have an endless stream of day trippers and holidaymakers turning up confused – this was our first real Aldi delivery!’

The rural Welsh village of Cyffylliog is being 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 on 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 knows exactly who originally added the location, but residents believe it was meant as a joke.

Adding a location to Google Maps is surprisingly easy using the ‘Missing Place’ feature.

In 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 location’s category, and even add details like photos or opening hours.

This tool can be very useful for small businesses that may not receive regular updates from Google, but can cause chaos in the wrong hands.

Since the location was added, Cyffylliog residents have seen numerous holidaymakers ‘confused’ in their cars

In a post to the local Facebook group, one resident said: ‘We’ve had people at the door asking where Aldi is, vans with groceries trying to find a non-existent loading dock and even a guy with a pallet of bread thinking he was hired to stock the shelves.”

A milk tanker got stuck on the roads near the village (pictured) while trying to make a delivery to the non-existent Aldi. The road was closed for hours and the truck had to be rescued before order was restored

How to add a location on Google Maps

In browser

Open Google Maps in your internet browser.
Search for the location you want to add.
Right-click and select ‘Add a missing place’.
Fill in the details and click ‘Send’.

On mobile

Open the Google Maps app.
Select ‘Contributions’ at the bottom right.
Select ‘Add place’.
Fill in the location details and tap ‘Send’.

While most cars were able to turn around once they realized their mistake, larger vehicles became stuck on the winding roads.

In the most disruptive event, a milk tanker became stuck on the road just before the turnoff to the fake Aldi.

In a post on Facebook, a local farmer wrote: ‘Poor guy tried to pull up Allt Henblas and reverse the trailer up our hill in a misguided attempt to turn around. I went down with a tractor, but the guy 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 rounded the corner at the bottom of the hill, he slowed down to open his window and thank us – and almost got stuck again. Bless his cotton socks.”

News of the stuck truck was shared with a warning to local residents that there could be hours of delays as the road was completely blocked.

Local resident Dafydd Hughes told News Rated: ‘It’s one thing for tourists to look for Aldi, but when there’s a lorry full of milk on the road you start to wonder what’s going on in the world.

‘Honestly, if we’d had a pound for every car there, we could have opened our own Aldi by now.’

The Google Maps location has been removed since the milk float became stuck, but residents say they have been trying to remove the pin for some time.

The Google Maps location has now been removed and Google says adding fraudulent information violates its terms of service and could get the prankster banned from Google Maps

A Google spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The listing has already been updated and is live in Google Maps. Our automated systems and trained operators work 24 hours a day to monitor Maps for suspicious behavior, including incorrect place edits.”

An Aldi spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We understand that the incorrect Aldi store is no longer on Google Maps so there is no risk of further disruption.’

This isn’t the first time Google Maps has provided users with misleading information.

Earlier this year, Google removed a fake location added to the Srebrenica Memorial Center cemetery, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where victims of the Serbian genocide are buried.

The mock location was named Ratko Mladic Park, after General Ratko Mladic, known as the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’, who led 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 added to Google Maps every month.

The researchers found that the listings most often belonged to services such as plumbers, locksmiths and electricians who tried 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 involved will be banned.

HOW CAN YOU FIND AND REMOVE WHERE GOOGLE KNOWS YOU ARE?

Even if you turn off Location History, Google often stores your exact location.

Here’s how to remove these markers and some best practices to keep your location as private as possible.

But there is no silver bullet, as simply connecting to the Internet on any device marks an IP address that can be geographically mapped.

Smartphones also connect to cell towers, so your carrier always knows your general location.

To disable tracking on any device

Start your browser and go to myactivity.google.com. You must be logged in to Google.

From the drop-down menu at the top left, go to ‘Activity Options’. Turn off both Web & App Activity and Location History.

That should prevent precise location markers from being saved to your Google account.

Google will warn you that some of its services won’t work as well if these settings are disabled.

In particular, neither the Google Assistant, a digital concierge, nor the Google Home smart speaker will be particularly useful.

On iOS

If you use Google Maps, change your location setting to ‘While using’ the app. This prevents the app from accessing your location when it is not running.

Go to Settings Privacy Location Services and select Google Maps to make the adjustment.

Consider using a search engine other than Google in the Safari web browser.

Under Safari Search Engine Settings you will find other options such as Bing or DuckDuckGo.

You can disable location while browsing by going to Settings Privacy Location Services Safari Websites and setting it to ‘Never’.

This still doesn’t stop advertisers from knowing your rough location based on the IP address on any website.

You can also disable Location Services almost completely on the device through Settings Privacy Location Services.

Both Google Maps and Apple Maps still work, but they don’t know where you are on the map and can’t give you directions.

Emergency services can still find you if necessary.

On Android

Under the main settings icon, click “Security & Location.” Scroll down to the ‘Privacy’ heading. Tap ‘Location’. You can disable it for the entire device.

Use ‘App-level permissions’ to disable access to different apps.

Unlike the iPhone, there is no ‘While in use’ setting.

You can’t turn off Google Play Services, which tell your location to other apps, if you leave that service turned on.

Sign in as a ‘guest’ on your Android device by swiping down from the top, tapping the downward-facing cursor, then tapping the torso icon again.

Pay attention to which services you log into, such as Chrome. You can even switch search engines in Chrome.

To remove previous location tracking on any device

On the page myactivity.google.comlook for an item with a location pin icon next to the word “details.”

When you click on it, a window will appear with a link that sometimes says ‘From your current location’.

Clicking on it will open Google Maps, showing where you were at that moment.

You can remove it from this popup by clicking the navigation icon with the three stacked dots and then clicking “Remove.”

Some items are grouped in unexpected places, such as subject names, google.com, Search, or Maps.

You have to remove them item by item. You can delete all items by date ranges or by wholesale service, but you end up removing more than just location markers.