Did Bank of America suffer a brandjacking on Google+?

Bank of America allegedly suffered a ‘brandjacking’ on Google+ this week. For several days, a fake Bank of America page allegedly boasted the slogan “We took your bailout money and your mortgage rates are going up” before the page was removed entirely.

Since the fake page was removed, a new (and official) Bank of America Google+ page has been launched, featuring all the usual features you would expect. The new page is verified, whereas the old one – perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature of its content – was not.

The alleged incident highlights the difficulties that brands can have online, as anyone can set up fake pages claiming to represent a large company. In this case, it’s not clear who set up the fake Bank of America page.