It does work, because I used Street View specifically and didn’t just rely on a Google Maps pin. By looking at Street View photos I could see whether or not there was an actual locksmith storefront at the listed address, as in a real brick-and-mortar store.
The NY Times story talks about lots of fake pins, and an instance where a locksmith faked a physical location by photoshopping a sign on to a storefront on photo on their website. However when I looked up my local locksmith I made sure I could see their actual brick-and-mortar store sign on Google Street View itself, not on some fakable locksmith website.
By doing this I found the actual local locksmith in my area. Your other advice is helpful, though. And just checking Google maps without properly checking street view for a matching store and sign is highly likely to get you a scammer.
