Better Business Bureau is issuing an urgent scam alert to local businesses about an e-mail that looks like it is from BBB. Businesses nationwide contacted BBB’s today after receiving an e-mail with the subject line, “BBB Case #64168176 (or other combination of numbers).” A sample is reprinted below.
This e-mail is fraudulent. Recipients should ignore its contents and delete it immediately. If you clicked on the link in the e-mail message, BBB recommends you run a full virus scan of your computer.
Messages urgently request that recipients click enclosed links to handle pending consumer complaints. Recipients have reported that phishing e-mails are coming from "manager@bbb.org," "admin@bbb.org," "risk@bbb.org" and "alert@bbb.org." and appear to be from the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the national office of the BBB system. They also contain the BBB logo. A link to a non-BBB web site is embedded in the message.
“I suppose we should be honored to have our name used in this scam since this type of fraud typically targets respected organizations.” said David Weiss, President of Cleveland BBB. “Regardless, it is a serious abuse of our organization and we wanted to alert the business community to this attack.”
While BBB does notify businesses by e-mail when a consumer complaint is received, the e-mail always comes from info@cleveland.bbb.org. The subject line will be “You have a new message from the BBB Serving Greater Cleveland re: Complaint #XXXXX.” Also, our phone number is included in the e-mail message – not the contact information for the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
National BBB authorities are working with law enforcement to determine the source of this attack and to stop the fraudulent campaign.
Click here for Sample of the fraudulent e-mail:
