Your Better Business Bureau serving Northwest
Florida is warning businesses and consumers in northwest Florida of a spoofing
scam using BBB’s trusted name. The scam, reported across the country, including
in northwest Florida,
uses a false BBB e-mail address to entice recipients to access potentially
damaging hyperlinks and attachments.
None of the BBB’s computer or e-mail
systems is involved in this hoax and the attack has not affected the computer
system of the BBB or compromised any BBB-held data.
The latest round of phishing e-mails
reported to BBB appear to come from “seatac@bbb.org” and include text similar to the text below:
Complaint
filed by: [consumer’s name]
Complaint
filed against: [business’ name]
Complaint
status: Open
Category:
Contract Issues
Case
opened date: [date]
Case closed date: Pending
The e-mail then provides a hyperlink to “access the
complaint.” If you have received a
fraudulent e-mail, do NOT click on any of the links or open any attachments. Please
help us in our work with the authorities by forwarding the e-mail and its
headers to phishing@cbbb.bbb.org.
The e-mail ends with a statement:
“On April 9th 2010, the
consumer provided the following information: (The consumer indicated he/she DID
NOT received [sic] any response from the business.)
The form you used to register this complaint is designed to improve
public access to the Better Business Bureau of Consumer Protection
Consumer Response
Center, and is voluntary.
Through this form, consumers may electronically register a complaint with the
BBB.Under [sic] the Paperwork Reduction Act, as amended, an agency may not
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. That
number is 235-677.”
BBB is not a
governmental agency and thus does not have an OMB number.
For additional information
and advice you can trust about avoiding phishing and other scams, start with
bbb.org.
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