Your BBB serving the Texas Panhandle is warning businesses and consumers of a spoofing scam using BBB’s trusted name. The scam, reported across the country, including in Amarillo, uses a false BBB email address to entice recipients to access potentially damaging hyperlinks and attachments.
Some businesses received notifications this week about an alleged pending complaint coming from service@bbb.org; alert@bbb.org orrisk@bbb.org and possibly other spoofed email addresses. Please note that the BBB is NOT sending these emails.
THIS IS A PHISHING SCAM USING THE NAME OF THE BBB. Do not click on the link that appears to look like a legitimate BBB website which is a disguised link to a third party website.
Because the message is fraudulent, the BBB advises any business that receives this email to take the following steps:
• Do not click on any links or reply to the message,
• Completely delete the message from your inbox, and
• Run a full virus scan on your computer if you did click on any links.
None of the BBB’s computer or email 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 emails include text similar to the text below:
From: alert@bbb.org
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 6:26 AM
To: Betty Graham
Subject: Complaint # 22101311
Importance: High
The Better Business Bureau has received the above-referenced complaint from one of your customers regarding their dealings with you.
The details of the consumer's concern are included on the reverse.
Please review this matter and advise us of your position.
As a neutral third party, the Better Business Bureau can help to resolve the matter. Often complaints are a result of misunderstandings a company wants to know about and correct.
We encourage you to use our ONLINE COMPLAINT system to respond this complaint.
The following URL (website address) below will take you directly to this complaint and you will be able to enter your response directly on our website:
http://www.bbb.org
If you have received a fraudulent email, do NOT click on any of the links or open any attachments. It appears that these links lead to at least two different sites that have been hacked. While we are attempting to work with the owners of these hacked sites, as well as law enforcement officials, the sites do not appear to be based in the U.S.