BBB ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
BBBs around the nation are receiving calls today about
a phishing email purportedly coming from the BBB. Please note that the BBB is NOT
sending this email!
If you receive this email,
do nothing! This is a scam.
Here
is an example of the email. The malicious links have been disabled by the BBB.
From: alert@bbb.org
[mailto: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
(Link disabled by BBB)
The suspect emails appear to come
from alert@bbb.org, risk@bbb.org and service@bbb.org. These are forged emails
that did not come from any BBB system. The link they are referencing
doesn’t go to bbb.org but rather to at least two different sites that have been
hacked. If you have already received this email and have clicked on it, please
have your IT department do a virus scan of your machine to be safe. In similar phishing emails in the past, the
link downloaded a virus designed to collect banking information.
If you receive one of these e-mails and would
like to report it, please forward it to phishing@council.bbb.org.