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BBB Tip of the Week: Look out for bogus BBB emails

By Kirstin Davis Marketplace Director

Better Business Bureaus across the country, including BBB serving the Northwest, have been receiving several calls and messages about emails businesses have been receiving. Scammers are using the BBB name and a logo indicating they have violated various federal laws such as “Fair Labor Standards Act” or “Safety and Health Act.” These emails are fraudulent and invite recipients to click on a link, which may be used to download malware that could steal passwords or hack other company data.

Better Business Bureau serving the Northwest asks business owners and leaders to be on the lookout and follow these steps if they receive an email claiming to be from the BBB, as referenced above:

Don’t click. Do not click on links or attachments in the email.

Read carefully. Look for signs that it may be fake (for example, misspellings, grammatical errors, generic greetings such as “Dear member” instead of a name, etc.). Be wary of urgent instructions to take specified action such as “Click on the link or your account will be closed.”

Look at links. Hover your mouse over links without clicking to see if the address is truly from bbb.org. The URL in the text should match the URL that your mouse detects. If the two do not match, it is most likely a scam.

Delete and run security scan. Delete the email from your computer completely (be sure to empty your “recycle bin or trash,” as well). Run antivirus software updates frequently and do a full system scan.

Recovery steps. If you have clicked on any of the links in the email, immediately change your email and network passwords and notify your local IT provider for next steps and actions.

If you have received a suspected email, forward it to phishing@council.bbb.org. Or if you are not certain whether an email is legitimate, contact bbb.org/northwest. BBB is working with law enforcement as well as a private deactivation firm to shut down as many criminal websites as possible. For more information on data security for your business, check out www.bbb.org/cybersecurity.