Spammers Exploiting BBB to Trick Users

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has raised a warning bell against the fake e-mails being sent to the business groups and consumers, exploiting and misusing its name to deceive them. The e-mails sent to the consumers contain malicious links and viruses and claim that it contains information on complaints, lodged with the BBB by the consumer. The spam mails are laden with fake return address of seatac@bbb.org, which is being spoofed as well.

The BBB has received numerous phone calls and e-mails from consumers and businesses who got spam e-mails and messages. However, the fact is that the BBB is not involved in sending these messages in any way.

Spoofing is a process where an e-mail Id is changed to make it appear coming from an authentic source.

Northern Indiana's BBB also received various inquiries from people about spam e-mails claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The spam e-mails, as per the inquiries, talks about tax refund issue. The BBB said that the e-mails sent are spam mails, and advised users not to reply them at all. It also said that customers receiving mails from the IRS should realize that IRS customers are never contacted through mails like this. The BBB warned the consumers against opening the attached files received with the spam mails and advised them to delete the mails as soon as they receive it.

On January 31, 2008, North Central Texas, a region in the US, addressed the issue of phishing attacks. The questions raised were answered by Monica Horton, President of BBB of North Central Texas region. Monica said that the BBB's regional office informed about spammers misusing the name of the company (BBB) for phishing attacks, so that they can cheat the innocent users. The news was published by TimesRecordNews on January 31, 2008.

The BBB has flashed recommendations on spamming at their Website so that consumers can deal with these fake e-mails. The process involves forwarding e-mails or its headers to the address phishing@cbbb.bbb.org. Apart from that, to deal with large-scale spam e-mails, users can also send a mail to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on spam@uce.gov, a Website set up by the FTC, said Monica.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 2/12/2008