BBB Names The Scam Of The Month For September

Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont (BBB) has narrowed down the top scams affecting the community during September using BBB’s Scam Tracker, with phishing scams currently the number one scam circulating the area.

Last month, 47 phishing scams were reported to the local BBB. The reports consisted of both phishing phone calls and emails, many of which impersonated large corporations such as the US Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and even Better Business Bureau.

“Scammers have been using the BBB name and logo to fraudulently claim that businesses are violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, the ‘Safety and Health Act, and other ominous sounding notices,” says Paula Fleming, spokesperson for the local BBB. “BBB advises to always be wary of unexpected emails, calls, or text messages that have misspellings, grammatical errors, or use generic greetings such as ‘Dear member’ instead of a name, etc.”

BBB advises consumers to use Caller ID to screen calls, and consider not even answering unfamiliar numbers. If it’s important, they will leave a message and you can call back. For more information on phishing scams that claim to be from BBB, visit go.bbb.org/phishing0917.

If you believe you have fallen victim to a phishing scam, make a note of the number and report it to bbb.org/scamtracker to help warn others. Scam Tracker information is provided to government and law enforcement agencies, so every piece of information is helpful in tracking down scammers.

For more information you can trust, visit us at bbb.org/boston, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.