Our email accounts can easily be the source of identity theft, if we are not careful of not responding to risky emails. Many email account owners, especially those new to email, are not aware of “phishing” scams where emails are sent that look like they belong to legitimate companies, but are actually ploys to extract personal information from the account owner. It is not hard to design an email and send it out to thousands of people who think it is from a well-respected company. This has happened over the years with PayPal, Bank of America and other companies, being sent by imposters. You will often find that companies let you know that they will never ask for your personal information by email and not to respond to such inquiries.

Now, there is a phishing scam circulating the internet targeting the Better Business Bureau (BBB). This matter is being investigated by the United States Secret Service and consumers need to be aware that this scam is circulating. Email messages and blog postings are on the internet to trick consumers into thinking they are being requested to register software with the BBB, which includes sending their personal information.

The BBB has released a statement on their website announcing that anyone who receives email or views a blog about registering software with the BBB should not use the links provided or respond to the message. They have also stated that this scam has not compromised any data on their networks.

“The messages and posts are most likely part of a large-scale phishing scam leveraging the trusted nature of the BBB name to entice recipients and bloggers to open messages and access attachments or links,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. “Anyone receiving an e-mail or viewing a blog requiring the registration of software with BBB should not click on any links or in any way respond to the message, because doing so may allow harmful viruses or spyware to enter the recipient’s computer or network.”

If you have received any correspondence by email or have come across a blog post that looks suspicious, do not respond. There is an example of such an email on their website at: www.bbb.org in the “News Center”.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 8:46 am and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.