On my Scam of the Day for November 14, 2012 I informed you about an email that I received that purported to be from the Better Business Bureau informing me that a complaint had been received by them from one of my customers.  I was instructed to respond to the allegations which were represented as being contained in an attachment to the email and told that my response must be received in two days.  Of course, anyone receiving such an email would be concerned unless they knew that the email was a scam.  If I had clicked on the link, I would have downloaded a keystroke logging program on to my computer that would have stolen all of the sensitive information from my computer including passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive data that would have resulted in me becoming a victim of identity theft.

A couple of days ago I received an almost identical email with a couple of new twists that should alert anyone that it is a scam.  As with the previous email, it was addressed to Owner/Manager rather than naming anyone which is a clear indication that the email is phony.  As with the previous email, this one also did not have any logo for the Better Business Bureau in the email.  However most telling was that in the line of the email where it showed to whom the email was directed.  It had eleven other people, in addition to myself receiving the same email even though the subject line referred to my own “specific” case.  In addition, the list of people to whom the email was sent was in alphabetical order and all beginning with “steven” as does my email.  It was obvious that an alphabetical list of emails was used to send out the phony complaint email and that it was as phony as a three dollar bill.

TIPS

As I indicated above, there are ample clues, including that  the email was directed to “owner/manager,” that it did not have the logo of the Better Business Bureau on the email and perhaps most telling, that the email supposedly about a specific complaint was sent to twelve different people whose email addresses all began with the same six letters.  The most important thing to remember is to never download anything unless you are absolutely sure that the email is legitimate.  If I had clicked on the attachment in this email, the results would have been disastrous.  If you ever receive an email that asks you to click on an attachment that you might consider is legitimate, call the real company that it is supposed to be from to inquire as to the legitimacy and, of course, don’t call them at a number that might be provided in the email.  Call at a number that you have verified is accurate.