By Better Business Bureau

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning to the public that fake emails bearing the BBB name are currently being sent to inboxes across the country, including those in Middle Tennessee.

Like many financial institutions and government agencies, BBB’s visibility and reputation for trust makes the group an ideal vehicle for scammers. Consider thatbbb.org receives over six million visits every month; this makes BBB an attractive decoy for fraud and malicious activity.

The most recent email attacks come from an email ending with .bbbl.org, which asks recipients to click links to update their information with BBB. The spammers’ goal is to get as many email recipients as possible to click on the link within the email which redirects to a website infected with malware. If you clicked on the link within these emails, you are likely to be infected because of the drive-by-download nature of these sites that contain the malware. The criminals use that malware to transfer money out of banking accounts through online banking.

If you receive an email asking your business to communicate with BBB, there are several things you can do to authenticate it:

• Look for typos, grammatical errors, etc. in the text that could indicate it originated overseas.
• Check to see who sent the email. Complaints go out from the local BBBs, not from the “headquarters office” or the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
• Hover your mouse over the links in the email, but do not click them, to see if its destination is really a bbb.org address.
• Copy and paste the link into Notepad (not Word). Notepad does not support html, so if the link is a fake bbb.org address, the real link will show up.

Because these messages are malicious and fraudulent, BBB advises any business that receives these e-mails to take the following steps:

• Do not click on any links and do not reply to the message.
• Forward the message to phishing@council.bbb.org, as we are working to identify the perpetrator(s) of this fraud.
• Completely delete the message from your inbox.
• Run a full virus scan on your computer if you clicked on any links.

If you receive any e-mails from BBB about asking for information or a response to a complaint filed against your business and need assistance in determining whether or not it is legitimate, contact your BBB directly at 615.242.4222.

For more advice on how to protect your business from malicious online attacks and data breaches visit the BBB website.