<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 9
–>
The Better Business Bureau office in Monroe is warning people of an email scam that uses the BBB’s name to lure people to click on a link that infects their computers with a virus.
Jo Ann Deal, president and chief executive officer of the BBB of Northeast Louisiana, said people in this region have been receiving the scam emails, but so far there haven’t been any reports of people clicking on the link or being affected by it.
The email reportedly tells the recipient a complaint has been filed with BBB against his or her business, and to view the complaint the recipient must click on a link or view an attachment.
However, the BBB doesn’t use email attachments to alert businesses that a complaint has been filed. Any email that claims to be from the BBB regarding a complaint and containing an attachment is fraudulent and should be ignored and deleted at once.
To verify if a link is legitimate, hover the cursor over the link and if “www.westernmichigan.bbb.org” appears, the link is legitimate. Otherwise, it’s from a fraudulent source, the BBB states.
The BBB recommends anyone who clicks on the fraudulent link should run a virus scan.
The particular virus is known as “Zeuss” or “Zbot” and is a “Trojan Horse” or spyware virus that steals confidential and personal data.
Deal assured that BBB systems have no been compromised. She said anyone who receives a fradulent email should forward them to phishing@council.bbb.org or call 387-4600 before deleting the email.
Phishing scams like this are listed as the second most common scam by the Internal Revenue Service, following identity theft.