(WICHITA, Kan.)—
The Better Business Bureau finds its good name at the center of a nationwide email scam. The BBB has informed its member businesses to be on the look-out for an email that claims to contain a consumer complaint response form. 
"Someone has sent out a malicious phishing email throughout the United States, not just Kansas," said Robbie Namee of the Better Business Bureau of Kansas.
The email looks official and contains logos or letterhead similar to the BBB's. It contains a bogus case number and claims "detailed information about the consumer's concerns is explained in the enclosed document". The business owner is encouraged to open the attachment and respond to the complaint. But clicking on the attachment can open a virus on a computer that's capable of sharing important and confidential information, such as employees records or bank account numbers.
"Whatever you've got on your system it's going to go after and grab and retrieve it," said Namee.
Phones at the BBB office in Wichita have been ringing for days. Namee estimated there have been "a couple two, three hundred" calls or emails from Kansas businesses that have received or opened the emails.
Namee said the BBB does forward consumer complaints to businesses by email (if they choose electronic delivery), but there are easily identifiable differences between a genuine BBB email and these scams.
- Look for typos or grammatical errors that could indicate it came from overseas.
- Check to see where it's from. Complaints will come from the local Kansas office, not the main BBB headquarters in Virginia
- Hover your mouse over the link (but don't click on it) to see if the destination address is bbb.org
- Kansas consumer complaint case numbers all contain five digits. Many of the phony emails show eight digit account numbers.
Businesses that receive these emails are urged not to open them. Instead, forward them to phishing@cscprotectsbrands.com. Then, delete the email from your inbox and trash bin. Finally, run a virus scan to make sure your computer wasn't infected.
