Top 10 BBB Scams of 2011 Revealed, Part 2 of 2

In part one of the top ten scams identified by the Better Business Bureau (BBB),  I talked about the first five which were job, sweepstakes and lottery, social media/online dating, home improvement and checking cashing. This blog discusses the other five scams: phishing, identity theft, financial, sales, and the scam of the year.

Next five scams

6. Phishing Scams -“Phishing” is when you receive a suspicious phone call asking for personal information or an email that puts a virus on your computer to hunt for your data. Some can look official but they aren’t.  Don’t click on the link, it could ask for personal information or take over your computer to search for personal information.

7.  Identity Theft Scams – There are many of these types of scams. The top scam for this category is at a hotel.  You receive a call in the middle of the night from the front desk saying that the computer has crashed and they need to get your credit card number again, because the transaction would not go through.  They ask you to read the number to them – now they are on a shopping spree using your credit card.

8. Financial Scams – Since the federal government has offered programs to help consumers with debt and mortgages, many scammers have come up with schemes that appear to be a government agency or non-profit agency that can help the consumer.  These scammer request that consumers pay for these services upfront, which is illegal. They don’t help negotiate payments or get you out of debt.

9.  Sales Scams – One of the most popular sales scam is penny auctions. You pay a fee for each time you bid for the item, if you aren’t the highest bidder you lose the money. Not all are considered scams, but are being investigated for online gambling. Don’t spend more than your limit.

10. Scam of the Year – The scam of the year is the Better Business Bureau phishing scam. Possibly millions of people have gotten fake emails that look like an official notice from the Better Business Bureau. The subject line reads something like “Complaint Against Your Business,” and asks the recipient to either click on a link or open an attachment. If they do so, a malicious virus is launched on their computer, which  can steal banking information, passwords and other critical pieces of information.  If you have received this massage and opened an attachment or clicked on a link, you should run a complete system scan using reputable anti-virus software.

Hopefully this information will help you to avoid being taken by these scams. Be careful and don’t fall for them. Remember, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.

Credit Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.  Follow him on Twitter here.

Categorised in: Debt, Employment, Financial, Identity Theft

This post was written by John Ulzheimer