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BBB Complaint (spam)

Someone has put in a complaint about your business. Except they haven't! It's a spam hoax!

You know how it is, when you run your own business, you like to keep your customers happy, and if ever there's a customer that's not happy, then you want to sort it all out if possible. So, if you receive an e-mail which alleges someone has put in a complaint, then you might worry. But let's not be too hasty, because it could easily be a hoax.

Example e-mail...

At first sight it appears to be from BBB, the Better Business Bureau, who besides being bestowed with an amazing ability of alliteration, are also a business good service quality overseeing place. BBB are real, and their website is www.bbb.org . But don't panic, because the truth is, they didn't send these messages. They are being cruelly impersonated and some nefarious person or group is using their good name in vain. You can see this because in the original message, if you examine the link where it says in capitals "Complaint Report", it doesn't go to BBB at all, and is instead a link to... http://oroexcel.com/images/reven.html but you don't follow links in e-mails unless you know they are genuine, and this is already looking less than genuine. The fact that the link is nothing to do with the supposed senders is already iffy.

Here's another similar "From BBB" message...

... but this time the link for the "Complaint Report" is a link that tries to go to... http://allfloridahosting.com/oscommerce/images/reven.html ... again clearly not BBB the Better Business Bureau.

It's starting to smell quite bad now, like a dead rat . Incidentally, you don't need to take any notice of the official-looking banners and getup. These things have been faked-up. It's like those ridiculous bank hoax emails where some crooks think they can hoodwink you by pretending to be a bank, and they send you a worrying-looking message saying your bank account has been suspended or some such thing, in the hopes that you are daft enough to be duped into following the links, whereupon they can attempt to lull you into giving away your personal information. It's known as phishing, and most of us are wise to it. Banks themselves are starting to take it seriously and have got clear statements at their official sites saying such things as "We will never send you any e-mail asking for your personal details" etc.

Another thing about these BBB Complaint message is, looking at the e-mail address they are sent to, because of a cunning technique of using a special email address, I can tell where the scamsters have harvested the addresses from. They have made a serious attempt at targeting businesses rather than spam victims in general. They've failed, though, because I have seeded the database with items which can catch them out. Just an easy matter of being one step ahead.

Also notice, they have sent lots of these BBB Customer Complaint e-mails. Here's another one...

This particular one, with an e-mail address they harvested from Alexa, has a "Complaint Report" destination of... http://cave-privee-vin-bio-naturel.ch/about.html which is a .ch and clearly not the BBB. I have an idea that the links in all of these scam messages go to a variety of websites which are the victim of some form of hacking where their FTP has been violated and the ne'er-do-wells have inserted bogus directories and files into the sites and then used them as stopping-off points for a massive hoax. If you're worried that your site has been so hacked, here's what to do:

1. Log onto your FTP.

2. Have a look at the files and folders there.

3. Check to make sure there are no items which you didn't put there.

4. If there are such things, download them and save them onto your local computer, and delete the online versions. Or even replace the online versions with a page that says "This is a scam! Not our fault!".

5. Tell your ISP

Anyway, here's another message which reports a scam message using the good name of the BBB in vain...

A very similar message, but this time using the Complaint Report destination link of... http://orthopedicseatcushion.org/wp-admin/mail.html

I do pity the people at Orthopedic Seat Cushion.org , and for that matter those at Cave Privee Vin Bio Naturel of Switzerland, and All Florida Hosting , and Oroexcel.com , as I'm sure they are all victims of a shocking conspiracy and have got embroiled in this whole racket without their consent. Their sites have been hijacked, and it's very unfortunate as their websites are being so misused. These are presumably just a few of a great many websites that have been hacked using some sort of basic script.

I have tried to write to a few websites whose addresses appear in such hoax messages, but none of them replied. Hey you! You've been hijacked! Oh, have we? Thanks for letting us know. We'll get it mended. ... but no such luck.

I have also tried contacting BBB. Of course, the first thing to do on receiving such a message is to reply. It bounces. Now the addresses in the alleged "complaints" are bogus, and this immediately tells you the emails themselves are bogus. I mean, come on, if someone has a complaint about your business and a message arrives, you should be able to reply. If you can't, then it's bogus.

The telling point about this is that at www.bbb.org , they have pages which expose scams, and they have already written this up. So, if anyone has any doubt, visit BBB and see for yourself.

Meanwhile, rest assured that if any customer had a complaint about your business, they would most likely write to you first. It is your responsibility to deal with incoming complaints, and to be seen to have a responsive system. For example, at Zyra's website, if anyone spots a mistake on any page, they are welcome to write in and there's a good chance it will be repaired within a reasonable time and a thankyou message sent. This is the fault reporting policy. Also, if you want to put in a complaint to a company anywhere, there's advice on how to complain. Some companies deal with complaints better than others, and only rarely do they end up having to be humiliated by stuff being written here about their wrongdoings. Then again, look at TalkTalk. They couldn't deal with a complaint properly. And Eurostar, quelle horreur! Even some good companies such as Sling Media make it quite difficult to contact them, and that upsets people. So, if you have your own business, make sure people can write to you! You can write to this site if you like, and I'll try to reply. Please be patient, because it can sometimes take time.

Anyway, to sum up the matter of the BBB Better Business Bureau customer complaint messages...

1. BBB is real.

2. The messages are false, and are not sent by BBB. Poor old BBB are being spoofed

3. The links go to various websites that have been hacked, and presumably have malicious code on them.

4. If you get duped into following the links and getting involved, you could end up with a virus (see how get get rid of a virus), spyware (how to get rid of spyware), or some sort of breach of privacy, for example Identity Theft

5. You can defend yourself against such poor quality attacks by having some commonsense and some basic knowledge of online shenanigans. See basic antivirus measures and most notably how to read a URL

I hope this page helps to explain what all these silly messages pretending to be from BBB are about. I wish you luck in avoiding these problems. Good Luck!

If you like pages such as this, you're welcome to give them a link. As the Police in the UK used to say "Crime, together we'll crack it".