Businesses are receiving phone calls from people pretending to be your local BBB. These "vishing" ventures are attempting to extract business, personal, credit card information, and social security numbers.
The set-up: A caller identifies themselves as a BBB employee, providing a name and identification number. The caller informs the business they need to update contact data, address, and payment information.
Businesses have been lulled into a false sense of security after hearing the BBB name.
Known scam phone numbers have been 909-709-0321, 888-642-1154, 888-001-0816, 313-218-4386.
How do you defend against the scam?
Your BBB often calls businesses for a variety of reasons. To be SURE it's really your BBB, get a contact name, and call us back -- using your previous BBB connections, or the AB direct line: 800-675-8118. Please feel free to e-mail us as well.