A video profile of the finalists for the 2011 BBB of Southern Arizona Ethics Award, which was awarded to Green Valley Cooling and Heating on May 12, at the Starr Pass Resort in Tucson.

Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona recognized nine local companies at the 2011 Torch Awards Luncheon Thursday at JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson.

The event featured Master of Ceremonies Tom McNamara of KVOA Channel 4 and keynote speaker Dale Dauten, nationally syndicated columnist and founder of the Innovator’s Lab.

Winners were honored in three categories: the Ethics Award, the Good Neighbor Award, and the Customer Excellence Award:

The Ethics Award: Honors a business for its trustworthy and honorable business practices in four primary categories.

• Winner: Green Valley Cooling and Heating
• Finalist: Tucson Coin and Autograph
• Finalist: Nextrio

The Good Neighbor Award: Recognizes a company that has shown a commitment to making southern Arizona a better place through community service.

• Winner: Raskob Kambourian Financial Advisors
• Finalist: National Bank of Arizona
• Finalist: 911 Collision Centers

The Customer Excellence Award: Recognizes businesses that have an outstanding customer service program and a history of exceeding customers’ expectations.

• Winner: Milex Auto Service Centers
• Finalist: Quik Mart
• Finalist: Temco Air Environmental

More than 70 Southern Arizona businesses were nominated for the program, which was sponsored by Sundt Construction, Moore Financial Strategies, Arizona Small Business Association, Inglis Florists, Allegra Marketing, Print and Mail, Inside Tucson Business, and Journal Broadcast Group.

In the aftermath of the death of Osama Bin Laden this past weekend, Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning consumers to watch out for a slew of cyber-scams that have popped up in the past few days.

According to Kaspersky Labs, an Internet security firm, malicious Web sites and links have been proliferating on Google Images search, Facebook, and other social media sites.

On Facebook, a fake video purporting to show the death of Bin Laden prompts users to input a malicious URL into their browsers, which will infect their computer with a virus. Kaspersky also reports that other Facebook scams lure victims to malicious Facebook Pages with promises of free airplane tickets, and other “free” offers to “celebrate Osama’s death.”

Consumers should also be very wary of links to Bin laden related Web sites that they find on Twitter, or any link with a URL that leads to an unfamiliar webpage. Often these links will lead consumers to Web sites with viruses, or forms that encourage consumers to enter personal information, which can be used to steal their identity, or for phishing scams.

BBB Tips:

• Be mindful about clicking on links that purport to show information that’s not widely available from respected news sources. In the case of Bin Laden, no photos or videos related to his death have been released. Be extremely skeptical of links that say otherwise.
• Be wary of free offers “celebrating” any sort of occasion, especially if the offer comes from a company or Web site you haven’t heard of before. Often times all it takes for a scammer to infect your computer with a virus is clicking on one bad link.
• If you you’re unsure if an offer or a Web site is legitimate, contact BBB at (520)888-5353.

For more information on how consumers can protect themselves against scams, or to find reputable businesses they can visit www.tucson.bbbb.org.