Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning businesses of a scam email that appears to be from BBB, but actually contains malicious links, and seeks to trick businesses into divulging sensitive information.

The “phishing” email, signed “Accreditation Services,” seeks to trick victims into filling out an online form that asks for detailed information about the business. Because the links contained in the email may contain viruses, anyone who clicks on them should immediately scan their computer with updated anti-virus software.

Should you receive such an email, please disregard its message, and report any information received to phishing@council.bbb.org, and then delete it.

Below is a copy of the scam email. BBB has deactivated all the possibly malicious links:

“Thank you for supporting your Better Business Bureau (BBB). Your BBB receives more than 6,500 requests for information every day and provides reliability reports to consumers 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week.

As a service to BBB Accredited Businesses, we try to ensure that the information we provide to potential customers is as accurate as possible. In order for us to provide the correct information to the public, we ask that you review the information that we have on file for your company.

We encourage you to use our ONLINE FORM to provide us with this updated information. The URL below will take you directly to this form on our website:

CLICK HERE (link deactivated by BBB) to login to your BBB account (UserID: 22227099 Password: pv6r4hm)

You may also complete the form on the reverse side of this letter and mail to PO Box 1000; DuPont, WA; 98327; or fax to (206)436-5496.

Please look carefully at your telephone and fax numbers on this sheet, and let us know any and all numbers used for your business (including 800, 900, rollover, and remote call forwarding). Our automated system is driven by telephone/fax numbers, so having accurate information is critical for consumers to find information about your business easily. In addition, many consumers may search our database using your e-mail and/or Web address, so please be sure to include this information as well. As a BBB accredited business, you receive a free hyperlink from your online reliability report to your company Web site if provided to us.

Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to receiving this updated information.

Sincerely,

Accreditation Services”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 10:44 am and is filed under alert, Life, scam, Tips. Tags for this post: Accredited Business, BBB, Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona, business, email, link, online, phishing, SBQ, scam, Tucson, virus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.