A new scam being reported to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on Craigslist and deceiving buyers by falsely claiming BBB accreditation and participation in a phony buyer’s protection program. BBB warns that there is no such thing as a BBB Purchase Protection Program and any online seller claiming participation in this program is scamming customers.
In its 2008 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported receiving 275,284 complaints, more than a 33 percent increase from 2007, with a total dollar loss from all fraud cases of $264.6 million. And scams involving non-delivered merchandise and/or payment were by far the most reported offense, comprising nearly 33 percent of all complaints.
“Consumers look for BBB Accredited Businesses and the BBB seal to evaluate the trustworthiness of businesses. The logo tells them that the business lives up to BBB’s rigorous standards and it’s just plain fraud to steal anyone’s credibility,” said David Polino, Better Business Bureau President. “Our true Accredited Businesses work hard to deliver the highest standards of service and it’s extremely unfortunate that some businesses and scammers will lie to customers and falsely claim that they are in fact accredited by BBB. We pursue imposters rigorously”.
Reports from consumers from coast to coast have reported to the BBB while shopping for items on Craigslist—such as golf bags, tools and strollers—they came across an ad claiming the seller was accredited by BBB. After the buyer inquired about the item, they received an e-mail from the seller. The e-mail explained that the seller was accredited by BBB and that they were participating in the BBB Protection Program and that the invented program would protect the buyer should they not receive the items they paid for.
In truth, there’s no such thing as a BBB Protection Program. Not only are these scammers lying about being accredited by BBB, but they also fraudulently used the BBB logo on their websites, www.overstockshop.biz and www.overstocksales.org, and have stolen images from the BBB Web site to mimic the layout and design used by BBB.
BBB contacted the Web hosting company of overstockshop.biz which suspended the scammer’s site. Since then, the scammers have set up shop at overstocksales.org and while BBB is taking steps to have that site taken down as well, they’re quick to reinvent themselves, so caution remains. “It’s important to verify BBB accreditation at the source by going to bbb.org directly. It’s worth the few minutes to navigate away from the purchase site and double check. You could save yourself from losing hard earned money,” added Polino.
The scamming sellers use more than a dozen names including, Emma Lawley, Hollie West, Claudia Curtis, Mallory Downs, Stephanie Bradford, Elizabeth Stanford, Kristine Gilmore, and Linda Koller and have even gone so far as to create a fake BBB reliability report for each phony identity which is linked from—and hosted on—the scammer’s Web sites.
BBB offers the following advice for verifying a company’s accreditation:
- Businesses will often post the BBB Accredited Seal on their Web site to show customers that they meet and uphold BBB’s standards. To verify accreditation, consumers should click on the BBB logo which will redirect them to either a confirmation page or the company’s reliability report hosted on the BBB Web site. If the logo does not click through, go to the source at bbb.org.
- Don’t just take a business’s word for it. Visit www.bbb.org and review the BBB Reliability Report and rating from BBB, as well as additional information on the business’s management and complaint history.
- Consumers who believe a business is fraudulently claiming BBB accreditation should notify their BBB and file a complaint either via letter, online at www.bbb.org or over the phone at 800.828.5000.