Scammers are tricking seniors nationwide into sharing personal information by claiming to be Medicare representatives mailing out new ID cards. Don’t fall for this attempt; just hang up on suspicious callers. 

You answer the phone, and the unknown caller claims to be with Medicare or another government office. He informs you that your new Medicare card is in the mail, and you will receive it in a few days.  In the meantime, you need to set up your direct deposit so your Medicare funds can be deposited into your bank account. To do this, you just need to tell the caller your banking information. He will take care of the rest. 

Of course, there is no new card and no direct deposit. The caller just wants you to share your banking information, so he can drain your account.

A Twist on This Scam: 

The above is just the latest variation of the Medicare card phone scam. Other callers may ask you to verify your identity in order to receive the new card. They will ask for your Medicare card number, which is the same as your Social Security number, as well as other personal information. With that knowledge, a scammer can easily steal your identity. 

How Can I Avoid Medicare Card Identity Theft?   

Protect yourself from scammers by following these tips:  

• Don’t carry your Medicare card around in your wallet. If the card is lost or stolen, a scammer can use the information to commit identity theft.
• Don’t give your personal information out over the Internet, phone, or to anyone who comes to your home uninvited. Only give information to doctors or other providers approved by Medicare
• If you suspect identity theft, or believe you gave your personal information to a scammer, call the Federal Trade Commission’s ID Theft Hotline at 1-877-438-4338. 

For More Information

See Medicare.gov for more information about Medicare fraud and ID theft. For advice on preventing these crimes, check out this PDF. 

To find out more about scams, check out the new BBB Scam Stopper.

The newest Facebook spam is probably clogging up your newsfeed right now. You’ve seen them: photos that have ten of thousands of “likes” and a caption that promises something amazing. Despite what these pics claim to be, they are just a way for shady businesses to make money off Facebook.   

How the Scam Works:

An attention-grabbing photo appears in your Facebook newsfeed. The striking image has a caption (such as the one below) that promises something will happen in the photo if you “like” it or leave a particular comment.  

But when you comment on the photo, nothing happens. The photo is just spam gone viral.

What’s the point of these photos? Savvy spammers set up Facebook pages and populate them with funny and/or moving images. Each picture has a message that urges users to “like,” share or comment on the posts. The images run the gamut from amusing teasers, such as the one above, to heart tugging images of sick children with captions that falsely promise “a dollar donated for each ‘like.’”

The more times the images are shared or “liked,” the more it boosts the spam page’s “edge rank,” the score a Facebook page is given to dictate how it interacts with other Facebook profiles. The higher your “edge rank,” the more often the page appears in other users’ newsfeeds. After the page accumulates enough fans and a high enough “edge rank,” the spammers sell it.  

I Spotted Facebook Spam. What Should I Do?   

• Don’t share, like or comment on the images. That just perpetuates Facebook spam. 
• Report spam to Facebook by following these instructions.  

For More Information

For tips on identifying Facebook scams and ensuring your account is secure, please see Facebook’s Help Center.  

To find out more about scams, check out the new BBB Scam Stopper. 

BBB of Eastern Michigan Receives Funding to Teach Financial Literacy and Investment Scam Prevention 

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula announced today that it has been awarded a grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation to deliver educational training programs on investment fraud prevention for the communities in Eastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. Their mission is to protect America’s investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly. FINRA is now collaborating with the Better Business Bureau to deliver educational training programs on fraud prevention in local markets throughout the United States. 

“The missions of the BBB and FINRA are very similar in that we both focus on informing and protecting our communities,” said Melanie Duquesnel, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Eastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. “We are grateful to FINRA for making this grant available to us so that we can bolster our existing speaking roster with information that can save our residents from potentially devastating financial trouble.”

Through its long-standing business and community ties, the BBB plans to build a solid repertoire of FINRA educational events, provided by BBB trainers, Danae Hanes, trade practices consultant and Melanie Duquesnel, CEO.  The seminars can be delivered to virtually any group interested in learning how to protect their assets, including businesses, chambers of commerce, non-profit organizations, schools, senior centers and more.

Events will be tailored to the each audience however, in general, the objectives include teaching attendees:

• The ‘Psychology’ of Scams

• Common Tactics used by Scammers

• Victim Demographic Trends and Key Risk Factors

• Persuasion Tactics of Scammers

• Assessment of Participants’ Personal Risk Level

• How to Prevent Fraud and Protect Yourself and Your Family

If you are interested in receiving Investment Scam Prevention Training with the Better Business Bureau or have any questions, please contact Lisa Dilg, Director of Community Relations, at ldilg@easternmichiganbbb.org or (248) 799-0326.

About The Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula

The BBB Serving Eastern Michigan & the Upper Peninsula is a non-profit organization with the purpose of promoting trust in the marketplace by assisting in the protection of consumers and businesses from fraud and unethical business practices. In addition to its recognized dispute resolution services, the BBB maintains business reviews on the customer service history of more than 90,000 local businesses and provides consumer education materials on numerous topics. The BBB provides its services free to the public and its service territory stretches across Eastern Michigan from Ann Arbor through Metropolitan Detroit, Lansing, Flint, upward to Alpena, and covers the entire Upper Peninsula of the state. Visit the BBB online at www.easternmichiganbbb.org.

About FINRA

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation. FINRA registers and educates industry participants, examines securities firms; writes and enforces rules and federal securities laws, educates the investing public and provides trade reporting and other industry utilities. FINRA also administers the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.finra.org.

Keep a careful eye on your work email this week! Fake “visual voicemail” emails are making the rounds. These emails appear to contain a new voicemail message, but click the attachment and you’ll end up at a scam website. 

This is new approach that we’ve not seen at BBB before. The scammers probably hope that the novelty of it will make you curious enough to click on the link. Don’t do it!

How the Scam Works:

The emails appear to come from Microsoft Outlook on “Behalf of an Anonymous Caller,” but the messages reference a variety of URLs and phone numbers. Of the cases we’ve seen, employees are receiving emails that contain an “Email ID” (see screen shot below) that appears to be from an internal company email address.  For example, an employee at business ABC would receive a message citing email ID “voice.mail@ABC.com.“ 

However, the one thing certain about scams is that they will change. Watch out for new variations on the theme. For example, we have seen multiple emails with a fake voicemail from a 703 (Northern Virginia) area code and from BBB.org email addresses. But scammers are likely to change this up. 

Don’t Click the Attachment: 

The email attachment appears to be a .wav audio file, but it’s really an HTML link that redirects recipients to a malicious website. The destination website may download malware to scan for banking and other sensitive information on your computer. 

For More Information:

To find scams in your area, check BBB’s scam directory. To learn more about phishing emails and how to spot them, see our information on the subject

Addicted to Facebook status updates? Spammers are taking advantage of Facebook users’ desire to stay connected by sending fake alerts for “activity you may have missed on Facebook.”  Just don’t click the link!

How the Scam Works:

You receive an email that appears to come from a Facebook user’s personal email address alerting you to activity you missed on the social media site. In the below case, the email appears to come from an AOL email address. The sender may or may not be an actual Facebook friend. 

The scammers do an excellent job of replicating Facebook’s colors, logo and language. However, hovering over the link will reveal that the real destination is a third party website … not Facebook.com

Some recipients noted that the emails link to websites selling prescription drugs, meaning they are annoying spam rather than a scam. However, always be cautious about clicking on links in fake emails because the destination website may download malware to scan for banking and other sensitive information on your computer.

For More Information:

See Facebook’s scam webpage for more information about the site’s most common frauds. And check BBB’s scam directory for other scams in your area. 

A new scam using the BBB name popped up this morning, and has been received by consumers and businesses across the U.S. and Canada…including many BBB offices!

How the Scam Works: 

Two versions of the email have been received. One claims to be following up on a complaint filed with BBB, the other is asking for updated contact information “as a service to BBB Accredited Businesses.” 

Both are good fakes – they use correct grammar and follow formats often used by BBB, so they look quite realistic. Both refer the recipient to an online form, and the address appears to be that of a local BBB. However, if you hover your mouse over the web address (the part that begins with http), you can see that the real address is not BBB at all. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK!The link actually takes you to a rogue website that downloads a Trojan virus on your computer.

BBB is working with a professional deactivation service to take down the websites that are spreading the malware, and we have reported the incident to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Consumers are urged to delete suspicious emails and keep their anti-virus software up-to-date at all times.

Example of the Phishing Email:

Check out a screen shot of a sample phishing email. The text is below:

Thank you for supporting your Better Business Bureau (BBB).

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:

 [LINK REMOVED]
(UserID: 882600422 Password: mcvn34JDF3r54f)

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.

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

Sincerely,

Accreditation Services

Consumers nationwide are receiving letters stating that they have won two round-trip tickets courtesy of American Airlines or US Airlines. Don’t be fooled! US Airlines is not a real company, this letter is not from the real American Airlines, and sadly you have not actually won any tickets. These letters are, in fact, scams.

About the scam:

Consumers are receiving either a fax or a hand addressed letter in the mail. The letters have no return address and use a signature stamp as opposed to a meter mark. Most of the letters appear to be coming from Phoenix, Arizona and contain a logo of either US Airlines or American Airlines. The message typically reads as follows:

NOTE: You must respond no later than XXXX.

Dear XXXX,

I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. from any major international airport. The retail value of this award is up to $1,298.00. Certain restrictions apply. We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.

Please call me today at 1-866-546-1767.

Regards,
XXXX
Vice President

Although these letters may look legitimate, they are not. The phony name “US Airlines” is supposed to resemble the real “United Airlines.” With many consumers reporting these letters, scammers have since switched to using the name “American Airlines.” The letters are NOT, however, from the real American Airlines. This is a phishing scam attempting to acquire your personal information.

More information

See BBB.org’s complete scam directory for more information about breaking scams in your area.

Cell phone users nationwide are receiving suspicious text messages that claim to be from Target. The texts tell consumers they won a drawing for free gift card… and all they have to do is click a link and enter their address and phone number.

Unfortunately, the gift card drawing is fake. And the texts are just a way to collect personal info for shady advertisers.

About the scam:

Fake gift card website.

The text messages vary, but all contain an offer of a gift card, a URL to visit and PIN to enter on the website. A typical example is below:

“Your entry in our drawing WON you a free $1000 Target giftcard! Enter “917” at www.target.com.tgrz.biz to claim it and we can ship it to you immediately”
 

The text’s URL leads to a website that is branded with Target’s colors and its mascot dog Bullseye. You are asked to enter the PIN and an email address. Then, you are taken to a form and instructed to fill out your name, cell number and mailing address.

One recipient reported completing the form and receiving a second PIN in return. The confirmation message instructed her to wait for a follow-up text and enter that new PIN at the website address she received. The text turned out to be promoting a horoscope website, and no mention was made of the Target gift card.  

More information

See BBB.org’s complete scam directory for more information about breaking scams in your area.

BBB urges consumers and business owners to run a simple diagnostic test to see if they are affected

Hundreds of thousands of Internet uses may lose their online access on July 9, 2012, and Better Business Bureau is urging all consumers and businesses to run a quick and easy diagnostic test to see if their computers are infected. The FBI’s DNS Changer Working Group can detect the malware and explain how to fix infected machines.

“Everyone should check to see if their computer is infected. It takes less than a minute to check and, if your equipment is clean, there is nothing more you need to do. If your computer is infected, the DNS Changer Working Group recommends the necessary steps to save your computer. But this must be done by July 9^th or you could lose internet access,” said Melanie Duquesnel, CEO. 

Last November, the FBI took down the servers of international hackers operating out of Estonia. The hackers had already successfully downloaded malware onto more than half a million computers, turning off virus updates and redirecting consumers to fraudulent websites. If the servers had simply been shut down, the victims’ computers would no longer be able to access the internet. Instead, the FBI set up clean servers to replace the ones that were running the scam, and victims have been redirected to those clean servers ever since, usually without any knowledge they’d been infected in the first place.

Originally the rescue servers were to be active until March, but a court ruling extended the program until July 9^th. At that time the clean servers will be turned off and anyone who is still infected with the malware will lose their internet access. The FBI believes there are still about 360,000 infected computers in a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Southfield, MI – June 7, 2012– Consumers from across the country have contacted the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving Detroit & Eastern Michigan alleging poor business practices against the Outdoor Fun Store, including failure to ship products, shipping incorrect items, and failure to refund money for items not received. All complainants have indicated that they have made numerous attempts in writing and by phone to contact the company but have not been successful in reaching company representatives.

One complainant is The Osage Nation from Pawhuska, OK who ordered equipment from the Outdoor Fun Store to be used by a tribal family preservation unit that helps tribal families in crisis. The tribe contacted WDIV’s “Ruth to the Rescue” producers and the BBB for help.

“We made two payments totaling $6,578.44, but have not received any of the playground equipment. We have made numerous calls and sent a demand letter which have all have gone unanswered. The money for the equipment was originally federal grant funds; therefore, the Osage Nation had to reimburse the grant with its own funds. We are hoping that WDIV and the Better Business Bureau can help us recoup our money,” Clint Patterson, Assistant Attorney General, Osage Nation.

Another complainant also contacted WDIV’s “Ruth to the Rescue” producers about her purchase of playscape accessories that she never received despite phone calls, emails and an in-person visit to the store. However, after this WDIV report, she was refunded her money, while all other complaints have yet to be resolved.

Following the WDIV report, the Better Business Bureau reopened all complaints and contacted the owner via certified mail. To date the company has failed to respond to any complaints and currently has an “F” rating on their BBB Business Review.

The Better Business Bureau warns buyers to be wary of doing business with the Outdoor Fun Store until they have shown good faith in responding to and resolving all customer complaints. The business in question is based in Canton and operates at the following address:

Outdoor Fun Store

8551 Ronda Drive 

Canton, MI. 48187

Consumers are also encouraged to start their search for trusted vendors and other businesses at the Better Business Bureau website where they can research any business prior to purchasing or entering into a contract.