Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) was founded in 1912 and
now has branches serving consumers throughout all the USA
and Canada. The BBB was set up to help consumers to
identify "better businesses". The BBB offers a means of
settling disputes between consumers and businesses quickly
through arbitration. The BBB also works to improve the
relationship between consumers and businesses through
consumer education and a system of voluntary self
regulation on the part of business owners.
The Scam
You will probably be wondering how an institution famous
for consumer protection, like the BBB comes to be involved
in an Internet scam. To be clear, the BBB is not a willing
participant in a scam, it is a victim of a scam that also
affects other reputable organisations such as the
International Council Of Online Professionals (ICOP).
The scam is being perpetrated by unscrupulous webmasters.
The way the scam works is simple and the scammers are
getting away with it because people either accept what they
see at face value and don't bother to check up or don't
even realise there is a way to check to protect themselves
against this scam.
BBB and ICOP Accreditation
In order to be admitted as a member of the BBB or ICOP,
business owners must be able to prove that their business
complies with strict guidelines and that they are ethical
in their business activities. If an online business meets
the strict standards and is approved by the BBB or ICOP,
the business owner is entitled to display the company's
membership seal on his/her website.
Trusted Seals
Although many consumers are aware of the function of bodies
such as the BBB and ICOP and recognise their membership
seals as a mark of trust, not all of them realise that they
should click on the seal to check that its use on a
particular website has been duly authorised. If the seal is
being used legitimately, clicking on it will take you to
the official website where it will confirm that the website
you clicked through from has attained membership.
Scammers are using the seals to trick people into believing
they are trustworthy and that their business meets the high
standards set by the BBB or ICOP. These webmasters get away
with this scam because people recognise the seals and take
their presence on trust or just do not know that there is a
way for them to check the validity of the seal.
Checking Trust Seals
When a BBB or ICOP seal is displayed on a website without
the proper authority, you will most often find that the
seal on the website does not have a clickable link.
Alternatively, clicking on the seal will just take you to
an unrelated web page or to a generic page belonging to the
organisation, where there is no reference to the status of
the website where you clicked the seal.
Report Scammers
To protect yourself and to ensure that the good work done
by the BBB and ICOP is not undermined by scammers, make it
a habit to always click on their seals when you see them on
a website. To make the Internet a safer place, unauthorised
users of these seals should be reported to BBB Online or
ICOP.
----------------------------------------------------
Want to make money working at home? Worried about scams?
You will find further information about scams, online
identity theft and password protection tips at Elaine
Currie's Work At Home Directory: http://www.huntingvenus.com
No comments:
Post a Comment