Better Business Bureau: Impostor Scams on the Rise

The BBB study shows that many scams involve deception. “External scams” try to get money from businesses by impersonating government entities, pretending to be vendors, or offering fake services. Dale Dixon, chief innovation officer for the BBB Great West Pacific office, says a recent Alaska case involved a fake Occupational Safety and Health Administration education product. The business that reported it lost $95—but multiplied over multiple businesses, the criminal’s profit could quickly add up, he says.

Some external scams use information gathered in a prior phishing effort. This might allow the criminal to impersonate a vendor or contractor with which a business already has a relationship. In internal scams, the would-be thief impersonates a company’s employees in an effort to get financial information or request the type of payments the real person could typically authorize. The BBB study says these scams often involve the business email compromises cited in the FBI Alaska report.

Protecting Your Business

A 2024 survey by the US Chamber of Commerce found that 60 percent of businesses were concerned about cybersecurity. Companies have to protect both customer and employee data, yet small businesses don’t always have a dedicated IT team to help protect against ransomware attacks, data breaches, or other threats.

The BBB report offers several tips for protecting sensitive information. These include employee training and security measures like multi-factor authentication. Employee training should cover both password security and how to recognize scams or suspicious emails.

The BBB also recommends hiring or contracting with someone for IT services and cybersecurity support. But keep in mind: tech support fraud was the 6th most common complaint in the FBI’s nationwide 2024 Internet Crime Report.

Before paying for any new product or service, Dixon recommends searching the business name at bbb.org, using the search bar. “We maintain business profiles of as many businesses as possible,” he says. Each profile includes a letter grade with customer reviews and any complaints.

If nothing comes up for a business name, Dixon recommends doing an internet search for the business name. If that, too, yields nothing, he says to consider it a major red flag.

In the case of the fake safety training that cost at least one Alaska business $95, Dixon suggests contacting the local Occupational Safety and Health Administration office to see if they’ve heard of the vendor. “Does it take time? Yes. But I guarantee you the five minutes you take… is a lot easier to swallow than entering a credit card and losing ninety-five dollars,” he says.

While most scams involve digital transactions or obtaining access to online credentials, in some cases the target is any confidential information that might get printed or distributed at certain meetings. Some specialized business scams have exploited publicly available online directories or targeted members of churches by impersonating clergy. BBB advises businesses to brief recipients of sensitive papers on how to secure the information and safely dispose of it.

Many scams also involve non-traditional payment methods, like cryptocurrency or gift cards. With any case of either an unexpected invoice or a request for novel payment, the BBB study recommends first verifying the amount by phone or in person.

“It takes constant vigilance for all of us,” Dixon says. “It’s important for businesses to… always be on guard and to verify before they pay anybody anything for anything.”

What To Do if Scammed

Visit the BBB website for more resources and tips, including a scam-survival toolkit for businesses.