(IABBB)
Impersonation scams continue to be an ongoing problem for businesses and consumers, as scammers seek to co-opt the trust and authority of well-known companies, government agencies and organizations by pretending to be them. Impersonation scams are perpetrated in a variety of ways, such as through spoofed websites, phishing scams, phone calls, text messages, social media and more — but their consistent goal is to steal money and/or personal information from unsuspecting people.
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), 2023 was the worst year for phishing on record, as almost five million phishing attacks were observed. The APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report identified a significant increase in attacks against social media platforms in late 2023, along with growth in “vishing” using phone calls and business email compromise (BEC) attacks.
In recent action taken by the Justice Department, federal investigators in Pittsburgh helped seize and shut down four web domains with Russian ties that were used to steal the personal information of more than 1 million victims in spoofing scams. According to court records, the LabHost domains were used to create and manage over 40,000 spoofed websites that were designed to impersonate the legitimate websites of businesses such as Amazon, Netflix, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase Bank. Victims were lured into disclosing personally identifiable information, including passwords and credit card information.
The 2023 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report includes a list of the top 20 organizations/individuals used by scammers to commit impersonation scams, in which Amazon ranked No. 2. However, BBB recognizes that these scams affect businesses of all sizes and industries. From local home improvement contractors to multinational corporations, impersonation scams have the ability to significantly harm a business’s reputation and customer relationships, which can be especially detrimental to small businesses.
For more information and tips to avoid impersonation scams, visit BBB.org/ImpersonationScams. If you or your business is the target of an impersonation scam or if you know another company that has been impacted, report it to BBB.org/ScamTracker to help warn others and protect against further losses to fraud.
