Beware of Scam Artist Posing as BBB Employee

A scam artist has been reported posing as a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Hawaiʻi.

The BBB received a scam report on Oct. 26 and 27 from a woman who received a call from a person claiming to be a BBB employee offering her the opportunity to lower her credit card interest rate.

BBB’s do not offer lower interest rates. This is a new twist on the common “lower your interest rate” scam.

The woman who received these calls reported that the calls came from a local number, (808) 971-4179.

Upon answering the call, the woman heard a prerecorded message that stated the call was from the BBB and prompted her to press a number.

After she did this, a man on the phone introduced himself as a BBB employee. After giving the woman some information on BBB, he asked the woman to supply him with all of her credit card information to get her a lower interest rate.

The Federal Trade Commission offers these tips to avoid falling victim to this sort of scam:

• Don’t give out your credit card information. Once a scammer has your data, they can charge your credit card for their own purchases or sell the information to other scammers.
• Don’t share other personal financial or sensitive information like your bank account or Social Security numbers. Scam artists often ask for this information during an unsolicited sales pitch, and then use it to commit other frauds against you.
• Be skeptical of any unsolicited sales calls that are prerecorded, especially if your phone number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. You shouldn’t get recorded sales pitches unless you have specifically agreed to accept such calls, with a few exceptions.

If you receive a call such as this, be sure not to give out any personal information and report the incident immediately. Scams such as this can be reported using the BBB Scam Tracker.

Consumers can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.