Better Business Bureau scammed

Staff Reports
Posted: 12/09/2011 12:44:34 AM PST

SACRAMENTO — The Better Business Bureau of Northeast California, an organization accustomed to warning consumers about scams and shady business practices, finds itself a pawn in a suspected fraud.

The BBB said consumers and businesses throughout Northern California are receiving emails pretending to have come from the bureau, but are actually random attempts to gain financial information, known as "phishing."

The bureau said the emails appear to be complaint forms, and have a variety of subject lines including operations@-bbb.org, support@bbb.org and riskmanager@bbb.org. continue reading

Forwarding Chain Emails Prime Target For Hackers

Greensboro - Email has become a part of daily life for most, but what many people don't know is how easily your email can be taken over by hackers. continue reading or Watch this video:

Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - To all with love and malice towards none

1. Police warn of another email scam
   
2. "Poorly worded" email plea prompts scam worries‎, April 23, 2011, dailypress.com ["Tornado Damages Moton Campus — We Need Your Help!"]
   
3. Police Newsletter: Crime: 13 April 2011, Thames Valley Police, UK
   
4. Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - Topix
   
5. Something phishy is going on
   
6. 5 Natural Disaster Scams To Watch For
   
7. Beware of new phishing email Dodge County News, 16 Apr 2011
   

On the same shelf:

Boycott Gasoline: not buying gas on March 14, a chain letter circulating since 1999

Boycott Gasoline? Why Gas Urban Legends Won't Affect Prices, Aaron Crowe, http://www.walletpop.com
The email chain letter or Facebook invitations wading their way through the Internet this week are enticing to anyone who has had to fill up their car with gas lately: "Join a national protest by not buying gas on March 14!" Or, "Send a message to Big Oil by boycotting gasoline for a day."

But like every urban legend, it sounds good until you look at the details and realize it's the same misinformation that has been passed around for years. There are plenty of legitimate ways to save on gas, but these myths won't do it.

The gas boycott that has been called for in some form of a chain letter since 1999 is based on a flawed premise. The "gas out" doesn't ask people to use less gas, only to change their date of purchase and buy it a day earlier or later than they normally would, according to a Snopes.com analysis of the rumor. continue reading: http://www.walletpop.com

On the Same Shelf:

FBI Warns of Three Online Scams: Sex, Taxes and a Desktop Hijack [source]

Coca Cola’s Secret Recipe ‘Exposed’, Claims Website - Is it true or false?

Link Newspaper (leading Indo-Canadian Newspaper), February 18th, 2011

LONDON – The ingredients of Coca Cola have always been a mystery. Now, a website claims to have uncovered the soft drink’s top secret recipe which is said to be guarded 24 hours a day in a vault in Atlanta, Georgia.

‘Thisamericanlife.org’ claims to have discovered a list in a photograph in a newspaper article giving the secret ingredients and exact quantities to make the drink which was founded by John Pemberton, a medicinal pharmacist in 1886. continue reading

However, Toronto Life's update, "Recipe theft and cancer scares: rounding up Coca-Cola’s bad week," February 19, 2011 reports:

"Coca-Cola reps fired back this week, denying the accuracy of the leaked recipe. Spokeswoman Kerry Tressler told Reuters:

“Many third parties, including ‘This American Life,’ have tried to crack our secret formula. Try as they might, they’ve been unsuccessful because there is only one ‘Real Thing.’" continue reading Toronto Life

See also on the same shelf:

Team CoCo... Cola @ This american life.org’

Coke has no alcohol in it, says manufacturer, The Economic Times

Coca-Cola's secret recipe on tap, "Coca-Cola's secret recipe reportedly revealed by radio show" Vancouver Sun February 15, 2011
[See the (alleged) Coca-Cola recipe, ingredient by ingredient, here]

Coca Cola Recipe Possibly Uncovered, ChatterShmatter.com

What's in your soft drink? Safety of 'caramel colour' questioned, ‎ Globe and Mail

Coca-Cola Series, The Form of Money