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Crooks impersonate businesses like Best Buy or PayPal to steal our money and information

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Crooks impersonate businesses like Best Buy or PayPal to steal our money and information

If you think the message may be legitimate, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real.

Randy Hutchinson
 |  Guest Columnist

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  • Randy Hutchinson is president & CEO Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South.

I received an invoice via email from PayPal confirming my purchase of $589.99 in Bitcoin and telling me the funds had been debited to my bank account. Since I don’t have an account with PayPal and haven’t bought Bitcoin, my natural reaction might have been to call the support number provided to let PayPal know there’s a mistake.

Fortunately, I knew it was a scam, but hundreds of thousands of people fell for such scams in 2023. They were invariably tricked into transferring money to the crooks or giving the crooks access to their bank accounts or computers.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 330,000 reports of business impersonation scams in 2023, with reported losses of hundreds of millions of dollars. The vast majority of frauds aren’t reported, so these figures reflect just a small percentage of the public harm.

The five most frequently impersonated businesses were:

  • Best Buy/Geek Squad: 52,000 reports.
  • Amazon: 34,000 reports.
  • PayPal: 10,000 reports.
  • Microsoft: 7,000 reports.
  • Publishers Clearing House: 7,000 reports.

Others in the top ten included Apple, Comcast and Bank of America. The highest dollar losses were to Microsoft ($60 million) and Publishers Clearing House ($49 million) impersonation scams.

Resist the urge to act immediately when confronted by a scammer

The most common scams were fake alerts about suspicious activity or unauthorized charges. When you call to tell an Amazon or other company representative that the charge isn’t yours, they may transfer you to their security department and maybe even your bank’s fraud department (both bogus) and convince you to transfer your money to a safe escrow account or to buy Bitcoin to protect your money while they investigate the fraud. An elderly Cleveland, Ohio, man lost $124,000 in an Amazon impersonation scam.

Other common scams include phony subscription renewals; fake giveaways, discounts, or prizes; and made-up package delivery problems. Many of the scams play on the victims’ emotions – concern about a problem or excitement about a free gift. The crooks’ most frequent means of contacting victims has switched from phone calls to text and email messages; and their preferred means of payment is increasingly bank transfers and cryptocurrency.

If you’re contacted by a possible impersonation scammer, resist the urge to act immediately, no matter how dramatic the story is or how threatening or intimidating the caller sounds. Don’t respond to the call, text, or email and don’t click on links or attachments. If you think the message may be legitimate, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real. Don’t use the information in the message.

Four Better Business Bureau tips to protect your finances

The BBB offers these additional tips to avoid being victimized by a business impersonation scam:

  • Never feel pressured to give personal information over the phone, especially if the call was unexpected.
  • Don’t believe anyone who says you need to buy gift cards, use a Bitcoin ATM, or move money to protect it or fix a problem.
  • Never allow remote access to your computer if somebody offers tech support. Shut down your computer immediately and seek support directly from your service provider. 
  • Check the email address or URL more closely. Scammers use similar website addresses or emails to appear legitimate, but if you look closely, you may find one letter or number that is off. 

Randy Hutchinson is president & CEO Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South.

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