(WXYZ) - Online fraud costs consumers around a quarter of a billion dollars a year.
With many websites sporting seals of approval, you might think the company is legitimate and your data is secure, but that’s not always the case.
Vickie Galpin/Better Business Bureau: People can just create a seal and you say oh that must be good because it looks official. So make sure you know what the seal is.
For example, at smokesign.com you’ll find the BBB Online Seal, but when you click on it, nothing…
Vickie Galpin/Better Business Bureau: You click on it and it doesn’t go anywhere, that’s somebody who has lifted out seal and is not using it appropriately.
In fact, when we checked out the company at
www.bbb.org , smokesign.com is not a BBB accredidated business and has an F rating. The owner of the company tells me they were accredited for years but decided not to go through the process. He admits the BBB asked them to take down the seal and he didn't. He took it down after I called him.
And then there’s www.surplus-furniture.com. Click on the seal there and up pops a fake bbb report that says they’ve got a satisfactory rating. The BBB went to a grading system months ago, and in fact, surplus-furniture.com gets an F.
When you click on a
legitimate BBB seal, it takes you to the BBB’s accredidation confirmation page. You can see an example of that on
Father and Son Construction’s website. Remember, if you any doubts with any business, check them out directly at
www.bbb.org There’s also a seal out there from the Online Business Bureau. The company claims it’s better at protecting consumers online than the Better Business Bureau.
But our partners at Consumer Reports have something to say about that.
Tony Giorgianni/Consumer Reports: All companies have to do to get a seal from the Online Business Bureau is to pay $14.97 a month, a onetime initiation fee, and they get a green rating indicating they’re a recommended business.
And the companies that don’t pay, even the venerable American Red Cross, get a yellow warning at the Online Business Bureau’s site, telling consumers “we cannot verify this merchant’s status, and proceed with caution.”
Besides checking out a company at
www.bbb.org, do a web search as well. Put in the company’s name and words such as complaints and rip-off to see if anything comes up.
