Every year the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in partnership with local and national private sector firms, consumer and volunteer groups, government agencies and law enforcement organizations uses the month of March to actively promote fraud prevention education.
This year the theme of Fraud Prevention Month is ‘
Online Fraud.’ BBB is encouraging our Accredited Businesses to take action this March to educate yourself, your staff and your consumers on how you can better protect yourself from becoming a victim of all forms of fraud.
Five simple things your business can do during Fraud Prevention Month:
1. Check out the BBB website (vi.bbb.org) each Monday in March for tips and educational information about fraud prevention.
2. Share these tips with your friends and family, your staff and your customers.
3. Make Fraud Prevention a topic of your staff meetings, Newsletter, bulletin board etc. Share fraud stories, tips and resources.
4. Develop a “fraud prevention strategy” that explores how your business can better protect itself, your staff and your customers from becoming a victim of fraud. Communicate this strategy with your staff and customers and ask for their feedback.
5. Share your fraud prevention month activities with the BBB. Email
communications@vi.bbb.org and tell us what you are planning to do in March or what you did in March to promote fraud prevention education and we will share your story and ideas with our Accredited Businesses.
“Anyone who uses a computer or mobile device with access to the Internet or email is susceptible to becoming a victim of online fraud,” says Rosalind Scott, Executive Director of BBB Vancouver Island. “With the economy in rough shape, people now more than ever need to become educated and familiar with all the different scams that are out there. Online fraud, just like more traditional forms of fraud, preys on people’s vulnerabilities and lack of understanding about how scams typically work. But in the end, fraud is fraud and we all need to protect ourselves!”
BBB’s focus this month will be on providing helpful tips, tools and resources to parents, students, seniors, consumers and businesses on how to protect themselves from various forms of online fraud. A few of the key topics include: social networking scams, phishing scams, online job scams and online shopping/auction scams.
To schedule an interview or presentation related to fraud prevention please contact Rosalind Scott at 250.386.6348 ext 106 or via email at
rosalindscott@vi.bbb.org.