Name Game Shame, Who's to Blame? Don’t be a victim to piracy by Merchants - SCAM CENTRAL

It takes a lot of effort to build a brand name and get your company the recognition it deserves. A name is everything. If customers are unable to remember the name of your company, you lose business to whomever they are able to remember. Creating a name for your company can take a great deal of thought. For example, a name like "Joe's Plumbing" is direct and helps to identify who owns the company and the type of business. However, potential customers may not find that name as appealing as "Tri-City Plumbing Services", which sound more official and professional. Both companies may very well offer the same level of quality service, but the names imply a different level of professionalism. Sometimes a name really does say it all.

Now imagine that after years of hard work building your brand image and becoming a household name that someone comes along and uses your company's name for their gain, without your consent. Commonly known as "hijacking", some unfortunate companies have already fallen victim to this piracy.

How It Works:

According to a recent Scam Alert from the Better Business Bureau (read article here), scammers are creating fake websites using real company names and logos to steal information, plant malware, capture credit card information, and even redirect traffic to another fake site to sell knockoff products. Perhaps even worse than that, these same scammers are even using real company names to order large and expensive items which are then sent to an address that is different from the real company's address. To add icing to the proverbial cake, the real business is stuck with the bill.

Your Defense:

The key to recovering from this type of scam is to first identify that your company name and brand is being used without your consent. The article from the Better Business Bureau lists some warning signs to help identify if your company has been the victim of a "hijacking":

• You receive a request to verify orders you didn't place
• You receive calls from someone trying to verify an address for your business that is not associated with your company
• You receive invoices for storage or shipping services that you didn't place

If any of the above have already happened to you, it may already be too late. If they have not, you should consider regularly searching for your company on the internet. Using your favorite search engine, you might be able to identify sites masquerading as your company. You can also set up Google Alerts for your company name here http://www.google.com/alerts. Google Alerts will send you an email alert any time a keyword you provide (in this case your company name) is used on a webpage on any website that is crawled and/or cached by Google's search bots. Some alerts may be about your own company's website, but at least you will know it is yours, and not some scammer's site.

If your company has become a "hijacking" victim, gather as much information as you can and notify your local law enforcement agencies and file a complaint with the FTC (https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/).