BBB launches toolkit to help connect people hit by scams with resources to recovery

SALT LAKE CITY — Every day, I hear from Utahns targeted by fraud. Well, the Better Business Bureau also hears from people who’ve gotten ripped off every day.

“It’s something that’s happening a lot, unfortunately,” said Melani Fox, spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau Mountain West.

Imposter scams, romance scams, identity theft, compromised devices, hacked accounts: you name it, they’ve seen it.

Now, the BBB has launched a new rescue line called the Scam Survival Kit. Fox says for folks who have been scammed, it offers guidance tailored to their specific situation.

“If something happened with identity theft, you get resources for that. If you had a phishing scam or a romance scam just anything of the like…you would receive a bullet point list of all the different things you could do just to help with your situation.”

Say your phone gets compromised: The toolkit creates a recovery plan that walks you through on kicking out anyone who has access to your phone, and then how to lock it down from future attacks. Or, say you sent a wire transfer, money order or check in deal that turned out to be fraud. The toolkit creates a series of steps you can take right now that might help recover that money. There is also another plan for if you’ve taken a hard financial hit and you can’t pay bills. Or, if you need help with your mental well-being in the wake of losing money to fraud – a plan can be generated for that.

Fox says the toolkit is about connecting survivors to resources.

“If they’ve been scammed…(it’s) to not feel like they’re alone or the isolated or don’t have any options in that,” said Fox. “The BBB provides resources to help.”