honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, June 21, 2003

Best Buy warns consumers of massive e-mail scam

Knight Ridder News Service

Best Buy Co. took to the Internet yesterday in a continuing effort to alert millions of customers to a massive e-mail scam affecting the company.

A fake e-mail purporting to come from bestbuy.com's fraud department is asking consumers to share personal information, including Social Security and credit-card numbers.

"We e-mailed our entire customer database with a message that this is a hoax and don't respond to it," Best Buy spokeswoman Dawn Bryant said.

Bryant said Best Buy is working with the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies. The FBI said no arrests have been made.

Investigators said yesterday they had not heard reports of victims giving the scam artists personal data but that it was still too early to tell.

Meanwhile, Best Buy yesterday afternoon removed the "buy" function from its Web site, limiting bestbuy.com to a "browse" only mode as part of a previously planned move to relaunch the company's Web site July 1.