BBB discusses florist, job scams

JACKSON, Tenn. — With the rise of online transactions and digital communication, scam reports have been increasing.

A report was made after a West Tennessee man was scammed after ordering flowers, but never received them from a business called Roger Florist.

According to Toddnetta Trice, a Communication Specialist for the Better Business Bureau, this business out of New York has been on their radar for months now.

At first, there was over 100 reports on the business scamming people. Now there have been 1,400+ complaints nationwide.

“We have seen at least 10 of those complaints in the West Tennessee area for this particular florist. Now, since that has happened, the BBB of New York has led an investigation,” Trice said.

Another local scam involves employment applications.

Trice says a lot of people do not keep track of the number of jobs that they apply to. And some scammers will try to text, email, or call you with false information.

“‘I want you to download this app.’ The most popular would be the WhatsApp, so you never really communicate with anyone. They just want you to download something in order to communicate with them. You never see them face-to-face. You either talk to them over the phone or they kind of do the interview all through text message, and it’s very, very surprising because they end up offering you the job,” Trice said.

Trice gave some tips on how to avoid being scammed.

First, make sure to safeguard your information. With the florist scams during holiday seasons, do not rush.

Trice says to take the time to check the company out and check bbb.org to see if they are a legitimate business.

“When it comes to how to avoid job scams, research the person who contacted you. LinkedIn is huge right now. Any professional that you can think of has a LinkedIn profile. Look them up if you are feeling the need to send them a message saying, ‘Hey, are you the person I have been talking to?’ Do more research on the company and look for those spelling errors,” Trice said.

Trice says not to fall for something that seems too good to be true because more than likely it is.

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