Why does the Internet Crime Complaint Center urge victims to contact the Better Business Bureau?

[struggle4progress]

This is a government agency and it's directing folk to a scam

... INVESTMENT FRAUD ... Contact the Better Business Bureau to determine the legitimacy of the company ...
http://www.ic3.gov/preventiontips.aspx

BBB getting its own customer complaints
Monday, November 15, 2010
... "I was incensed," said Terri Hartman of Liz's Antiques in Los Angeles. Her business had one complaint in the last three years and got a C rating on the BBB website. That's until they paid the BBB $595 for a membership. Then, they received an A-plus ...
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=7785099

Updated: 7:29 PM Nov 16, 2010
12 OYS: Better Business Bureau grades questioned
Local BBB office admits "oversight" and denies "pay for play".
Posted: 7:21 PM Nov 16, 2010
Email Address: [e-mail]
... News 12 at 6 o'clock, Tuesday, November 16, 2010
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Hemantha Pumachchari repairs cars at Augusta's Super Lube and Brake. But his latest project is repairing the company's name. "It surprised me," he said. "I did not know what the "F" means." It's the failing grade given by the Better Business Bureau because of unresolved complaints. But he can't remember one complaint from customers or the BBB ... Gigi Turner of the CSRA BBB said, "That's an oversight, because you have different staff members entering" ... http://www.wrdw.com/onyourside/headlines/12_OYS_Better_Business_Bureau_grades_questioned_local_business_deals_with_oversight_108534384.html

Ct Attorney General Threatens Legal Action Against Better Business Bureau
By George Gombossy | Last updated Nov 13, 2010, 11:08 am
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is threatening the Better Business Bureau with legal action unless it changes its controversial marketing program which gives accredited businesses better grades in return for annual payments. According to sources, Blumenthal’s investigation into the bureau’s letter grade system has convinced him what many consumer advocates – including myself – have been saying, that it’s a marketing system designed to pressure businesses to pay to become accredited members. Blumenthal Friday sent a letter to the national council of the BBB (the full letter is published below) giving the bureau two weeks to responding to his concerns ... http://ctwatchdog.com/2010/11/11/ct-attorney-general-threatens-legal-action-against-better-business-bureau

Why are non-BBB businesses getting bad grades?
Friday, November 12, 2010
BRONX (WABC) -- The Flannery Hardware store in the Bronx has been in business for 15 years. Its owner, David Flannery, says that does not happen unless you put the customer first. So, he was surprised to learn that the Better Business Bureau had given his store a grade of D-minus for "failure to respond to one complaint." Flannery says he's being punished for not joining the BBB ... http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=7784351

[lillypaddle]

1. Back "in the day"

the BBB was respected and respectable. It was somewhere you reported businesses that screwed you around. Now, not so much.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Becasue the Internet Crime Complaint Center is basically a farce

At least it has some veneer of government basis, other "Internet Crime stoppers" lack even that.