The bbb institute's mission is to foster consumer trust and ethical marketplace behavior through research on consumer/business marketplace issues, education of consumers and their businesses, development of standards and best practices and promotion of ethical conduct.

Business & Industry

In 2017, the bbb institute continued to provide free resources and educational programming to military service men and women and their families. Bbbs across the country delivered training to active military and veterans. The military & veterans initiative focuses on providing: 1) education (bbbs on and around military installations teach financial readiness classes to service members); outreach (participate in community events); information (share resources via social media, website and newsletter); and data collection (identify trends in scams targeted at the military community). More than 10,000 military service members participated in the military line educational program in 2017. The bbb institute served on a number of advisory groups, including the dod financial readiness roundtable and military saves (consumer federation of america), and continued pursuing partnerships with like-minded organizations and government agencies, including the ftc, amba, the usaa foundation, and others. The bbb institute researched and co-authored its first bbb scam tracker annual report, which, among other data sets, provides information about the riskiest scams that are targeted at the military and veterans communities and compares their vulnerabilities and losses to those of the general population. The bbb institute distributed its monthly trusted scout newsletter to almost 150,000 people. bbb scam tracker is an online tool that enables consumers to report scam activity and prevent others from falling prey to similar cons. The easy-to-use tool collects and presents scam data in a searchable online "heat map," showing users the number and types of scams and hoaxes reported in their communities. Bbb scam tracker provides a window on the scam landscape, distributing data-driven consumer alerts and tips based on current information. Data are also shared with law enforcement agencies for investigative purposes. Scam reports submitted by consumers to bbb scam tracker rose 46 percent in 2017. The bbb institute published the first bbb scam tracker annual report in 2017, receiving a significant amount of media attention, including a story on good morning america worth $3. 1 million in earned media (based on the cost of advertising time on that popular program). As a result of this attention, the bbb institute was invited to testify before the u. S. Senate special committee on aging about its research on scams, particularly those perpetrated through robocalls and their impact on older americans. The cbbb board of directors voted in december to make bbb scam tracker a mandatory program for all bbbs (bbb institute employees began preparing for the increased tech support necessary to help the bbb network and for opening individual bbb scam tracker reports to google indexing in 2018, increasing its effectiveness in reaching consumers). the digital iq program provides consumers with the practical knowledge they need to navigate the digital world safely and take advantage of its benefits. The program aims to reach audiences online using social media and other digital strategies. In 2017, digital iq continued to work toward the launch of its digital inclusion campaign, which aims to inspire consumers to tell and share their own stories about those universal moments of discovery when a person learns or teaches somebody else how to do something new with technology. Digital iq convened a contest across the better business bureau system to create and film a "digital aha! Moment. " participants were asked to create a video telling a short story of learning or teaching a digital skill. During the 2017 bbb assembly, the annual gathering of bbbs from across north america, contest winners were debuted. Digital iq aims to include these videos along with its original crowdsourced video content, which captures a number of "digital aha! Moments," including stories of users learning how to utilize navigation apps on their smartphone, narrow search terms, and c