‘Best of Mesa’ vanity award scheme targeting local restaurants

It’s food award season in the Valley, and local newspapers, magazines, and websites have been tripping over each other trying to tell you about the Best Place to Find Cronuts Before We Arbitrarily Decide Cronuts are No Longer Trendy.

Not surprisingly, a scam industry has sprung up amidst these often dubious awards.

Last week, several Mesa restaurants (and probably other types of businesses as well) received emails with the headline “[Your Restaurant] Receives 2015 Best of Mesa Award,” stating:

‘‘[Your restaurant] has been selected for the 2015 Best of Mesa Award in the Restaurants category by the Mesa Award Program.

Each year, the Mesa Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category.

These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community.

These exceptional companies help make the Mesa area a great place to live, work and play.’’

And so on. The restaurants then are invited to “claim” their awards online and receive a personalized plaque, usually for a fee around $150.

You probably won’t be shocked to learn the “awards” are not based on merit, but rather just an attempt to sell plaques (which often turn out to be paper certificates) for an inflated price.

The scammers seem to target a different city every month or so with a new website, but the U.S. Better Business Bureau recommends reporting any such emails here.