With the 2024 ACPC just a month away, attendees should be aware of a common scam targeting the events industry involving fraudulent emails claiming to offer for sale “attendee lists” and other information.
Many of these firms are increasingly deceptive and aggressive in their marketing tactics – sometimes falsely including the ACPC logo/website/name in their email signatures. Please note that the ACPC is not sending these communications, nor are the senders affiliated with the ACPC. Please also note that the ACPC’s IT systems have not been compromised, and the email addresses included in disseminations have not been obtained from the ACPC. The emails are part of a phishing scam. Unfortunately, because company names and “From” email addresses frequently change, it makes it very challenging to stop their actions.
Scammers utilize web crawlers or email “scraper” programs to gather data from social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. They seek out information such as exhibitor lists and the interactive floor plan, readily available on Google, to pinpoint target companies. Analyzing the email patterns of these companies, scammers test various formats and send out phishing emails to verify valid addresses. Subsequently, they launch mass email campaigns to assess the legitimacy of the gathered email addresses.
This scam is very common. Just search Attendee List Sales Scam and see how many associations are posting warnings about this on their websites.
FRAUDULENT EMAIL SAMPLE
Note, in the below sample message, the poor grammar and no cost information. Also, be on the lookout for senders using free email services (such as Gmail), have misspelled domain names in their address, or “work for a company” that simply does not exist. Avoid clicking any suspicious hyperlinks or downloading attachments from emails of this nature. Do not follow any direction to “opt out” which requires replying to the sender.
Subject: Air Carriers Purchasing Conference – 2024
Dear Exhibitor 😊,
Air Carriers Purchasing Conference 2024, Pre-registered Attendee list is available now to fulfil your company’s promotional efforts.
Could you let me know if you want to receive the attendees list by email?
Kindly pick the number 1 / 2 that describes your response:
- Yes Interested, Send me pricing & other data information.
- OPT-OUT
Sincerely,
Carol Smith
Air Carriers Purchasing Conference | Aug 24-27, 2024 |
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