Consumerism 2.0 conference a scam?
The conference is real, according to Ben Popken at the Consumerist, who will be on a panel at the conference.
I received an unsolicited e-mail today that has all the hallmarks of a scam, but some hallmarks of a non-scam, and so I am confused. The sender, “Lauren Hackett,” claims to be from Consumer Reports. But her reply e-mail address is @consumer.org, a domain that is temporarily unavailable (and not @consumerreports.org or @consumersunion.org, which would make more sense). Moreover, her e-mail is listed as HACKLA in the reply-to, and lhackett within the e-mail. She is inviting me to an invite-only conference, “Consumerism 2.0, a unique, free event that will bring together a select group of bloggers, consumer advocates and others, with one shared goal: to empower consumers using the unique capabilities of interactive media, including blogs, video, user-generated content and more.”
On the other hand, the conference information link does appear to be a genuine convention organizer (?), and asks only for basic contact information. It is the kind of shabby sign-up I would expect from a scam (if it is invite-only, why don’t I have to log in to see the sign-up?), but there are no obvious spelling or grammatical errors.
What do you think? Is it a scam, a “time share”-type of sales event, or a legitimate invitation that just doesn’t look very good? (If so, I am guessing this post gets me uninvited.)
Seems like a pretty small net to cast for a scam. If a scammer were to go through the trouble of using proper English and not offering a free iPhone, I would think they’d at least go after people more likely to fall for a scam.
I took a look at the source, there wasn’t anything that jumped out as particularly suspicious.
From my experience working with people in traditional publications I’d actually suspect that this is probably genuine.
It doesn’t hurt to contact people at Consumer Reports directly by phone. If they’re willing to provide a stipend for transportation and free booze, they’ll probably be willing to clear things up over the phone.
True enough. I can’t figure out where the scam is, unless they intend to steal my identity. Maybe it is just a poorly-advertised convention.