Eli meant to behave but there were way too many options.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Scam Alert
via Inel, the WGGWCC08 3rd Global Warming and Climate Change International Conference & Exposition. (WGGWCC 08 ) is a scam. (Ear tip to Brian Schmidt for the pointer)
You should tell Tim Ball and Tom Harris about this conference. Might want to leave out the "scam" bit. I'd like to see how well these guys would hold up being kidnapped and held in Nigeria.
IN GOD'S NAME, I AM MARION DELGADO, COUSIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA AND HEAD OF THE SOUND CLIMATE SCIENCE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. I WISH AND HOPE YOU ARE WELL. I HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE NIGERIA PRIZE, EQUAL TO A MILLION SKEPTICAL US DOLLARS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY OUR SOCIALIST NATION HOARDS HARD CURRENCY. SOUND ECONOMIC SCIENCE REQUIRES THAT I INSTEAD INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF THE NATION AND REGISTER FOR A SUBSTANTIAL GRATUITY SKEPTICS FOR A CONFERENCE ON NATURE'S DEPRADATIONS AND THE FUTILITY OF CONTROLLING ENERGY. TO ATTEND THIS ONCE IN A LIFETIME CONFERENCE PROVIDE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND BONA FIDES (WE MUST HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT TO SHOW OUR GOVERNMENT TO LET YOU ATTEND WITHOUT WAITING FOR A VISA).
This is the second time such a conference has been advertised in London. The previous attempt at WGGWCC was dated 25-29 July 2008. I wonder how many takers the organisers had for that 5-day event purportedly running from Friday through Tuesday in the same London hotel?!
The only way to beat such scammers seems to be to publicise within the target audience (climate change blog visitors) to prevent scam comments getting posted, at which point the whole endeavour should become unprofitable …
There is also the question of the WGGWCC Registration Form, which collects passport and travel details. This would only be of concern to people travelling to London from outside Britain, which could be why (as far as I can see) British blogs have not been targetted, though Canadian, Australian, American and other English-speaking countries have. (This is typical.)
UPDATE: The spambots got clever so the verification is back. Apologies
Some of the regulars here are having trouble telling the anonymice apart. Please add some distinguishing name to your comment such as Mickey, Minnie, Mighty, or Fred.
Broken your direct link is. :(
ReplyDeleteblue
Fixed. Thanks
ReplyDeleteYou should tell Tim Ball and Tom Harris about this conference. Might want to leave out the "scam" bit. I'd like to see how well these guys would hold up being kidnapped and held in Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteIN GOD'S NAME, I AM MARION DELGADO, COUSIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA AND HEAD OF THE SOUND CLIMATE SCIENCE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. I WISH AND HOPE YOU ARE WELL. I HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE NIGERIA PRIZE, EQUAL TO A MILLION SKEPTICAL US DOLLARS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY OUR SOCIALIST NATION HOARDS HARD CURRENCY. SOUND ECONOMIC SCIENCE REQUIRES THAT I INSTEAD INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF THE NATION AND REGISTER FOR A SUBSTANTIAL GRATUITY SKEPTICS FOR A CONFERENCE ON NATURE'S DEPRADATIONS AND THE FUTILITY OF CONTROLLING ENERGY. TO ATTEND THIS ONCE IN A LIFETIME CONFERENCE PROVIDE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND BONA FIDES (WE MUST HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT TO SHOW OUR GOVERNMENT TO LET YOU ATTEND WITHOUT WAITING FOR A VISA).
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU AND GOD BLESS.
Paper Submission
ReplyDeleteSeptember, 15 2008
Notification of Acceptance
September, 20 2008
Conference Dates
September, 26--30 2008
Wow, that's so super-fast. Tim Ball and Tom Harris will really love this. :)
Until, that is, they discover that it's not just a scam, but a Scam™...
Thanks for drawing attention to this, Eli.
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time such a conference has been advertised in London. The previous attempt at WGGWCC was dated 25-29 July 2008. I wonder how many takers the organisers had for that 5-day event purportedly running from Friday through Tuesday in the same London hotel?!
The only way to beat such scammers seems to be to publicise within the target audience (climate change blog visitors) to prevent scam comments getting posted, at which point the whole endeavour should become unprofitable …
There is also the question of the WGGWCC Registration Form, which collects passport and travel details. This would only be of concern to people travelling to London from outside Britain, which could be why (as far as I can see) British blogs have not been targetted, though Canadian, Australian, American and other English-speaking countries have. (This is typical.)
They emailed me a bunch of pretty legit looking documents. Mind you, I told them I was a glaciologist...
ReplyDelete