STEVEN HAUSMAN,
BA, MS, PHD, is
president of Hausman
Technology Presentations
and speaks about the future,
emerging and disruptive
technologies, cybersecurity,
and health-related topics.
hausmantech.com
Q: What scams do speakers
need to be aware of?
A: Here are three
common ones to avoid
FIND MORE FRAUDS
Information about
common fraud schemes
is available from the FBI
at bit.ly/2dcLaFJ.
FICTITIOUS
CONFERENCE SCAM
Recently, individuals have had their profiles and
photos (taken from LinkedIn) shown as being
speakers at a meeting when none of them had
ever been contacted. When pressed, the organizers removed all of the unauthorized listings
and replaced them with an entirely new list of
“speakers.” An analysis by a reverse image search
showed that the photos of the new “speakers”
were stock images that had been previously
used for advertising. The scam works by using
the reputation of a legitimate speaker to entice
attendees who pay a registration fee. The conference is never held, and the scammers abscond
with the registration money.
FOREIGN MEETING SCAM
A speaker is invited by email to give a
speech in a foreign country for a large
amount of money. Typically, the invitation
comes from the “pastor” of a church. While
the church and the pastor may be real, they
have no idea that their name is being appropriated. In most cases the English is poor
and the email is from a generic account
(like gmail.com) instead of an official
church domain. Once speakers respond,
the scammer requests a processing fee,
is reluctant to answer any questions, and
may say you need to have a work permit, for
which they need a copy of your passport.
SPEAKING WITH CELEBRITIES
Speakers are contacted by email to participate
in a conference. Signs that this may be fraud
are: bad grammar, a generic email address, a
statement that a high-profile celebrity speaker
will be opening the event, and an unrealistic
compensation package, such as $650,000 for
a 50-minute presentation. ■
BY STEVEN HAUSMAN, BA, MS, PHD
Contact the organizers to
have your profile and photo
removed from their website.
Try to contact the other
speakers listed on the
website to determine if they
were contacted before their
images were used.
File an Internet Crime
Complaint with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation at
ic3.gov/default.aspx.
SCAMMED? TAKE
THESE STEPS IF YOU
FEEL YOU ARE THE
VICTIM OF A SCAM
