Each year, unauthorized parties send emails either offering to sell nonexistent association membership/attendees lists or claiming to have access to a 'special room block' for our conference. These communications may appear legitimate, as they may include our company logo and contain signatures with our company information. Those are easily grabbed off the website.
Please be advised that these are scams.
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
Access to our attendee information is not available for purchase or distribution. Anyone who says they have our attendee list is a scammer and is trying to steal your money.
We have one portal for all hotel bookings. Anyone who sends you a different method of booking is engaging in "block pirating" to steal your credit card information.
We will never share or sell our membership or attendee list, in keeping with our commitment to privacy and security.
Look deeper than the username: Any legitimate email from ICA will come from an email with the suffix "@icahdq.org" - be sure to look at the
actual email address from whence the email originated, not the bolded "user name" the sender has created. Anyone can name their email alias "ICA Conference" or "ICA President," but they typically can't fake the actual email address to make it appear to be from our email. In most email programs, you can click on an arrow next to the username to open more details, where you can confirm that the email is indeed from ICA. Please see the arrows in the attached images from Gmail (your email program may vary); in the first image, you see that anyone can call themselves "Jennifer" or "Conference," but if you click to open more details you'll see the actual addresses for all people included on the email.
For instance, you may receive an email from someone with the username "
ICA President," but if you open the details you'll see that their email address is something like "
ICApresident24icahdq894562@gmail.com." They have put the icahdq in the prefix of the email, but it's not in the suffix, and that's the "tell." This is not an official ICA account.
Official Hotel Booking: The only legitimate hotel booking link for the ICA24 conference is provided through our official booking partner, Maritz (also known as Experient). An official ICA email account (with the ICAHDQ.org suffix) will send you the link to the booking platform when it is time for your group to book (see schedule below). We strongly advise against using any other links for hotel bookings related to the event.
The official ICA hotel booking email will come from an official ICAHDQ.org account, and will be sent out as follows:
- Mon 4 March at 9:30AM EST to Tiers B&C/Australia/Global South attendees who registered prior to 31 January to qualify for early access (access code required)
- Tue 5 March at 9:30AM EST to Tier A attendees who registered prior to 31 January to qualify for early access (access code required)
- Wed 6 March at 9:30AM EST to all remaining registered attendees (no access code required)
- Thu 7 March at 9:30AM EST, the link will be made public and shared on social media
- Fri 8 March at 9:30AM EST, the initial four-night minimum booking restriction will be removed
Actions You Can Take:
- Ignore Suspicious Emails: Should you receive any emails offering to sell the attendee list or providing alternative hotel booking links, please do not respond or engage. These are not authorized by us and are likely attempts to gather personal information or money fraudulently. If they have created a false alias for an email that does not end in icahdq.org, they have not "hacked" ICA, they are simply "spoofing," and there is nothing we can do about it, unfortunately.
- Report & Verify: If you're uncertain about the legitimacy of any communication that claims to be from us, please contact us directly through our official contact details on our website. We encourage you to check with us regarding any suspicious emails you receive.
- Stay Informed: For all official announcements, booking details, and event information, please refer to our website, our newsletter, or our official social media accounts. We are committed to providing a safe and secure experience for all our members, attendees, and exhibitors.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Your vigilance is crucial in helping us ensure the security and privacy of our community.
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Tom Mankowski
ICA
Washington DC
United States
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