Scam alert

This scam is made by private companies targeting in particular people participating in conferences, workshops, etc. The scam follows normally the following path:

• people from these companies monitor websites of research conferences, workshops, research centers, etc. for new participants.
• Since participants provide often either their websites or affiliations, or both (this is the case of our workshop), it is then relatively easy to find their office phone number or their email address.
• Participants are then contacted before most of them have fixed their travel details and/or booked an accommodation.
• Participants are then convinced that the private company is acting on behalf of the organisers, and that if they book their accommodation at a certain hotel, they will get that cost reimbursed by the organisers.
• Lastly, participants are convinced in providing either personal infos, or copies of passports or ID cards, or even the complete credit card number and security code. Normally participants are required to provide these infos either by telephone, or by filling some documents containing some details about the workshop (simply copy-pasted from the website of the event).

Sometimes the companies and websites associated to them exist, but this is not a proof that they are acting on our behalf. As general rules:

• you should be contacted only by the organisers of this event. All other emails and phone calls are probably scam.
• Also if you are contacted per email by one of the organisers of the event, please be careful in replying, if the email includes requests of some personal data as the ones mentioned above. The most safe way of dealing with that would be to write a separate email to one of the addresses mentioned in the contact section, instead of replying to the email directly (since the sender of an email can be often easily modified).
• We will never contact you by phone or email in order to ask you to pay online for your accommodation/board before your arrival at our workshop.
• We will never ask for a credit card number by phone or email.
• We will never ask you to fill in a form sent to you as an attachment (.pdf).
• In case you're not sure whether it's a scam or not: it's most likely a scam.
• Please let us know in this case.