Infosecurity Europe organisers aped in invoice scam

Crooks are trying to get exhibitors at next year's show to transfer payments into bogus bank account

The organisers of Infosecurity Europe have warned exhibitors to be on their guard against a fake invoice scam.

According to an email sent to exhibitors and seen by CRN, scammers have been aping organisers Reed Exhibitions in a bid to convince them to transfer money into a bogus bank account.

In the email, exhibition manager, Malcolm Wells, said: "It has been brought to our attention that someone has been contacting certain Infosecurity Europe participants by phone and email, sending them false invoices and requesting urgent payments into a UK bank account, quoting the following details:

Bank Name and Address: Nationwide, Nationwide House, Swindon SM38 1NW, United Kingdom
Account Title: INFOSEC INT
Account Number: 06443078
Sort Code: 07-04-36

The bank account quoted is not affiliated to Reed Exhibitions Limited."

Infosecurity Europe claims to be Europe's top IT security conference and exhibition, drawing in over 300 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors annually.

Although IT security professionals may not seem like the easiest target, Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of IT security distributor and Infosecurity Europe exhibitor Wick Hill, argued no one is insusceptible to this type of sting.

"They say that cobblers' children often have the worst shoes and that the painter and decorator has the worst-painted house," he said. "This is a reminder that people need to be extra vigilant and not be caught out."

Kilpatrick said channel firms like his have also been targeted by several hospitality scams in recent weeks.

"If it looks too good to be true, it is," he said.

Reed's Wells urged anyone who has been targeted to report the matter to the UK Action Fraud line (0300 123 2040) or online at www.actionfraud.police.uk.

In a statement to CRN, Kerry Prince, project director, Infosecurity Europe, said: "As soon as we were aware of this issue our immediate priority was to bring it to the attention of our customers and we asked anyone who had been contacted by this unofficial party to report the matter to the Action Fraud line and our Customer Service Helpline."