"Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"
S T O P
Have you just received a contact request like this one to be a keynote speaker?
Beware. You may be getting scammed especially if it is for a church in London. Pull up your version of the email to see if the details match, then proceed.
I have split this blog post into 3 parts:
- Am I being scammed? - Thanks to the scammed speakers before me who documented their journey, I stopped well in advance of losing money and time in this adventure. Here are their stories. This blog is me paying it forward.
- How this scam operates - it dates to before 2012
- At the bottom, a copy of all the emails I received, in the hope that if you are googling for a particular phrase from your email, you will find this blog and save yourself hours.
Big things: How to start small
That is the supposed theme of the lecture series.
At 5:45 in her video below, Anna says 'you created a great moment. You made me feel really good.'
And so they did. For an hour or so - until I had the rug pulled out from under me - I felt like all my small actions had made an impact - my blogging, my presentations, my podcast TILT the Future, the LinkedIn posts and community building in person and online.
It had all worked. Because someone had noticed and recommended me for this great big opportunity. As I teach GenZ and as I have been trumpeting regarding the climate crisis, it is a gathering of small efforts and actions.
Funny how that conference theme would work on so many levels!
EQ skills
It also showcases some other human skills that remain important as we enter an ever-more technical future where scams have gone international, scammers spoof your email, webpages can easily be created:
- Critical thinking & investigative skills
- Instincts, intuition, trusting your gut reaction
- Trust
- Sense of self
It is a shame that I was targeted, but a timely reminder too about how much of ourselves we share in public spaces.
Make. Take. Talk.
Make - I will make this PSA and alert the fraud squad in the UK and Canada
Take - Like me, make an effort to protect your personal information in your public space. Confirm who you are corresponding with. Care what you share about friends and family - names, celebrations etc leave clues.
Talk - about it widely so that others do not fall victim to this same scam and lose money, give away their personal information, and waste time filling in unnecessary forms.
More importantly, talk to the young people in your orbit about how much they share, with whom, how to do their due diligence and confirm that an opportunity that glitters is indeed gold.
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