cctransuk Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I have, for the second time, received an e-mail inviting me to purchase the visitor list for the above event; the latest e-mail is below :- From: Liam Jones <liam.jones@visitorsdata.com> Sent: 21 September 2020 08:43 To: cctrans@hotmail.com <cctrans@hotmail.com> Subject: International N Gauge Show 2020 Visitors Info List Hello, Hope you and your family is doing well and safe. I am just following up to see if you are interested in acquiring the Attendees/Visitors list of, International N Gauge Show 12 - 13 Sep 2020 Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Warwick, UK Counts =4,885 Each record of the list contains Contact Name, Email Address, Phone No, Title, Company Name, URL/Website, City, Country, Zip code. Let me know your thoughts so that we can send you the cost and additional information. Best Regards, Liam Jones I am no expert on such matters, but I would have thought that the information on offer comes within the scope of the Data Protection Act, and that its sale without the consent of all listed parties would be illegal. Are there any legal professionals amongst us that can comment? John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 21, 2020 A quick Google suggests this show was cancelled. Yet 4885 people attended? Hmmmm....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted September 21, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) Sounds like a scam, but yes, it would be somewhat dodgy - attendees would have needed to have opted in to have your data shared, which is unlikely on that scale. Edit: on the cancellation point I read it as being those who pre-bought tickets, as it didn't go ahead, but again the number is unlikely. A quick Google suggests that "visitorsdata.com" doesn't exist, and this is a common scam. So yeah... ignore that. Edited September 21, 2020 by njee20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted September 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 21, 2020 Yes, a common scam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I agree that if such information was being provided then I'd see it as a breach of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), but I note that the domain name of the sender isn't an active website, but the domain name is registered to a company (G C V PVT LTD) in Karnataka, India. Presumably it's just a scam designed to try and get you to part with some money to access some dubious data. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I worked for a business that held an annual trade show at the NEC up until a few years ago, but I still get emails from agencies offering me the visitor database which we’d never actually sold! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium maq1988 Posted September 21, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 21, 2020 GDPR/DPA bits aside - I'd be interested in knowing how 'they' got your (cctransuk) contact details to advertise such service in the first place? Somehow they know you are interested in model railways and they've got your email address to mail to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozzer models Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 we get there to me 247 developments email all the time this year i have had them for YORK BRM 2 OR 3 SHOW N GAUGE SHOW PLUS OTHERS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris M Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Yes it can only be a scam. Those involved in organising shows are totally aware of the law and would not go selling lists to third parties. Nobody in their right mind would risk a big fine and possibly the end of running an exhibition for the price of a list of names and addresses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Jonboy Posted September 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) At work we get these around twice a month for every exhibition we have attended, across two differently named business divisions. It is straight-forward fishing with you being the target. The scammers simply trawl the exhibitor lists and fire off the same type of email to all of them, in the hope someone will pay them for it. we also get paper forms in the post asking us to check details are correct and amend and fax or post back in the enclosed free post envelope back if not so. They all have missing details and small print saying your signature confirms agreement to three years of adverts at 1259 pesos or equivalent per annum, governed by Mexican law.....it would be a cynical git that simply pops back the empty envelope.... Edited September 21, 2020 by Jonboy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 34 minutes ago, Jonboy said: The scammers simply trawl the exhibitor lists and fire off the same type of email to all of them, in the hope someone will pay them for it. It must be more complex that that - I don't attend ANY exhibitions. John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black and decker boy Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 23 hours ago, cctransuk said: It must be more complex that that - I don't attend ANY exhibitions. John Isherwood. No but you have a website which features an email address. fairly easy to set a program to search for model railway related website and to mine information from them. no actual people or yellow pages needed for scams these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, black and decker boy said: No but you have a website which features an email address. fairly easy to set a program to search for model railway related website and to mine information from them. no actual people or yellow pages needed for scams these days. Agreed - I know how they do it; I was just pointing out to Jonboy that his suggestion that they trawl the attendees list didn't apply in this case. John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 I've had the scam email for the N-Gauge show and Warley for several years to the 2mm webmaster's address. Basically the same email, and from some questionable country domain. My guess, is its just a database trawl of harvested email addresses, and word "international" being in the N-Gauge show's title, etc. The scam-spam goes in the "deleted" box, I haven't analysed it. - Nigel (2mm Scale Association webmaster) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold john new Posted September 27, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 27, 2020 (edited) We had similar debates last year with the York attendance data list supposedly available, amongst that from other shows. No idea where the data comes from, or even if there is any, it certainly wasn’t released by us (YMRS), so safe to assume some form of scam or phishing exercise. Edited September 27, 2020 by john new Typos corrected Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 On 21/09/2020 at 20:45, Jonboy said: it would be a cynical git that simply pops back the empty envelope.... No no no what you do is stuff it full of other junk, hopefully enough to put it overweight for the prepaid postage, so they get charged extra postage to get their own envelope back 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 Surely most people who come to model railway shows pay on the door, so there's no list to start with? Although I guess these fishing mails are aimed at trade shows, where you need to register in advance to get in, and the people behind the scam don't understand that a model railway exhibition is completely different. 45 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said: No no no what you do is stuff it full of other junk, hopefully enough to put it overweight for the prepaid postage, so they get charged extra postage to get their own envelope back An old fridge for example.. And yes, that has actually happened..... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterl Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 On 27/09/2020 at 09:54, john new said: We had similar debates last year with the York attendance data list supposedly available, amongst that from other shows. No idea where the data comes from, or even if there is any, it certainly wasn’t released by us (YMRS), so safe to assume some form of scam or phishing exercise. We don't actually keep a visitor list at York Show! So we would be hard pressed to let anybody have it!!!! Getting email addresses is apparently very easy. I still get emails from my Brother in Law who died some 4 or 5 years ago! That's modern technology for you. Peter 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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