There wasn鈥檛 an old conference that lived in a shoe
INVITATIONS to attend scientific conferences are frequent arrivals in our journalists鈥� inboxes. But those that offer to pay expenses for speakers whose papers are accepted, with registration 鈥渇ree of charge for participants from developing countries鈥�, are not.
So a colleague鈥檚 eyebrows were elevated by the invitation to speak at a Climate Change International Conference in London. Oddly, the invitation did not mention a conference website, and a famous search engine could not find one. Even odder, entering the site of the conference, the 鈥淟ondon Eco Hotel鈥� at 26 Brook Street, London W1K 5DQ, into a famous web street-view engine showed on the ground floor and a above.
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And the 鈥渃onference鈥� appears on . So how does it work?
Firstly, ScamWarners users say the phone numbers given for the conference and the hotel, with a UK 鈥渁rea code鈥� of 070, redirect calls to West Africa, at a stiff price. Worse, victims were asked to pay in advance for hotel rooms, on promise of later reimbursement.
A website created for the 鈥渉otel鈥� at is identical to one at 鈥� and nearly convincing, in context of the acquired taste that is 鈥渓uxury hotel鈥� decor. The image of an example bedroom appears on the website of the very real (offer prices from 拢255 a night). Other pictures, and the design, are identical to features of the website (list price from 拢325).
The promised 鈥渆co-hotel鈥� price of 拢99 a night would ring alarm bells for anyone who has ever visited London. Unfortunately, people wrote to ScamWarners saying they were taken in.
While correcting the proofs of this page Feedback received a personal invitation to an equally dubious 鈥淲ater Resources, Climate & Energy鈥� conference. More next week.
Man fined for selling faulty solar systems,鈥� Australia鈥檚 Herald Sun . Steve Wright says that 鈥渃onsidering the magnitude of the crime, the A$15,000 fine seems extraordinarily lenient
YOU just can鈥檛 trust anybody any more, as the founders of a company called 鈥淏lack Diamond鈥� have learned the hard way. They hired Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to collect money for cars offered for sale over the internet. She was to deduct a commission for herself, and forward the remainder to them.
Alas, in Queensland, she kept the A$33,350 she received from two would-be car buyers, and didn鈥檛 forward a penny to her employers in Nigeria.
They, of course, were running a scam that involves hiring people overseas to act as sales agents for non-existent products. The agents are then supposed to forward the proceeds to Nigeria before anyone complains about non-delivery.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn鈥檛 the bogus Black Diamond people who got round to filing a complaint about the theft. It was the would-be car buyers who called the cops.
WONDERFUL are the ways of the advertising folk who must promote 鈥渉ealth supplements鈥� where the law forbids any actual claims for efficacy. A colleague, snacking in a south London caf茅, couldn鈥檛 avoid hearing on the radio a plug for a product containing ginseng. The sales pitch hinged on the assertion that 鈥渨hen your energy returns鈥�, you鈥檒l feel a whole lot better.
So the return of your energy is not necessarily causally related to the product 鈥� but you don鈥檛 actually have to believe fervently in magic to gain some sort of impression of a connection.
Perhaps wisely, whoever makes the product has avoided making this non-claim visible online. That might encourage documented, textual ridicule. So please read this Feedback entry aloud, only.
Produce of more than one universe?
GETTING around rules demanding that food鈥檚 source should be labelled is easy: print 鈥淧roduce of more than one country鈥� on everything. Unless, that is, you sell jars containing a single vanilla pod.
鈥淢aybe the vanilla tree was on the frontier,鈥� Peter Toye muses, 鈥渆xcept that I think that the best vanilla is from the island of Madagascar.鈥� This, he suggests, rather rules out frontier-straddling vanilla vines 鈥� which are, other readers point out, orchids.
READER Robert Owen sends us a photo of a can of shaving cream from Asda supermarket. He is intrigued, he says, by the odd juxtaposition of warning, exhortation and guarantee on the side of the can.
First, in very large letters, it says, 鈥淪olvent abuse can kill instantly鈥�. Then, directly underneath and in the same black-on-white lettering, it says, 鈥淭ry me, Love me鈥�. Finally, again without pause, it declares, 鈥淲e鈥檒l refund and replace if you are not 100 per cent happy鈥�.
Something about this doesn鈥檛 feel right. We get the feeling that the Asda marketing department has been rather overworked.
FINALLY, reading , Karen Ashworth was startled to find that its operating temperature is 鈥�0掳 to 35掳 C鈥� and its non-operating temperature 鈥�-20掳 to 45掳 C鈥�. So, in human-friendly climes it may, or may not, work?