There Are Four Lights

I received an odd email this morning, which triggered my skeptical alarms:

Dear Sara E. Mayhew,

My Name is Prof. Peter Kopelman from the London Youth Community Here
in London UK. We want you to be our guest speaker at this Year ST’
GEORGE UNIVERSITY , which will take place here in UK. We are writing
to invite and confirm your booking to be our Guest Speaker at these
year ST’ GEORGE UNIVERSITY Event.

The Venue as follows:VENUE: St George’s University of London,
Cranmer Terrace,
London,
SW17 0RE.
Email:stgeorgeuniversityoflondon@gmail.com
Expected audience: 500 people
Duration of speech per speaker: 7PM-8PM
Name of Organization: ST’GEORGE UNIVERSITY
Topic:MEDICAL
Date: Wednesday 30 March 2011.

We came across your profile on
http://www.amazingmeeting.com/speakers and we say it’s up to
standard and we will be very glad to have such an outstanding
personality in our mist for these overwhelming gathering. With your
multi talented speech more lives will come close , Sorry about our
late invitation it is due to the fact that our Speaker had back out
because of her sudden illness.

Arrangements to welcome you here will be discussed as soon as you
honor our invitation. If you have any more publicity material, please
do not hesitate to contact me. A formal Letter of invitation would be
sent to you as soon as you honor our invitation. We are taking care of
your traveling and Hotel Accommodation expenses including your
Speaking fees.

Remain Blessed

Prof. Peter Kopelman
stgeorgeuniversityoflondon@gmail.com
ST’GEORGE UNIVERSITY.
Ofice(+44) 702-401-8034

The first thing I found odd was why a London university would want me, on short notice, to speak at an event on the topic “MEDICAL”. Another red flag was the “gmail” address (why would a university use gmail?). And, finally, the slightly odd grammar triggered some skepticism as well.

I suppose the creative element to this scam is how personalized it is; they mention my recent additional to The Amaz!ng Meeting speaker lineup. Also, Prof. Kopelman and the St. George University are real, so a quick google makes it seem legit. But some deeper searching (for this “London Youth Community” organization) yields evidence for the scam: http://whyismarko.com/2010/creative-email-scam/

Apparently, the scam tries to get you to fork over money for a “work permit”.

So, there you have it! Maybe, next time, they shouldn’t try to scam someone they’ve picked of a list of speakers from the biggest skeptics conference. Also, as a Canadian, I have a limitless supply of humbleness so any attempt to take advantage of my recent TAM9 booking is futile!

The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM) is an annual celebration of science, skepticism and critical thinking. People from all over the world come to Amaz!ng Meetings each year to share learning, laughs and the skeptical perspective with their fellow skeptics and a host of distinguished guest speakers and panelists.

I’ll be a guest speaker at this year’s TAM, July 14-17th, at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, Las Vegas, NV. Other amaz!ng speakers include keynote speaker Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Penn & Teller, PZ Myers, Phil Plait, Michael Shermer, Mythbuster’s Adam Savage, and of course, James Randi along with many other amazing people.