Healthcare conference scam alert

There is a group out there called EPS Global Medical Development Inc. touting what seem to be bogus healthcare/medical conferences. I got the following email today:

Dear Dr. Versel N.

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the EPS Montreal International Gene Conference to be held November 3-4, 2011 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The conference will provide a forum for researchers in Genetics and Genomics to present cutting edge research and learn about the latest breakthroughs and technologies.

We would like to welcome you to our Conference as our valuable speaker and present your recent work and ideas of Connect the docs. Study shows IT issues could create common ground for physicians and hospitals. that were published in Mod Healthc.. Please visit our website at www.epsglobal.ca  and www.epswordlink.com for program details.

Montreal International Gene Conference is organized by EPS Global Medical development Inc. Professor Massaro, the editor-in-chief of the journal Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics (CBB) will be present at this event and call for submission of papers in this field. All of the papers presented in the conference may have a chance to be published in a special issue of Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics (CBB).

EPS Global Medical Development Inc. is a Canada-based biomedical consultant agency that promotes continuing academic education, knowledge transfer and scientific exchange through life sciences-oriented conferences. We are delighted to host the EPS Montreal International Gene Conference in Montreal in order to foster and promote excellence in Genetics and Genomics through education and research, and to provide leadership in promoting development of evidence-based clinical genetics and genomics as well as the basic research that supports these clinical advances.

We look forward to meeting you in Montreal and wish you all an enjoyable time.

 

Warmest regards,

Yao Lu, MD, PhD

Executive Chair of Montreal International Gene Conference 2011

President of EPS Global Medical Development Inc.

What’s wrong? Well, first off, I’m not a doctor. Duh.

Secondly, I know little or nothing about genetics or genomics.

Third, the article referenced here is nearly eight years old, and it appeared in Modern Physician, not Modern Healthcare—though it may have been distributed as a supplement in the latter. I wrote it at the end of 2003, when I was a lame duck at Crain, after I had been told I was being downsized out of a job.

And fourth, at the very top of the message was this disclaimer: “If you no longer wish to receive email from us, you may unsubscribe.” You know, the kind of thing you see in mass mailing lists.

As a kicker, the message came to an old address. FYI, please don’t use nversel@rcn.com. I still have it, but it may go bye-bye soon, since the building I’m in just switched Internet providers. I’ve been using nversel@gmail.com for years. It’s about time you updated your records.

I was going to write back to ask for clarification, but I Googled “EPS Global Medical Development scam” and found more than 30,000 hits.  Also, one of the links in the message was dead. (I’ve removed those links in this post.) The link that did work actually redirects through a tracking URL embedded in the message, so clearly this was a marketing ploy.

There is in fact a journal called Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, edited by Edward J. Massaro, but everything else looks fishy. I wonder if Massaro knows his name is being used like this?

Consider yourself warned if you receive a similar invitation.