The AAO is warning members, exhibitors, and sponsors of the upcoming 2023 Annual Session of an email scam claiming to sell attendee lists.

With the upcoming Annual Session 2023 in Chicago, the American Association of Orthodontists is warning members, exhibitors, and sponsors of a common scam targeting the events industry involving fraudulent emails claiming to offer for sale “attendee lists” and other information.

Some of these scammers have targeted affiliates of the AAO, and some are including the AAO logo in their messages to dupe unsuspecting recipients.

The AAO is not sending these communications and reiterated that the senders are not AAO partners or affiliates. The AAO says that its IT systems have not been compromised, and email addresses included in the scams were not obtained from the association.

If you receive an attendee list scam email, do not interact with the sender, and follow your organization’s procedure for reporting SPAM.

If the emails continue, the AAO says that receives can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by going to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

AAO Members can review and make changes to the information they have authorized the association to share regarding themselves or their practices by selecting the “Manage Membership” button on the membership webpage or contacting member services for assistance.

When registering for some AAO events, like the Annual Session, the AAO gives the option to opt-in to share contact information with the event’s vendors and/or sponsors for direct marketing communications.

Any attendee information shared via this opt-in method contains only that of individuals who specifically provided their contact information for that purpose.

Any communications resulting from sharing that info with vendors or sponsors should look substantially different than those messages typical of the attendee list scam.

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