Advisory: Beware of Scams targeting Nonprofits
Scammers Posing as HGA
Hotel Scam
Mailing List Scam
Social Media
Beware of Scammers Posing as HGA Staff or Partners
Protect your personal information and use caution when interacting with people claiming to be staff or affiliated with Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA).
If you are contacted by HGA, our staff will be able to provide identifying information (e.g. your member number, event registration number, etc.). If you are suspicious of a call claiming to be from HGA, take the name of the person you are speaking to, call us back directly at (678) 730-0010, and ask to be reconnected to that person.
Email spoofing is the creation of email messages with a forged sender address. All HGA emails will come from an email address that ends in @WeaveSpinDye.org. Check the ends of all email addresses.. Just because an HGA logo is used in the body of an email does not necessarily mean it is a message from HGA.
If you are suspicious of an email, do not click on any links in the body of the email or respond to the email. Please forward the email to HGA@WeaveSpinDye.org and our staff will confirm its authenticity. Report all phishing emails to your provider.
Click here to learn more about email spoofing and phishing and how to protect yourself.
AI has led to many of these scams becoming more common. We urge you to be cautious with any messaging you receive and verify its authenticity before engaging with it.
Please be particularly aware of the following known common scams or characteristics of scams:
- Requests to purchase gift cards
- Requests to transfer money through wire transfer or cryptocurrency
- Acting as a broker for hotels for Convergence®
- Selling mailing lists for Convergence® or other HGA events
- Requests for personal information, such as Social Security numbers or bank account information
- Overly formal or incorrectly phrased language
- Robotic sounding voices over the phone
Scam Alert: Conference Hotel Calls
We have received reports of scam phone calls targeting individuals attending or participating in our conference.
Callers are falsely claiming to represent the Handweavers Guild of America or our conference hotel partner and are offering a reduced hotel rate or attempting to modify existing registrations. These calls are fraudulent.
While we do not share reservation details for this purpose, scammers may use publicly available information - such as exhibitor or teacher listings - or third party data sources to make their outreach seem legitimate.
To ensure your reservation is secure, please use only our official hotel booking link.
Please note:
- The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. does not contact attendees or vendors by phone to change hotel reservations.
- Our official hotel rate has not changed.
- We do not authorize third parties to manage reservations on our behalf.
If you receive a suspicous call:
- Do not share personal or payment information.
- Hang up immediately.
- Verify any hotel details using the official link above or by contacting the hotel directly.
- Report the incident to us at {{contact email}}.
We encourage all attendees, vendors, and partners to remain vigilant.
Scam: Mailing Lists
The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA) does not sell our attendee list. If you receive an email from someone offering the Convergence attendee list for purchase, it is a scam. Delete the email. This scam has been targeting the entire events industry.
Protect Yourself on Social Media
Be cautious with your interactions on social media. Scammers use posts, direct messaging, and more to steal information and money. Oftentimes, accounts are made under a false name, or are an impersonation account of an individual, business, government agency, or other platform.
For more information on how to keep yourself safe, click here.
To protect yourself:
- Never send money to or share information/photos with a person you have only met online
- Don't click on any links or attachments that look suspicious
- Look for inconsistencies in email addresses, links, etc.
- Be careful with any messages that contain unusual requests, notices that you won something, invitations to enter contests, deals that are “too good to be true,” offers to buy something that you are selling without asking for any information first, or posts that have a sense of urgency
- Report all phishing emails to your provider
- Use strong passwords
- Keep your computer up-to-date and backed up
- Use antivirus software
Questions? Please contact a member of the staff at 678-730-0010 or HGA@WeaveSpinDye.org.
