Please also note that, unfortunately, there are many suppliers who scrape data from our show websites and contact exhibitors by posing as official contractors of ITE Group plc, in particular:
Hotel agencies: Trade Show Housing & Convention Housing Service
Trade show guide companies: Expo-Guide, Fair Guide, and International Fairs Directory
As well as other companies offering staffing agencies, AV suppliers, booth contractors, and graphics suppliers.
Expo-Guide and Fairguide.com claim to provide services to exhibitors at events. Both companies use a misleading form—which resembles an organizer’s “Free Catalog Listing Service”—inviting exhibitors to sign and return the form to be listed in an online directory. Doing so binds the purchaser to a three-year, non-cancellable agreement. Failure to pay is then followed by aggressive debt collection by Premium Recovery.
Neither company is an official supplier for any exhibition organized by ITE Group plc. If either of these companies contacts you and claims to be working with any of our shows, we recommend that you do not continue the conversation and that you contact us immediately to inform us of the approach.
You can find more information about Expo-Guide and Fairguide.com on theAssociation of Event Organizers' website.
If you fall victim to this scam:
The AEO advises you to IGNORE THEM COMPLETELY and not communicate with them in any way. Writing letters simply confirms that you exist and are reachable at the address, email address, or phone number they have on file for you, and therefore they can pursue payment.
1) Report it to your local consumer protection agency
2) DO NOT PAY ANYTHING
3) DO NOT COMMUNICATE WITH THE SCAMMERS, even if they threaten legal action
4) Optional: File a complaint with the receiving bank that its client, Expo Guide (or equivalent), is obtaining money by deception.
These organizations have also been known to use debt collection agencies; the same advice applies to these agencies.
If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of suppliers who contact you, please feel free tocontact us at any time.