Monday, January 14

"CIO-Summit" phishing scam

I was the recipient today of what turns out to be at least an 18-month old phishing scam. Somehow they got my corporate email and phone number, but a completely mangled US Mail address.

cio-summit.net, upon clicking, forwards to http://64.41.119.180/ciosummit/. Yeah, I'm forking over $1000 to a _THAT_ URL.

Google only showed me one other site referencing this issue, but it documents over a year's worth of people encountering the scam: otherlibrarian: cio-summit.net

So head's up, fellow geeks.

Email:

Andrew,

Did you get the email I sent you last? Just in case it didn't get to you I've copied it below for your review. If you get a chance please let me know of your interest.

Thanks,
Chris


-----Original Message-----

To: Andrew Badera
From Name: Chris Jameson
Subject: Andrew, question.

Hi Andrew. On behalf of our board, I wanted to personally invite you into the CIO Summit because of your key role and experience.

The CIO Summit is an invitation-only group comprised of the very best executives and visionaries in technology management. We meet monthly by teleconference to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and ideas. It is a confidential forum with dedicated groups of other successful IT executives whose only agenda is to help each other outperform.

I am certain you will find the experience both enjoyable and useful in your efforts. Here is our site as background, www.CIO-Summit.net, if you could take a look and please let me know of your decision. Thanks, Andrew.

Sincerely,

Chris Jameson
The CIO Summit
1200 Abernathy Road
17th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30328
404-592-9904 Ext. 81
Mail back to decline further.
Chris@CIO-Summit.net
www.CIO-Summit.net


For my records in case any follow-up is needed, I show your contact information as: Andrew Badera, Davis Vision, ###########@davisvision.com, 159 Express St, Latham, MA, 11803 518-###-####

40 comments:

Dubai-Guy said...

I got that form letter. For reasons I'll never know, it just felt wrong. They now offer SSL submission of credit card info and a 30 day money back guarantee. Not for me.

Good post, btw. Thanks.

Andrew Badera said...

Thansk for stopping by. I can't believe this crap is still kicking around ... yet plenty of people have never seen it before. Nothing like the scale of the Internet ... Somehow it doesn't surprise me that they've moved to SSL, that, and the IP-name, no-domain, where the final straws for this camel.

Unknown said...

I just received the email myself today. I never trust any strange emails so I googled the "The-CIOSummit.net" and found this site. Thank you for confirming my suspicions.

Andrew Badera said...

Happy to help Tom!

Unknown said...

I did the same thing that Tom did. I always verify form emails with a quick Google Search. Glad that it popped this site up.

Andrew Badera said...

And now someone allegedly affiliated with CIO summit is trying to threaten me with a lawsuit:

http://blog.badera.us/2010/04/oldie-but-goodie-narcissistic-ceo-bully.html

katFever said...

alert, this has shifted from CIO-Summit to COO-Summit. Just received an invite in my corporate email from a Matthew Keener.

Unknown said...

Still going strong, I get them frequently. It is now the-ciosummit.net.

Hi Dennis. On behalf of our Board, I wanted to personally invite you into The CIO Summit because of your key role and experience.

The CIO Summit is an invitation-only group comprised of the very best executives and visionaries in the technology field. We meet monthly by teleconference to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and ideas. It is a confidential forum with dedicated groups of other successful technology executives whose only agenda is to help each other outperform. Our meeting schedule is at www.the-ciosummit.net

I am certain you will find the experience both enjoyable and useful in your efforts. Please take a look and let me know of your decision or relay if you think another is more appropriate. Thanks Dennis.


Sincerely,
Jason Williams
CIO Summits
The Organization of IT Directors
www.the-ciosummit.net

Phar said...

As JByrd said it's still going strong. Receiveing mine this morning.

Thanks for your site and the heads up!

scott said...

Thank you for posting this!

Andrew Badera said...

Happy to help Scott, thanks for stopping by!

kambiz said...

April 7, 2011
I am outraged that it has taken this long for the scammers to invite me. Were there really that many candidates better suited than I for this scam? The invitation notes an interest in my "key role and experience" but their slowness in extending an invitation indicates a lack of sincerity. Scammers, next time invite me early if you want to get my attention :)

Andrew Badera said...

hahaha quite excellent :)

Unknown said...

I received 3 that are for a CMO summit. Don't fall for it. www.cmo-summit.org F*ck them.

Andrew Badera said...

Right on Marty!

Anonymous said...

I received the same email scam recently from the "coosumit.net". I replied to his email and copied scams@fraudwatchinternational.com. I don't know if it helps or not. I also sent a nice note encouraging him to use his God given talents to better himself & the economy rather than steal from people. Who knows, maybe that'll get atleast one of them thinking.

erik uppman said...

It seems this has now transitioned to include a new URL: theoperationssummit.org. For reference, the two notes I received appear below:

On 5/12/11 6:04 AM, "Matthew Keener" wrote:

Hi Erik, I was just checking back to see if you had reached a decision
per my original email below. We have a couple of openings and I thought
you would enjoy the group. Some of the other members include:

Best Buy, Steve Delp, VP/COO.
Pier 1 Imports, Sharon Leite, EVP Store Operations.
Ernst & Young LLP, Kristin Valente, Partner.
Netflix, Andrew Rendich, VP Operations.
IHOP, Rand Ferris, VP Franchise Operations.
And also a number of smaller companies where we thought the COO had a lot
of creativity and ideas to share.

Can you look at the www.theoperationssummit.org meeting schedule and get
back to me or relay if you think another is more appropriate? The others
would really enjoy your participation.

Sincerely,
Matthew Keener
The COO Summits

----- Original Message -----

From: Matthew Keener
Subject: Erik, let me know if you can participate.

Hi Erik. On behalf of our Board, I wanted to personally invite you into
The COO/Operations Summits because of your key role and experience.

The COO/Operations Summits is an invitation-only group comprised of the
very best executives and visionaries in operations. We meet monthly by
teleconference to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and
ideas. It is a confidential forum with dedicated groups of other
successful operations executives whose only agenda is to help each other
outperform.
Our meeting schedule is at: www.theoperationssummit.org

I am certain you will find the experience both enjoyable and useful in
your efforts. Please take a look and let me know of your decision or
relay if you think another is more appropriate. Thanks Erik.

Sincerely,
Matthew Keener
The COO Summits
The Organization of Operations Directors
www.theoperationssummit.org

Andrew Badera said...

It's crazy these dirtbags are still up to these shenanigans, 2.5+ years later.

Ram said...

Please report them to their ISPs, things will be done if there is enough complaints:

abuse@peak10.com
abuse@bocacom.net
abuse@godaddy.com

Sending source: mail.the-cmosummit.net (72.35.72.51)

Brian Combs said...

I just got one of these to a domain where all email addresses go to me. It was addressed to "Sarah Palin". I had to look behind me to make sure she wasn't there!

Andrew Badera said...

Wow, that'd be a heluva way to end your week!

Unknown said...

I ignored/deleted the email (work email) the first time and now today I have a follow up email asking to respond. The guise of COOSUMMIT...Really?! Seriously, my position in our company is not a key position by any means. That was enough in the first place to make me delete it, but this follow up email really bugs the crap out of me.

I agree with rleathers from April 7, 2011...if I'm so important, why did it take them this long to find me. =)

Thank you Ram on May 16, 2011...I've forwarded the crap to those email addresses with my complaint about the spam.

Dave said...

www.cfosummit.org looks to be the same thing.

Anonymous said...

They're going for "The Project Management Summits" at www.projectmgmtsummit.com now.

Mine was addressed to Will Wright, who I would much rather find lurking behind me than Sarah Palin.

Dinah

Matt H said...

And you can add www.theengineeringsummit.net to the list. I'm glad they appreciate my "key role and experience" but I think I'll pass.

Unknown said...

where do they get the link to you (and me too).... think of where you post info about what you do and LinkedIn.com comes to my mind as a place that could be selling this info. Another possible site is Ladders.com (job search). It must be one of these two since I do not post elsehwere and it really is disappointing to me that they would sell this info.... as a result of this practice by either one, I really would not consider paying either of these two sites for "premium" access

Unknown said...

True enough Todd, though I'd say this scam predates a lot of the popularity of many relevant social media sites.

Also, in some industries, in some roles, we have to put ourselves out there. So, we can't bury our heads in the sand and just ignore these dirtbags, as much as we wish we could. Instead, we have to be aware and wary of them.

Anonymous said...

Saw this thread started in 2009, but I just received an email from a Matt Keener as well and now it's called the CMO-Summit (as of 12/17/12). Wow, can't believe this has hung around this long if it truly is spam. Thanks for the notice.

Here's a more recent post on this too: http://taliashewrote.com/2012/08/13/marketing-directors-targeted-in-scamspam/

Badmojo said...

I just got this one. Now it's Matt Keener with the PRSummit. Otherwise the text is identical.

Unknown said...

Got this and a follow-up email from a Matthew Keener at "theproductdevsummit.org"


Hi XYZ, I was just checking back to see if you had reached a decision per my original email below. We have a couple of openings and I thought you would enjoy the group. Some of the other members include:

- Gartner, Inc.
- Hewlett-Packard.
- Merck & Co., Inc.
- AstraZeneca.
- BASF Engineering Plastics.

Can you look at the www.theproductdevsummit.org meeting schedule and get back to me or relay if you think another is more appropriate? The others would really enjoy your participation.

Sincerely,
Matthew Keener
Prod Development Summits
The Organization of Product Development Executives www.theproductdevsummit.org

----- Original Message -----
Hi XYZ, hope all is well. On behalf of our Board, I wanted to personally invite you into The Prod Development Summits because of your key role and experience.

The Prod Development Summits is an invitation-only group comprised of the very best Product Development executives and visionaries. We meet by teleconference to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and ideas. It is a confidential forum with dedicated groups of other successful Product Development leaders whose only agenda is to help each other outperform.
Our meeting schedule is at www.theproductdevsummit.org

I am certain you will find the experience both enjoyable and useful in your efforts. Please take a look and let me know of your decision or relay if you think another is more appropriate. Thanks XYZ.


Sincerely,
Matthew Keener
Prod Development Summits
The Organization of Product Development Executives www.theproductdevsummit.org

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient.
If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is needed I show your contact information as: XYZ and you may also reach us at 1200 Abernathy Road #1700, Atlanta Georgia 30328 or through the contact page of our site.

sscruggs said...

5/10/2013, just received the same form letter from Matthew Keener. theoperationsummit.org

Pat said...

Just received the CIO version today. I too Googled it and found your site. Thanks, guys.

Anonymous said...

"theengineeringsummit" now org instead of net, but "Pat Hansen" is still inviting the credulous to pay for the privilege of talking to each other...

Business of Health Care said...

Just received one from a "Project Manager Summit." Looks like the same sort of nonsense - glad I stumbled across this blog in looking it up.

Email text:

Dear Thomas,

I wanted to reach out and see if you would like to become a part of a Project Management Leaders group, we think that you would be a great addition.

Our next meeting is on 9/17 and we also have upcoming meetings on 9/24 and 10/15. The Project Management Leaders that will present their best practices and ideas include Manpower, Best Buy and Rolls-Royce. We meet once per month via teleconference and the meetings typically last for an hour.

See www.ProjectManagementLeaders.org to become a part of the group. Just enter the letters CS2 in the comments field of the signup form to indicate that I asked you. Due to limited space I would advise that you become a part of the group before our next meeting on 9/17, thank you.

Kind Regards,
Chris H. Sanders
Project Management Leaders
Direct: 678-408-1895
Reply with subject Re move if wished
600 North Park, 17th Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30328

Unknown said...

I just got the same letter from "Jason Williams" with a link to: "the-ciosummit.net".
I'm not a CIO... Why me?

John Hastings said...

It's now Chris Sanders from and the URL is cio-summit.org.

Michael Moore said...

I just chatted online o these nutters...
===============
john:
fuck off scammer

Call accepted by operator Kristin. Currently in room: Kristin, john.

Kristin:
Hi John, thanks for the colorful language
Kristin:
To be removed from our system, reply REMOVE and you will no longer receive emails from us.
john:
do u get off on scamming people
john:
I have reported your emails to the Police
Kristin:
Please remember I am the Customer Service rep, I do not send the email that you receive.
john:
yeah u do
Kristin:
And I am sure the police are right on it as this is a heinous crime.
Kristin:
Have a nice day.
john:
What a awful game you are up o
Kristin:
No games, John, but if you would like to be removed, I have detailed how to do so above.
john:
stealing from people is a heinous crime.
Kristin:
Did we steal something John?
Kristin:
No
john:
your company is a scammer
Kristin:
If there are no other questions regarding the CIO summit, I can not further assist you.
Kristin:
Have a great day
john:
There is nothing called CIO summit its FAKE
Kristin:
You are misinformed, we have nearly 200 members, all of whom are CIOs, and we meet monthly and discuss best practices.
john:
really u must live in a funny make believe world where fools send money to u

Carrie said...

I just received another variant:

-----Original Message-----
From: J. Williams [mailto:jason@cioexecutives.net]
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2014 9:35 AM
To: Smith Carrie
Subject: Carrie, question

Hi Carrie, one of our members had nominated you for membership and I just wanted to follow-up on that request if you could advise.

We are a high level group of top CIOs and IT executives who meet monthly. You will find the other executives, topics, dates, and yearly dues info here.

www.cioexecutives.net

Because you were nominated, place my name in the last field of our signup page before our next monthly meeting for 10 pcnt off from dues and I will also walk it through our screening committee.


Sincerely,
J. Williams
CIOSummits
The Organization of CIOs and IT Executives

Unknown said...

And it is still going strong. Received one from Jason Armstrong. Can't believe that this isn't shut down yet. We do email hosting and added all their domains to our global blacklist. I can't believe they are not any of our blacklist reporting engines.

Simon said...


At least they are replying in person when you ask to unsubscribe.

From: on behalf of Jason Armstrong
Date: Tuesday, 17 May 2016 at 2:39 AM
Subject: Re: Simon, follow up

I really don't care what you consider the email. You were sent an invitation and a follow up. If you aren't interested move on with your life and don't waste both of our time.