As you know, conventions like the annual NFDA International Convention & Expo and the ICCFA Annual Convention are highly anticipated events for funeral professionals, with people booking their hotels months in advance.

However, you need to be careful when booking hotels, because there are a lot of scam emails that circulate. They’re from fake companies claiming they offer hotel services for these conventions.

To prevent you from falling into a scam email trap, we’re sharing tips for spotting scam emails and finding trustworthy hotel information.

How to Spot Scam Emails

When you receive an email from a company claiming to provide convention housing, these are signs it’s actually a scam:

• Multiple spelling and grammar errors or extra letters and punctuation marks
• Excessive use of text color, bold or italicized text, and highlighted text
• Formatting errors, such as extra spaces between words or lines of text
• No links to an actual hotel website or booking company website
• No physical address for the booking company or hotel — major red flag
• Very vague — no specific name for the booking company, something generic like “Booking Team” or “Reservation Services”

For example, this is what an email from a fake company may look like:

Hello,,

We have inexpensive housing for the 2018 NFDA – National Funearl Directors Association Convention & Expo .

Jones Hotel : $170 per night..

Gary Hotel : $165 per night

Reply to email to book a reservation,, theyre going fast!!

Best,

Reservation Team

In general, if the email design or wording seems out of the ordinary, it’s probably a scam and not trustworthy. You can mark the email as spam and notify the convention host so they’re aware and can warn others.

Where to Find Trustworthy Hotel Information

If you’re unsure if a booking service is trustworthy, always check with the convention host before ever giving away your personal and payment information. They can tell you if they have accommodations set up at the hotel you’re considering or if it’s fake. They also can provide you with other hotel recommendations that they have accommodations set up with.

The event website is another place you can find hotel information. Or emails that come straight from the event host. Just make sure the email is truly from them and not a fake company trying to imitate them. You can always call the convention host to confirm if it’s real.

You also can do your own hotel research for the convention location. If you want to double-check if it’s credible, you can call the hotel and/or the convention host before booking.