Is this a scam? This doesn't seem right at all. They said Square couldn't handle the volume and we have to pay again?
The email (I blurred out everyone's email address): https://imgur.com/3y1dJQz
The Word doc: https://imgur.com/glgSM9M
I havent received this email (yet) so I cannot be 100% certain, but prior to the parking spots going on sale, I called into Gate Ten directly and found their customer service to be very accommodating. Try to speak to the source directly to see what is up.
(317) 737-2036
I would give them a call or leave a voicemail. If you leave a voicemail, they are pretty good with calling you back and speaking with you.
And if you call them, and it is legit, tell them:
#1: BCC exists for a reason. #2: Word docs in e-mails is a SECURITY THREAT! Use PDF at minimum (Heck, Word has "save to PDF" as an option)
I highly expect this is a scam, due to the word doc and a different URL. But that then means that someone got their e-mail database, which means they were hacked.
Source: Work for a computer security company.
The Gate Ten email address in the header is similar to, but not actually their email address. This seems like a scam.
Either way, you should contact the company directly (not through reply or anything that came through the suspicious email.)
Incidentally, while this COULD mean they were hacked, I tend to doubt it as then they might already have credit card info, access to the actual email address, etc. There are other ways they could have gotten your email address. And the others listed in the "To:" header may or may not even be actual Gate Ten customers.
There's all kinds of grammar mistakes in the subject of the email and in the document itself. Big red flags that it's a scam. Bad news for Gate 10 they've probably been hacked.
Square has been down for at least 2-3 days, so there is a possibility that this is legit, and the people at Gate Ten just don't understand BCC or no speaka da English real gud.
As far as the payment, they said they will refund your CC, and if they don't, your CC company will do a charge back.
They own their own domain name (gatetenevents.com) but they're using a GMAIL address for their (alleged) correspondence? HMMMMMMM....
That's the email listed on their website. You'd be amazed at how many companies with domains won't pay for an email service on their own domain (mine costs $1/month), and G10 is a parking company, don't expect them to be too tech-savvy.
The email address is wrong on what was sent. This is obviously a scam. Go to gatetenevents.com and you see their correct contact email address ([email protected]). Also, just because your name and email were on the list, the rest of the email addresses on the list could also be fake or not actual customers (they just added email addresses to the email to make it seem legit).
There is nothing about a hack on the Gate Ten website, and why would they ask you to go to an entirely different website to purchase parking?
With as big of an event as Gen Con in, I am also pretty sure that Gate 10 would have notified Gen Con of the change in where to purchase parking.
I just spoke with L (didn't ask her full name, don't want people yelling at her) at Gate Ten, and it's legit. She admits that they screwed up big time, both with the BCC and the attachment. If you can't get through on the 317 #, try the 855-2GO-PARK.
While a number of things were odd, nothing was definitive that it was a scam and not just a bad screwup. If you click on the Gen Con parking link on G10's website now, it directs you to the same site as given in the email, Affordable Indy Event Parking. A lot of companies don't host their own store, and use 3rd party sites for purchases. They also might have multiple email addresses.
It's interesting how they could not have created a more scam-looking email if they had actively tried to, yet the entire thing was legitimate. Hopefully they'll get everything sorted out.
ETA: They said the file was supposed to be cut-and-pasted into the email, not attached. Oops...
On the GenCon Facebook page, Gate Ten posted about this.
Word on the other hand has a full scripting engine built into it, and Outlook tries to auto-open microsoft documents if your settings are lowered.
Buffy is always trying to scam treats, so why not your money? That mutt is a shifty one to be sure.