Tradeshow Scams: Disappearing Act

By Rachel Wimberly -- Tradeshow Week, 1/29/2007

(This is the last of a three-part series on fraudulent schemes involving nonexistent shows.)

This series has so far focused on two shady operators pulling off scams using trade-shows as a front.

First, there was Kristen Yvette Martin, who set up a company called Natl. Expo Group and recruited salespeople nationwide on Monster.com to sell exhibit space at four nonexistent tradeshows in 12 venues.

Then, there was Nancy Gold, head of First Choice Media, who copied a legitimate show's Web site, Expo Tu Casa, in order to sell booth space and advertising to at least one unsuspecting exhibitor for a knockoff show that never took place.

To anyone intimately familiar with tradeshows, the brazenness of these frauds is perhaps what's most shocking. The bigger concern, though, should be not only the relative ease with which both committed the crimes — but also the fact that neither is likely to face any consequences.

The Natl. Expo Group fraud involved the Internet and telephones, and crossed state lines, so local police departments that were contacted, such as those in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. (where the business was listed) were unable to pursue the case.

It would typically fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI, according to Special Agent Shena Crowe of the San Francisco field office, but only if losses exceed $500,000.

Same goes for the First Choice Media scam.

Even though Natl. Expo Group defrauded a number of exhibitors and salespeople, it is nearly impossible to determine the total financial loss, because of the likelihood that not every person or company defrauded will come forward.

Losses reported by people and companies that have come forward haven't been significant enough to justify using FBI resources to open an investigation, Crowe said.

Natl. Expo Group also operated with a suspended business license since 2002 for nonpayment of taxes, but, according to a California Franchise Tax Board spokesperson, there probably wouldn't be much action taken beyond sending a notice requesting payment of the overdue taxes. It wasn't as if the taxman would "show up at the company's offices with the police and handcuff them," the spokes-person said.

Those who did come forward were the salespeople Natl. Expo Group didn't pay, and some were looking for vengeance.

Evangeline Allen, a single mother in Louisville, Ky., who is still owed more than $3,000 in unpaid wages, took matters into her own hands and called anyone and everyone she could think of.

After banding together with other unpaid members of her sales team, she posted an article on RipOffReport.com to warn others about the company. She called Monster.com and asked them to pull Natl. Expo Group's employment ad. She spoke to the Oakland Police Department and filed a report on the Ic3.gov Web site, which tracks Internet crimes. She even tracked down Martin's father through PeopleFinders.com and called him. He insisted he knew nothing about his daughter's activities.

Mary Penn, another duped saleswoman, made numerous calls and also posted a RipOffReport.com warning. She discovered the church where Martin was a youth pastor and encouraged all eight unpaid members of her sales team to call the minister and tell him what Martin had done to them.

Allen and Pen weren't the only ones who took action.

Agile Events, which owns Expo Tu Casa, called police in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., where First Choice Media's business was listed. A detective called back Agile COO Bill Herman and told him it was a Mail Boxes Etc. address, and the number listed was for a cell phone owned by somebody in Oviedo, Fla., more than 200 miles north of Sunny Isles Beach.

Agile CEO Jim Forlenza said the company also filed a report about First Choice with the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau of Maryland, where Agile is located. Forlenza said he sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nancy Gold demanding she take down the FirstChoiceMedia.info site, a direct copy of Expo Tu Casa's. As of press time, it was still online.

Nicholson Homes, a homebuilder outside Orlando, lost $4,000 to First Choice after purchasing booth space and advertising for an event in Puerto Rico that never took place. Mona Reaves, assistant to Nicholson's president, also called the FTC and planned to contact the Miami Better Business Bureau and the police department in Dade County, Fla., where First Choice is listed.

Reaves said Gold seemed to have "enough knowledge of expos that she probably worked in the business."

Despite all the phone calls and reports, no charges have been brought against either Gold or Martin.

Maybe it would be easy for someone familiar with the tradeshow business to pull off such stunts. But couldn't anybody with the know-how copy a Web site, hire salespeople to sell booths, call convention centers to book space and create attractive enough exhibit packages to lure unsuspecting customers? And if so, what stops them from doing it again?

"This industry is not immune to mischief and scoun-drels just like any other," said Steven Hacker, president of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events. "These are clearly not legitimate organizers. It appears to be criminals masquerading as organizers. It's obviously unfortunate."

Gold and Martin may be nothing more than con artists, but their actions still look a little too much like those of a legitimate company for some in the tradeshow business. For example, Natl. Expo Group sounds a little too close to the Expo Group, a legitimate service contracting business.

When a caller told Dana Doody, Expo Group director of corporate communications, about Natl. Expo Group's fraudulent activities, her company's attorneys contacted Martin and asked her to stop using the similar-sounding company name, citing the Lanham Act, which deals with trademark infringement.

"We're big defenders of our identity, and we thought it was likely to cause some confusion," Doody said. "We were alerted it wasn't above-board, and it caused some concern for me, because the name was so close to ours."

Facilities, such as the San Jose Convention Center, that Natl. Expo Group falsely advertised as sites for its nonexistent shows also sent cease-and-desist letters in attempts to have their names removed.

As recently as Jan. 2, Martin told Tradeshow Week that she intended in good faith to hold all the expos, but was forced to file for bankruptcy due to financial difficulties. There was no bankruptcy filed for Natl. Expo Sales, the parent company of Natl. Expo Group, in Oakland, Calif.

Martin e-mailed all her employees on Dec. 21, told them she had filed bankruptcy and gave them a number to call if they had any questions. After reassuring a number of them that she intended to pay them in the days following her bankruptcy announcement, she stopped returning calls, and her phone was disconnected.

Neither Martin nor Gold has been heard from since.

For those who were burned, hindsight is 20/20. "I even googled Natl. Expo Group before I took the job, and I found nothing," Allen said. "I feel like a fool."