In recent weeks we have received several emails indicating that a 3rd party has solicited registration fees from ARCA members for a conference that does not exist.
We have no evidence of a breach in security within our websites or emails, but we do believe the information was gathered from our directory of Artist-Run Centres and as a result we have made a few fast changes. We undertook an internal review of current security measures and discussed options. We then removed all public facing emails from the directory to avoid information being abused through our website in the future. This will not prevent the existing perpetrator from using the information they have gathered but it prevents future actions of a similar nature. We still have links to each Artist-Run Centre website and any interested parties wishing to contact you can still reach out that way.
Moving forward, we will be monitoring this issue and making active effort to increase security measures ongoing. ARCA will never solicit money via bulk email for any program, conference, or fundraising initiative. We apologize for any inconvenience that these emails may have caused you. Please keep your information safe. We also highly recommend consulting Cyber Safe and Sound, IMAA’s recently published resource on the topic.
We encourage anyone being contacted by scammers currently or in the future, to blacklist, block, and report such messages as spam and, if comfortable, report any fraudulent activity to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/report-signalez-eng.htm.
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