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How HCA-Vanadzor almost became a victim of internet scam.
In July, HCA-Vanadzor received an announcement of a conference to be organised by the US based NGO called Global Youth Empowerment. The offer seemed very good: for a minimum of 5 persons, there would be a 3-day conference in Seattle, followed by 3 days in Rotterdam from 15th until the 25th of August.

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All logistics were to be arranged by the host organisation, tickets and visa were not a problem, and all costs would be covered: travel, visa, accommodation in the US etc. This is all costs, except the hotel in Rotterdam; however, a cheap arrangement in a 5-star hotel was available. For a total sum of Euro 660 or $740, the HCAV members could stay 3 nights in the Vanderbach hotel in Rotterdam, breakfast included. The participation depended on having a booking in the hotel. It really seemed that the offer was too good to be true, in fact it was too good and it was not true! Because it was such an excellent opportunity for 5 members to attend a conference abroad, for a long time HCAV wished to believe that the Global Youth Empowerment was a real and bona fide organisation. We started to doubt about the sincerity of the organizers of the conference, when they refused to give a regular account number to where the money could be transferred in The Netherlands. The hotel insisted to have the money transferred through Western Union or by credit card. After this initial doubt we furthermore observed the following:
• The web site of the host organisation (www.globalyouthempowerment.org) refers to an address in Amsterdam (Vensepolder) that doesn’t exist.
• The organisation is located in New York but has a telephone area code from a different state.
• The telephone in the US is always answered by an answering machine, never by a real human.
• The address of the hotel mentioned in the website (Ruhherster) does not exist in Rotterdam; the address of the hotel mentioned in the e-mail (Gravestin) is different from the address on their website and doesn’t exist either.
• The zip code of the hotel (1103 BH) is located in Amsterdam.
• The telephone and fax number of the hotel is a Dutch mobile number.
• The telephone of the 5-star hotel is answered by a brisk “hello” not by “good day, this is the Vanderbach hotel, how can I help you?”
• The images of the website of the hotel (www.hotelvanderbach.com) show a wonderful building with an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by palm trees. Of course, it is far too cold to have palm trees in The Netherlands.
• The links on the hotel’s website are not functional. The news link already mentions the same news-item related to the ETA in Spain for over a week now.
• The level of Dutch used on the website and in the e-mails by the hotel is clumsy; one would expect a better level of Dutch of such an international renowned hotel.
• There is no Vanderbach hotel in Rotterdam (or elsewhere) according to the Dutch telephone directory.
There were more indications of which we say in retrospect that the organisation is a big fake, but we were too willing to believe that there would be a conference that could have enhanced the capacities of five of our members as well as their motivation to work as a volunteer. It was a bitter disappointment for all those who applied to attend the conference that they were almost the victim of a big scam. As mentioned, we were about to transfer the money, but fortunately we realised just in time that this whole conference is a big swindle and probably after having transferred the money, we would never have heard anything anymore about the whole conference.
P. Bokkers