American Economic Institute Fake Awards Washington Dist of Columbia

Received an e-mail saying my company had been recoginized by the American Economic Institute for a 2016 New Jersey Excellence Award. Funny thing is we moved out of New Jersey in 2009.

After some research seems that it may even be the same woman trying to get companies to part with money and receive a fake award as the 'Small Buisness Institute for Excellence in Commerce' was doing EXACTLY the same thing a few years back. At that time was a woman called Margaret Trudle and now Margaret Carnahan.

Seems they haven't even changed much of the text in their e-mail over the years either:

On behalf of the American Economic Institute, I wanted to let you know that XXXXXX has been recognized for the 2016 Excellence Award.

Our panel of industry executives and consultants oversees an annual survey commissioned by the AEI on various categories and determines which companies meet and exceed the industry benchmarks that have been set forth. 

Further details on this selection can be viewed on our website including the press release that was produced for this occasion (which is not distributed till mutual review is complete). To review the award and the accompanying press release please visit www.aefgh.org and enter the Reference code XXXXX on the top right corner of the home page. Or the link below will take you to the appropriate page directly.

*Should you prefer to revise the fields displayed on the award (revising company name or adding the specific category under which the company was recognized as opposed to Excellence in Leadership) please include such details in the designated area post confirming the shipping address on the website and our Media Division will be able to assist with any such edits. They will also be able to add a About Company section to the press release upon approving said verbiage once it has been provided.

Regards,

Margaret Carnahan
 AEI - Annual Survey Division

(PS: This is a one time outreach from our end but should you prefer for the AEI to delete all your contact information please reply back with REMOVE in subject line and we will do so)

AEI Newswire (August Highlight): AEI completes its 120th micro-finance through Kiva. The institute's Global Incubation Initiative has involved assisting several organizations such as Kiva to further its support to businesses in over 40 countries. More information can be found at http://www.kiva.org/lender/AEI