Grasp Skills workshops, is this a scam?

I often receive emails like this. They come from various domain names and they are automatically flagged as spam, but the website looks legit and I didn't find anything on Google stating that this would be a known scam. ( Obviously the fact I can't find anything on Google is a good enough reason to create this thread, as the other people searching about the subject will find it. )

What can you tell me about these emails?

From [email protected]

Workshop on Microsoft Project Professional 2010/13

Dear [removed],

Good day, hope you are well. GraspSkills invites you to attend its Two Days Hands-on Training Workshop on Microsoft Project 2010/13.View more....

Workshop City: Helsinki, Finland

Workshop Date: 12-13 Mar-15

Overview:

The workshop serves as a practical platform to learn the technicalities and working of Microsoft Project 2013 and focuses at making the participants learn the application of MS Project 2013 software towards effectual project management.

MS Project 2013 is designed to assist a project manager in developing a plan, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing the budget and analysing workloads.

Invest 2 Days in this training – Learn to unlock the full potential of the latest Project Management Software from Microsoft i.e. MS Project 2013.View more....

Benefits of MS Project

Improved estimation
Greater control
Easier tracking
Better collaboration
Measuring results and comparing projects

Key Takeaways

Easy-to-understand Reference Handbook
MS Project 2013 Software - Trial Version
24/7 Dedicated Customer Support
45 PDUs (16 PDU’s claimable with PMI and 29 PDU’s for CCR)
5 mock tests
Business tea and lunch
120 days online training View more....

Standard course price:Euro 1049

Early bird price:Euro 899, if you register before 17-Feb-15

With regards,

Agnes Kivela: [email protected]: +44-20-3393-1350 / 1-919-238-9981

GraspSkills: # 56 Lawrence Road, East Ham, London UK E6 1JN

From [email protected]

Effective Business Case Writing Workshop

Dear [removed],

We are pleased to invite you to join our upcoming Instructor led 1 day workshop on Business Case Writing.

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Program date: 30-Jan-15

Duration: 1 day (8 hours)

Course overview:

It is generally acknowledged that the Business Case is probably the most critical document to be found in the Project Management Plan. Despite this there remains considerable confusion over why it is required, its content and who should create, approve and maintain it. Accordingly Business Cases are all too often poorly prepared, if indeed they are prepared at all.

The purpose of this workshop is to develop a detailed understanding of this critical document. The workshop will ensure delegates can create and use the Business Case, in practical terms, to ensure the right projects are approved and also guide their actions in effectively managing any size or complexity of project. Click here for more details

Course Includes:

Introduction, Overview, Examples of scenarios
7 step process model for business case writing
Cost & benefit analysis
Typical business case template & checklist
How to prepare business case?
Business case writing skills, Trends, practices, principles, Errors

You will get:

Hard copy of course material
PMI approved 8 PDU/Contact hours certificate
Business Tea & Lunch
Post training support

Registration Details:

Program fee: Euro 490 (Early Bird price) per person will expire on 23-Jan-15 (Standard price: Euro 650)

More details: BusinessCaseWritingNewTasks

Contact person: Johanna Millys

Contact numbers: +44-20-3393-1350 / +1-919-238-9981

Looking for an in-house, please feel free to contact us.

Grasp Skills: # 56 Lawrence Road, East Ham, London UK E6 1JN

[AlanJones]

THe fact that they need to resort to spam to promote themselves is a big red flag. Add to that the dodgy WhoIs details of the two domains and it's a definite keep away.

Domain Name: MSPROJECTTUTOR.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1857817931_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2014-05-08T08:46:40Z
Creation Date: 2014-05-08T08:46:40Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-05-08T08:46:40Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.480-624-2505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: graspskills admin
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: #874, 4th floor, Raineo house,
Registrant Street: modi hospital road basaveshwara nagar,
Registrant City: bangalore
Registrant State/Province: Karnataka
Registrant Postal Code: 560079
Registrant Country: India
Registrant Phone: +91.8065599992
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]

Domain Name: BUSINESSCASEWRITINGNEWTASKS.COM
Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: Whois.bigrock.com
Registrar URL: www.bigrock.com
Updated Date: 2014-12-18T15:41:44Z
Creation Date: 2014-12-18T15:41:43Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-12-18T15:41:43Z
Registrar: BigRock Solutions Ltd
Registrar IANA ID: 1495
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1-888-924-4762
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited (http://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited)
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Graspskills
Registrant Organization: N/A
Registrant Street: rajajinagar 1st block
Registrant City: bangalore
Registrant State/Province: Other
Registrant Postal Code: 560010
Registrant Country: IN
Registrant Phone: +91.8050167899
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]

Why would a claimed UK business register its domains with an Indian address and a Gmail email address. Also, both domains are fairly recent and only registered for a year.

And then there is their claimed UK address "56 Lawrence Road, East Ham, London UK E6 1JN", which is a small terraced house in a residential area.

I would say that it is almost certain that you would turn up at the venue (with a load of other victims) and nobody would know anything about the course.

Also both of them give the same phone number in North Carolina, but no address in North Carolina.

http://businesscasewritingnewtasks.com redirects to http://www.graspskills.com/events/other ... ng/finland . The contact page of graspskills.com lists the same North Carolina phone number, the same English phone number, an Australian phone number, and the Indian phone number in the whois of msprojecttutor, but no physical address and no Finnish phone number. It is registered since 2013 by hidden.

If I use the unsubscribe URL: is that harmfull of worth a try?

I myself would definitely not click it and rather create a filter to delete all emails from their email address.
The link might be harmful, or confirming that your email address is "live" to actually subscribe you for whole lot of other scam/spam emails.

Do not trust links from strangers or shady emails, even the unsubscribe links

Dear All,

GRASP SKILLS is a scam organisation. I don't think there is an organisation exists. This is 100% scam. I did my course in Nov 2016 and they offered live class room training, exam tickets, etc But nothing happened after 9 months. I am chasing almost all the days. I think all are stupids there. I am 100% sure this is a fxxking company. Please don't waste your money. They have a website and a stupid there online always. This may be a one man show. They informed that their corporate office is in UK, finance dept in India,etc I am telling you they don't have any such offices, all those are skype or some VOIP numbers diverted to some stupid sitting in India, (i Believe) I have emails like 'Support' <[email protected]>; 'Corporate' <[email protected]>; 'Bob.gskills' <[email protected]>; 'Arthur Payne <[email protected]> ([email protected])', and note that ALL THESE EMAILS ARE FAKE.
PLEASE DON'T TAKE ANY COURSE THEY OFFERED, THEY WILL CHEAT YOU !!

Cheers
Anish

[AlanJones]

Also involved in this scam [email protected], who claims to be located in Miami Valley, Ohio but is actually in India and attempts to make spurious copyright claims in an attempt to get this topic removed.

Edited: After further research, it has become apparent that the dumb Indian scammer is stealing the identity of a journalist from Ohio, so I have removed the name that he is using. This moron tried to convince us that the first post in this topic was copied from his blog and demanded that it be removed. The only problem was that as well as falsely claiming to be in Ohio, the blog was just a holding page, until he magically created the backdated content 24 hours later.

[AlanJones]

In yet another pathetic attempt to get this topic removed, the dumb scammers emailed us claiming to be the original poster of this topic. Unfortunately, the dumb scammer was unable to hide he fact that he was emailing from India and not the location of the original poster.

Legitimate businesses would not need to use such underhand tactics, they would be able to prove that they are legitimate. Dumb scammers just have to rely on lies and threats to try and get their way.