Many of you already received this email, so you can ignore this post. But for others who may not have for whatever reason (email reception problem; or you're not the actual badge purchaser; etc.), Q-rooms sent out a warning about a phishing scam that could affect those of us who have rooms reserved through the portal:

Security Advisory: We’ve become aware of a phishing scam being perpetrated under the pretext of Gen Con hotel registration. Neither Gen Con nor Q-rooms contacts customers to request personal information, hotel booking information, nor credit card information in connection with Gen Con room assignments. All such information is collected securely online at the time of booking. If your credit card is declined during cancellation fee or hotel deposit capture, we will email you a notification that includes your booking acknowledgment number for verification purposes with instructions how to remit payment securely. If you receive a suspicious inquiry about your Gen Con lodging, do not respond to the caller or email sender directly. Instead, please contact us at (317) 688-1323 or [email protected] for assistance. Thank you.

I don't see this as something to panic over, but it's something to remain aware of in case you get an email about your hotel reservation. If a message requests your payment info, you'll want to check with Q-rooms before presuming it's real. This early in the year I'd bet it's not, but Q-rooms would be the final authority on that. 

Anyway, be smart and alert folks. 

One good way to neutralize this style of scam is to never use links from an email.  Instead, navigate to the website directly.  Also, never automatically trust any other contact information provided in the email.  Rather look up the contact information and use whatever is on the official website.  

Always treat your email as a game of Paranoia.  Stay Alert. Trust No One.  Keep Your Laser Handy.