Ten
Signs of a Bogus/Fake Conference
Dr. Miguel Moital
Senior Lecturer in Events Management
School of Tourism
Bournemouth University
September 2014
Introduction
Machine generated papers,
predatory journals and bogus/fake conferences are some of the scams that the
scientific community has had to deal with in recent times. The proliferation of
bogus/fake conferences in particular has grown substantially to a point that
every week, scientists receive a number of unsolicited emails announcing
conferences on topics high on the agenda of scientists, politicians and social
and economic agents. In order to cash in on hot topics, these conferences focus
on very broad (societal) issues such as health (e.g. AIDs/HIV), labour (e.g.
child labour), human rights (e.g. discrimination, racism, child abuse,
prostitution, war), the environment (e.g. sustainable development, climate
change) and economics & finance (e.g. Global financial and economic crisis). These events can take many forms,
including more common forms (‘Conference’, ‘Training workshops’, ‘International
Convention’, ‘World Congress’ and ‘World Summit’) or more creative names such
as ‘World-Vision International Conference’ and ‘International
Conference meeting’. Many of
these conferences are either outright scams as they never intended to take
place, or if they do take place, offer little of value to participants. While
experienced scientists are likely to be able to spot the signs of a low
quality/fraudulent conference, younger scientists and non-scientists who attend
such conferences (such as NGO and Government representatives) are particularly
vulnerable to this predatory practice. Organisers of this type of conference
mutate their strategies frequently in the hope of convincing the unwary
scientist of the merits of the conference, yet there are many signs that
indicate a possible fraudulent initiative. This list compiles the 10 most
common signs of a bogus/fake conference.
1. Use of free email accounts
Fake
conference promoters use email accounts that do not use the organiser’s email
address. Instead they tend to use email accounts (gmail, hotmail, aol or
similar). This includes the email account from which the spam email was sent, as
well as the contact emails (e.g. secretariat). More recently, fraudsters have
started to use email accounts associated to the organiser, but this is just a
front window as no associated website usually exists (e.g. unitednationsummit.com;
un-globalcrisis.org)
2. The text often comes with spelling mistakes
Emails
announcing fake conferences often feature numerous spelling mistakes and/or
poor writing style. Many times an ‘s’ is missing (e.g. Child Right Organization; ‘The
Workshop welcomes paper presentation from any…’) or sentences are
clearly poorly written (e.g. ‘What is evidence is there of
climate change?’). Weird language is not uncommon as some of these fraudsters, many of
which do not appear to be English speaking natives, use online translators and
correctors when preparing the conference announcement. Any trustworthy
conference will make an effort to avoid this type of spelling mistake as any
formal communication would have been reviewed by several individuals (belonging
to the conference organising committee).
3. The unsolicited email implies previous communication
While
some emails simply ‘cordially invite’ the recipient, more often than not the
email refers to a (non-existent) previous communication exchange so as to
attract his/her attention. For example, one email stated “The
following invitation letter was sent to you since [date], we haven't heard your
response since then” while two other emails started by writing “We thank you for your interest to” and “Thanks
for indicating your interest to be part of the [event]”. One email was even
more creative by suggesting a special treatment; the email started with a “Congratulations
on your selection to [conference]” and
another with “By recommendation, we accept you to participate in the
[conference]”.
4. The
event appears to be organised by, or under the auspices of, a foundation or a (supra-)
national organisation/body
A major sign that the conference may be fake is the overt
connection to NGOs or International organisations or bodies, most of which no
one has ever heard of. The objective is to ‘impress’ and give an aura of
seriousness, stature and importance to the conference. Examples of NGOs include
the potentially legitimate (but non-existent) ‘Care California Foundation’ and
the “International Youth & Women Foundation” and the more inconsistently
named “Global California Youth Care Foundation”. Many
of the fake conferences however are purported to be organised by international
organisations (explicitly or implicitly) linked to organisations such as the
United Nations. Examples include the “International Child Welfare Organization”
and the “The Global Organization for Humanitarian Rights”. In other
instances, more ‘obscure’ initiatives are behind the event in the form of a “Global
coalition” or a “Global Association”.
5. “There
are free lunches”
A major warning sign should be triggered when looking at the
cost of participating. Some fake conferences say that the participant will only
pay part of the cost. One common feature
involves promoting a package of two conferences but then stating that
participants will only be paying for the second one. A typical text states that
“All registered participants are entitled to meals and accommodation during the
[one of the conferences]”. This expenses-paid conference is usually the first
of the two conferences, and is organised by a reputable organisation (e.g.
United Nations) to suggest that this organisation is paying for all the first
conference’s expenses. A similar approach is to state that “Free air round trip
tickets to attend [one of the conferences] will be provided to all
participants.” A similar yet slightly
different scam involves stating that attendance is free, but then requiring participants
to book the hotel (or other services) through the organiser. In one case they
asked participants to contact the hotel directly, but the email they gave was a
bogus email (e.g. [name of hotel]@africamail.com). The overall objective is to
wave a low cost carrot, but at the same time collect money for some of the
services.
6. Payment
Bells should be ringing very loud when certain payment methods
are requested by the organiser. Payment methods where it is impossible to track
who the recipient is, such as Western Union, are to be avoided at all times.
Payment through bank transfers to personal accounts should also arouse suspicion.
If these accounts are located in known hotspots of fraud activity, then it is
almost certainly a fraud. Any reputable international conference will accept
credit card payments and this should be used as much as possible. An associated
pattern is an over-emphasis on the financial matters in the communication with
the organiser. An organiser who frequently mentions the urgency of receiving
the funds to secure a place in the conference should be viewed with
suspicion.
7. Fancy
locations & appealing venues
In their attempt to persuade potential participants of
the quality of the conference, fake conferences usually take place in well
known tourist destinations. The timing could also indicate a fake conference.
If the conference is taking place at the height of the city’s tourist season,
it should be viewed with scepticism. Most conference organisers plan their
conferences around the middle or low season to benefit from lower prices and
the necessary flight/hotel room capacity. The choice of specific venue tends to
be a hotel run by a well known chain or a well known conference centre, but
there are also cases of fake venues such as the ‘International Convention &
Exhibition Centre (ICC), London’. A final sign of a fake conference is the unexplained
change of venue as the conference date approaches.
8. Very
quick acceptance of submissions
Scientific
conferences are expected to put in place a reviewing process for submissions.
This takes time as the papers are sent to reviewers (who tend to be busy
people). A very short response time (sometimes hours) are a strong indication
of low standards and of a possible fake conference. In the end, they just want
you to pay the conference fee and they know that accepting a paper is a
pre-condition for this to happen.
9. A
‘new, long-established’ conference
It is not uncommon for a conference to be advertised as
the nth conference, but a search shows no records of previous ones.
For example, the ‘6th International Climate Change Conference’ was
advertised but no previous conferences could be identified. A more recent phenomenon
involves copycat conferences. These conferences have the same (or very similar)
name to the genuine one, but usually a different sequence number. The fake one
can be identified by, among other things, tracking the previous one and checking
which number will follow (e.g. last year it was the 15th, then this
year it must be the 16th conference; the 22nd is the fake).
Fake conference will try to imitate the genuine one as much as possible,
including website design and web address.
10. Very
incomplete, vague or misleading information
Different strategies can be identified with regards to
the conference programme. Some fake conferences tend to overpromise by
emphasising the number and quality of attendees and/or speakers confirmed,
without providing too much detail. The programme of activities is usually
vague. For example, it simply indicates ‘keynote speaker’, rather than the name
of the speaker and the title of their presentation. In other cases there are
simply no invited speakers, with the programme centred on presenting submitted
papers. Any quality conference will include a number of keynote speakers who
are well known in their areas of expertise. Fraudsters know this and some fake
conferences have included well known speakers in the programme, but they are
included without their knowledge and consent. Finally, because the purpose is
to get as many people to register as possible, fake (or low quality)
conferences tend to feature presentations covering a wide variety of topics
(e.g. a conference on electronic commerce featuring papers on finance).
Final
Thoughts
While the list is not definitive, a careful look at the
10 signs will provide a good basis with which to draw conclusions about the
quality of the conference. The best way of dealing with this unethical (and many
times outright illegal) practice is through not only alerting scientists to the
existence of predatory conferences but also through helping potential
participants to spot the signs of a bogus/fake conference. Some signs are a clear
indication of a scam (e.g. payment method), while others do not necessarily
indicate a scam (e.g. location in an attractive destination). The list should
be used in its entirety and if many of the practices illustrated in this list
are evident, the scientist should seriously question his/her interest in
attending the conference. Scientists who fall prey of a bogus/fake conference (or a dubious quality conference)
should consider sharing their experience with others (by posting on a personal/institutional
blog or on the many websites dedicated to the topic). Not only will they help
others avoid that same fate, but the information could be used to further our
understanding of this practice.
Organisations/conferences mentioned
·
unitednationsummit.com [website inactive]
·
un-globalcrisis.org [website inactive]
·
Care California Foundation [known to be
associated to fraud]
·
International Youth & Women Foundation
[known to be associated to fraud]
·
The Global Organization for Humanitarian
Rights [known to be associated to fraud]
·
International Convention & Exhibition
Centre (ICC), London’ [known to be associated
to fraud]
·
6th International Climate Change
Conference’ [known to be associated to fraud]
I
have checked all these through Google and they don’t exist/ have been
associated to fake conferences
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