Did you know there's an entire domain of spam and scams targeting academics (professors and researchers)? I get many offers a week to submit papers to bogus journals, attend and present at bogus conferences, and buy bogus datasets, all with the hopes of either getting a back-door into my university's network or scamming me out of some money.
Here's today's example. Looks pretty legit, no? Nope, not really. I mean, there may be an actual event taking place, but it's not a real academic research conference. Also, that paper was published in 2014, so it wouldn't warrant an invitation to present at an actual conference. And, "Las Vegas, USA"?? What is up with that?
I suspect that if I were to submit an abstract, they would come back with a registration fee or a speaking fee or something that I would then be asked to pay. And that's the scam; pay us money for the "privilege" of speaking at our fake event. Of course, those links could also attempt to plant malware on my computer. Grrr. >:-(
Much better written than the scammy things I get. Clearly a higher class of crook!
ReplyDeleteSpear phishing!
ReplyDeleteSnailmail them a list of your speaking fees (unmarked 20 dollar bills) and be sure that you tell them your hotel room requires 2 kg of M&M's in parfait glasses separated by colour.
ReplyDeleteTell them you're stuck in jail in Mexico and need $2000 sent to you right away to get out.
ReplyDeleteOooooh that's sneaky! I had no idea that was a viable niche.
ReplyDeleteDean Reimer The problem is that the organization is supposedly located in Las Vegas, so I would expect it to know domestic standards for referring to places.
ReplyDeletenot surprising
ReplyDeletebut sad
Smacks of those 'Who's Who' and other 'professional directories'.
ReplyDeleteDr. Cassone Or copy-paste a Nigerian scam email.
ReplyDelete