诈骗无处不在---仔细选择您的科学会议

我记得在研究生的时候参加了我的第一匹兹堡会议，那次会议有2.5万参会人员。我有机会见到了该领域的一些大牛, 让我非常的激动和受益良多。从那时起, 我一直期待着参加一些会议。除了传统了大会议, 参加一个新兴领域的小型的专业会议也是令人振奋的, 特别是在探索新的研究方向时。

和我一样, 我认为你们中的许多人每天都会收到多次的会议邀请, 其中的一部分是新的而且不熟悉的会议。我们应该参加吗？在你决定之前, 明智的做法是“小心上当受骗”。近些年，令人存疑的 (有些可以说是掠夺性的) 科学会议激增。这些会议捕食早期的职业科学家和其他可能没有意识到需要进行尽职调查的人。甚至还有对一些与这些假会议有关的组织的诉讼, 包括其他一些可疑的做法。

因为人们可以利用会议赚钱！

因此, 大量的会议涌现出来就不足为奇了。虽然，我曾质疑出席这类会议的价值, 但我一直以为他们实际上是一直在举办。但是，也许没有会议举办者所承诺的发言人和参会人。我还认为, 如果出席这些会议的人很穷, 他们会慢慢消失。我没有意识到是一种更阴险的会议出现了---会议诈骗！

这些骗子创建完全虚构的会议！假的会议网站将列出一个组织者、会议地点、发言者、时间表、酒店、报告内容, 和所有的其他细节。正常国际会议有的内容诈骗会议都有！我知道这个诈骗会议是因为一个奇怪的案例---针对我的学术身份剽窃。我被组织了一个诈骗会议: 第十五欧亚会议。会议网站上说, 这次会议将涵盖现代化学的所有分支, 并继续指出, 本系列的历届会议都是在亚洲和欧洲国家举办的, 这是第一次在美国组织的。虽然我无法判断这一系列的早先的会议是否真实, 但这次不是！

可供下载的假会议小册子做得很好, 包括一封来自“我”的欢迎信, 一个令人印象深刻的科学委员会, 诺贝尔奖得主发表主题演讲、邀请发言者的简历、时间表、酒店, 和许多其他细节。然而, 会议的一切都是骗局。创造者/骗子已经尝试 (希望没有成功) 利用我的名声建立一个会议、创建假银行帐户和使用我的名字假身份。这种类型的假会议在各种网站上散步, 所以第十五欧亚会议已经出现在权威的会议日历上。当然, 我担心的是, 有人会登记, 甚至可能已经支付会议住宿费用。他们花了不少钱，却发现，在12月当他们参加了一个不存在的会议，也没有酒店预订。

我分享我的故事的目的不是阻止你参加关于激动人心的话题的新会议。有许多伟大的, 真正的会议可供选择。然而, 考虑到推动这些诈骗会议的大量准备工作, 他们可能很难发现。在决定参加新的会议之前, 我鼓励每个人都做认真调查。

如果您有任何疑问, 请与组织者联系, 使用他们已官方的、公开提供的电子邮件地址。这样做可以节省你的时间和金钱。

李笃信翻译

原文作者：Jonathan V. Weedler（Analytical Chemistry 主编）

原文地址：http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b03170

原文如下：

From the Great to the Scam, CarefullySelect Your Scientific Conferences

I remember attending my first Pittcon whilea graduate student; with its 25,000 attendees and the chance to meet some ofthe leaders in the field, it was exciting and educational.

Since then, there are a number ofconferences that I look forward to attending. Besides old favorites, attendinga small specialty meeting in a new field is exhilarating, especially whenexploring novel research directions.

Like me, I expect that many of youregularly receive multiple conference invitations every single day, and apercentage of these are new and unfamiliar. Should we attend? Before youdecide, it is wise to consider the warning principle, let the buyer beware.There has been a proliferation of questionable (some may even claim predatory)scientific conferences. These meetings prey on early career scientists andothers who may not realize the need to perform due diligence. There have evenbeen lawsuits against some organizations that have been associated with thesefake conferences, among other questionable practices. Because people can makemoney on meetings, it may came as no surprise that dubious meetings are beingpromoted. While I have questioned the value of attending such meetings, Ialways assumed they actually took place, but perhaps without all of the speakersand attendees promised. I also thought that if attendance at these meetings waspoor, they would slowly fade away.

I had not realized that there was an evenmore insidious conference promotional effort taking place−the scam! Thesescammers create completely fictitious meetings. The fake conference Web sitewill list an organizer, the conference location, speakers, schedules, hotels,social programs, and all of the other details one expects from an internationalmeeting.

I learned this because of a strange case ofacademic identity theft directed at me. I am listed as organizing a scamconference: the 15th Eurasia Conference. The conference Web site says themeeting will cover all branches of modern chemistry and goes on to state thatprevious conferences in this series were organized in Asian and Europeancountries, with this one the first to be organized in America. While I cannottell if the earlier meetings in this series were real, this one is not.

The phony conference brochure available fordownload was well done and included a made-up welcome message from me, animpressive scientific committee, Nobel Prize winning plenary speakers, CVs ofthe invited speakers, schedules, hotels, and many other details. However,everything about the meeting is a fraud. The creators/scammers have tried (andhopefully not succeeded) in establishing a line of credit for the conferenceunder my name by creating fake bank accounts and using false identification inmy name. This type of fake conference propagates throughout real Web sites, andso the 15th Eurasia Conference has showed up in legitimate conferencecalendars. My worry, of course, is that individuals will have registered andperhaps even paid for conference housing; they will be out a fair amount ofmoney and may be quite surprised in December when they arrive to a nonexistentevent and no hotel reservations.

My goal in sharing my story is not toprevent you from attending new meetings on exciting topics. There are plenty ofgreat, genuine conferences to select from. However, given the considerablepreparation that goes into promoting these scam conferences, they may be hardto spot. I encourage everyone to perform due diligence before deciding toattend a new meeting.

If you have any doubts, contact theorganizers using their established, publicly available e-mail addresses. Doingso may save you both time and money.