academic scams

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:58 am

I have noticed that ever since I got my PhD and published, the scam letters I have been getting are becoming increasngly 'academic', specifically:

- offers to write an article for a journal, upon checking does not exist and the IP traces back to Nigeria, Ghana etc - these are all fee paying journals of course Rolling Eyes

- offers for jobs in Universities that either don't exist or are not offering positions (it pays to go to the University website)

I get called "good doctor" more times in scam letters than in real life!

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:33 am

Some lads are more sophisticated than others and have learned to target their victims with personalized scams.

I guess it goes with the territory now that there is no such thing as privacy on the net. Getting a degree puts you on lists that are considered ripe for targeting.

The amount of information out there is truly staggering. Just tonight I was checking the latest hits on my real life name. Among the astonishing number of hits was one that listed every single detail about a book I published and had printed in Malaysia. It included the printer's name, my name and address, the ISBN, the name of the ship that carried the printed books, the total weight, the shipping date, the arrival date, the port(s), and more. I truly can't believe it. What possible reason is there for having that online for anyone to find???

So any really major life event will lead to scams.

Don't get me started on all the senior citizen scams that very suddenly started flooding my inbox (and answering machine) within 2 days of signing up for Medicare. Rolling Eyes

I now can understand why so many older people who are losing their faculties are such ripe targets. It's sickening.

But congrats on your doctorate! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:42 pm

perhaps this could be a good modality (if it does not already exist)

Thank you on the congrats! Smile

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:54 pm

Perhaps; if you could publish a fake PhD.

Never bait a scammer who has any real life information on you Wink

There's nothing to stop you signing your letters as "Dr Baiter, PhD" and getting your catcher address circulated but you may get some pretty standard formats.

Congratulations on your real PhD, by the way Thumbs up

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:37 pm

Congrats, Dr. Solar! Glad you found you way here.

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:27 am

R. and A. O. may be interested in this. They have degrees in ichthyology, though most of the time they just catch fish for a living.

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:46 pm

Congratulations on your achievement! Once you are established in your profession you may encounter this scam:

CLICK!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:07 pm

^^^^
I've had so many of those bogus solicitations over the years..... Even way back before email I was getting that crap.

On a slightly different note, several years ago I was written up in a feature in the local paper. Whoopeedoo. A short bit later I got a call that started out sounding like it was a request to do a feature about me for a larger publication. But after a bunch of vague crap he cut to the chase: he wanted to sell me a very expensive plaque with the existing article "archivally" laminated to it so I could hang it on the wall.

Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:16 am

Congratulations on your PhD!!
I've also fallen to an academic scam. They told me that I'd find a job after the degree.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:41 am

Tururut wrote:

Congratulations on your PhD!!
I've also fallen to an academic scam. They told me that I'd find a job after the degree.

LOL this! so very true to a degree (pardon the pun).

Thank you all for the congrats, soon I am going to be a student again - here, I have many ideas, but are going to learn from you guys first before I launch into lad-pain

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:51 pm

^^
I like this guy.

You heard it here first!

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 10:43 pm

solarghose wrote:

I have many ideas, but are going to learn from you guys first before I launch into lad-pain

Many of us would be flattered, but nobody offers a PhD in baiting. Smile

@Juan Freizwidatt: at least with you they were a little discriminating. My female character gets emails in one of my baiting accounts inviting "her" to be included in a "Who's Who of American Women." Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:00 am

Also, Dr. Solar, be careful of conference scams. They'll invite an academic to present a paper or give a lecture, and the hotel and airfare will be "free" -- all you have to do is pay the registration fee. The lad will set up a fake conference site, link to his fake hotel (usually a copy of a fancy London hotel) -- all very highbrow looking. Nigel can probably speak to this better than I, as I haven't chased a fake conference/hotel combo in a while. IIRC, in the past most were supposed to be "Climate Change" or "Global Poverty." You can imagine how appealing this might be to a newly-minted doctorate trying to build visibility among others in his/her field. Of course, there was a "discount" if you brought your whole team with you.

::insert smoke coming out of my ears here.:: Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:27 am

oh yes, I have seen several of these (had a couple of scam conference sites wiped out too Twisted Evil

)