GoKawiil
Tech News
Nature staff report on a network of organizations posing as legitimate academic societies that has been expanding its membership through deceptive recruitment practices. Some prominent researchers have reportedly been drawn in without fully understanding the nature of these groups.
Nature's exclusive investigation identified a network of academic societies that inflated their membership rolls through deceptive practices, including listing prominent scientists as members without their consent and fabricating ties to established academies in Europe and the US. The investigation found doctored images of conference venues and buildings, plus advertisements for a $10,000 virtual PhD programme and a $2,000 virtual postdoctoral programme, with WeChat posts showing consultancies offering help joining these groups.