Medical Meeting Scams

A brilliant young colleague recently told me he was planning to attend a European dermatology meeting being held in Paris, with a registration fee of about $500. Something sounded fishy. I had not heard of the organization. Looking at the speaker list, the only speaker I recognized was my brilliant young colleague. And while I do not know everyone in dermatology, I have been around a long time. 

I reached out to the one American dermatologist listed on the meeting’s organizing committee. (Thank you, American Academy of Dermatology member list email information!) She said she was not involved in this meeting, confirmed it was a scam as far as she could tell, and wished she could get her name expunged from the website. Although having her name there was a huge help for me to confirm my suspicions. 

We have a lot of meetings and journals in dermatology. And we have scams, too. Meetings that are not real. Journals that sound like real journals, with high fees like real journals, without real substance. How is one to know? I asked the artificial intelligence I use if the meeting my young colleague was planning to attend was reputable, and it replied: 

This raises several red flags that suggest it is likely a predatory or low-quality conference rather than a reputable scientific meeting. Warning signs: 

• No affiliation with established societies—The legitimate major European dermatology meeting is the EADV Congress (European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology). This “European Dermatology Congress” has no apparent connection to EADV or other recognized professional organizations. 

• Generic Wix-hosted website—Major scientific conferences typically do not use template website builders. 

• Speaker lineup—The featured speakers are from relatively obscure institutions rather than major academic dermatology programs. 

• Social media links are broken/generic—They link to instagram.com, facebook.com, etc., rather than actual organizational pages. 

• Vague organizational backing—There is no clear sponsoring institution, no history of previous meetings mentioned, and no scientific committee credentials. 

Digitization has had so many benefits that improve productivity both for us and for the folks trying to scam us. Be on the lookout. If something is too good to be true, it probably is not true. But if you are looking for a real meeting to attend, be sure to peruse our in-person and virtual offerings, including Music City SCALE, whose codirectors are featured in this issue; Masterclasses in Dermatology; and the Masterclasses in Dermatology Saturday Morning Live Series.