Is This Conference Legit?

Predatory and fake conferences take money from thousands of researchers and professionals every year. Check any conference against known warning signs, and search reports from our community.

🤖 AI Check (beta)

Paste a conference website and our AI reads it against known predatory-conference warning signs. Popular conferences return instantly from earlier checks; new ones take ~15 seconds.

🔎 Search community reports

See if others have reported a conference as suspicious, fake, or low quality. Reports are reviewed by our team before publication.

✅ Run the red-flag checklist

Tick every statement that applies to the conference you're checking. Based on published research including the Think.Check.Attend initiative and the US FTC's case against a major predatory organizer.

You were invited by an unsolicited email you never signed up for
Mass spam invitations — often flattering ('esteemed researcher') but vague about your actual work — are the #1 hallmark of predatory conferences.The invitation praises your work but is outside your field
Predatory organizers scrape author lists and invite everyone. A genuine conference invites people relevant to its topic.The conference covers many unrelated fields at once
'International Conference on Engineering, Medicine, Business and Social Sciences' — real conferences are specialized; fake ones cast a wide net to maximize paying attendees.Abstracts/papers are accepted within days (or acceptance is guaranteed)
Genuine peer review takes weeks. Acceptance within 24–72 hours, or 'all submissions welcome', means there is no real review.Presenters pay more than attendees, or fees must be paid before review
Pay-to-play pricing is how predatory conferences make money. Legitimate events often waive or reduce speaker fees.Committee members can't be verified, or are listed without their consent
Search 2–3 committee members: do their university pages mention this conference? Predatory events list famous names who have never agreed (or don't exist).The name closely mimics a famous conference or organization
Copycat naming (e.g., adding 'World' or 'International' to a well-known brand) is designed to confuse. Check the official site of the real one.The same organizer runs dozens of conferences, often at the same venue/dates
Predatory companies run 'conference mills' — sometimes 10+ 'international conferences' in one hotel on the same weekend.The website has poor grammar, stock photos, and no past proceedings
Legitimate conferences show last year's program, photos, and published proceedings. No verifiable history is a bad sign.No verifiable contact: only web forms, gmail addresses, or missing physical address
Real organizers are reachable and transparent about who and where they are.It promises publication in 'indexed' journals that are unclear or predatory
Claims like 'published in Scopus/ISI indexed journals' that can't be verified — or that point to known predatory journals — are a classic lure.Fees, refund policy, or what's included are unclear or keep changing
Surprise charges and no refund policy are common complaints from victims of scam conferences.A grand 'international' conference in a small hotel meeting room
Venue-versus-claims mismatch: many victims report 20 people in a small room after paying for a 'global congress'.Nobody in your field has heard of it, and it's absent from professional societies' lists
Ask a supervisor or colleagues. Genuine conferences are known within their community.

⚠️ This tool is educational guidance, not a verdict on any specific organization. Always verify independently before making decisions.

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