I have been receiving a large number of emails inviting me to speak at a conference as a guest speaker. While I was initially flattered by the recognition of my research efforts, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was not right about the conference website, the event venue, the topics to be discussed, and the list of organizers. Thankfully, I have managed to avoid becoming a victim of these predatory conferences.
As for the predatory journals, I only rely on publications indexed in reputable journal lists. There was a time when Beall's list was used to check if the problematic journal was on the list. However, later on, while attending my graduate courses, the list could not be relied on but was a "good" starting guide.