I guess it only requires a few “recommendable” people to get lured into those conferences just because the occasion made them lower their guard (like Loren in the article). Add to that some people just fake-attending for the CV or the occasion to travel to touristy destination, and you can make quite a few bucks for a relatively low investment, I guess? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m also wondering whether I refused to respond to legitimate demands as well… But, well, let’s say that if you phrase your demands like predatory journals/confs do, you should expect some silent treatments from academia…