This is a whole new type of spam, that I'm not entirely used to yet (although Gmail already deposits them in the advertisement folder): I've been receiving email messages from academic conferences in China, in which I'm invited to talk about my latest paper (or sometimes even papers that have been published years ago). Invariably, these conferences take place in a Chinese city I have never heard of, but actually has 1.5 million or more inhabitants.

The first time I received an invitation, I didn't even know what to do with it at first, but threw it out after talking with colleagues. The second time was easier, as they clearly copied my name, added Dr (I don't have my PhD yet, although I'm getting close) and Mrs (...) to it, and pasted the title of my paper, including formatting into a standard email with different formatting. This one was much easier to ignore. Also: the conference was to be in one week.

I now understand that these invitations are made, just so that, if you show up, the conference holders can advertise that Western scientists are also coming. This is supposed to bring honor to the conference. It sounds like a strange reason (in my eyes anyway) and I don't entirely belief it myself. It sounds more like a scam in which you pay fees and there actually is no conference or something.
The other side of the coin: does anyone ever take themselves up for the invitation? You still have to pay the conference fee and the trip itself, but I can understand that you might try it, if you need the conference credits for your academic career. Just like some would pay steep fees (I've seen/heard numbers between $500 and $5000, often with no peer-review attached), just to get a paper published.

Do any of you ever get these invitations? I'm curious to see how often these are sent out and how often people actually go to these conferences.