Authors Beware...

Scams aimed at authors are at epidemic level.

CAN YOU SPOT THE SCAM?

It’s always the underbelly of society that leverages new technology first.

I worked in broadcasting and video production for a while and I can recall being told to follow the porn industry from a tech point of view, because they always lead. (VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, Streaming etc etc).

Now, in our writing corner of the world, AI has been seized on by the nefarious who wish to relieve authors of their hard earned cash.

Each approach will be personalised to you. It will be full of praise and at least some detail that seems like it could only come from someone familiar with your book.

Of course it’s flattering, and of course authors fall for it.

Here’s three of the most common.

The initial contact will come as a DM on a social media platform, typically Instagram or X or maybe an email.

1. The Book Club Scam

This seems to be the single most common scam at the moment. You’ll get an email or DM waxing lyrical about your book and announcing that it’s been selected for a book club in Somewhere, North Carolina (etc). After a bit of back and forth, you’ll discover there is a fee for your book to move forward to the actual club. Usually in the $100-$200 range.

At this point, most authors will back out, but I am sure plenty do not. Flattered by the attention and the deep insight the requester has into your book, they’ll press ahead.

So for the scammer, using mailing lists, automations and a decent AI subscription, it becomes a numbers game. Send out 1,000/day. A 5% success rate nets $10,000 / day.

2. Befriended by a Famous Author Scam

For me, this has been harder to spot. I have hosted nearly 500 podcast episodes and I’ve met pretty much everyone in the indie community as well as a bunch of famous authors from trad. That means it’s not out of the question to receive a friendly email from a well known name.

Most recently it was Melanie Harlow. We haven’t met in person but I know of her excellent following and how well regarded she is. I didn’t think it was out of the question that she would message me. Maybe she wants to come to The Self Publishing Show Live?

It wasn’t her, of course. I checked with a friend who does know her. Melanie asked me to report the post, which by the way, was impossible on X as only the person being impersonated can report an impersonator…

I’m not sure how this would have worked. No doubt ‘she’ would have offered some form of promotion to her audience. I didn’t follow it up, I simply reported the post as a scam and told them I knew they were lying.

They blocked me. Which got me thinking. It might be time to take a different tack…

3. The Film Rights Scam

This scam, like the others, works on flattery. Your book is SENSATIONAL (which it is btw) and we want the rights!

Most recently this happened via another DM on X, purporting to be from Archewell Productions. A real production company you might recognise as it belongs to Harry and Meghan…

It was at this point, I became more curious to find out exactly how these scams work…

Fighting AI with AI

I can imagine writers who end up scammed feel embarrassed. It might be why we don’t hear about the details of what exactly happens when you engaged. If this is you DO NOT BE EMBARRASSED. There but for the grace of god go all of us.

Because of that lack of common insight into how these scams work, I’ve decided to start following a few up. I’ll post the results here.

Today, I’m starting with ‘Simon Dan’. Let’s see if he promises a Zoom call with H & M.

To whet your appetite - here’s how the scam started.

I’m now into an email conversation with real life Hollywood producer Ben Browning, or more likely, some bloke in in his underpants in a Florida bedsit. Or possibly a Karachi warehouse…

The first hint at how it works comes from a request for a complex sequence of documents about my book, which they kindly offer to help me compile, should I wish to use their services.

For now, Claude and I are working on the papers ourselves and just like the scoundrel at the other end, I am AI-ing the hell out of it, and having some fun... Here’s a peak at what me and Claude are going to weave into my biography:

My next post will layout all the interactions and we’ll see how far I get refusing their professional help before they lose patience.

James.

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