Scam e-mails

[Mad Swede]

Naruzeldamaster mentioned an odd e-mail that he'd received in a thread in Chit Chat, and today Writer Beware published the following article on their blog:

The First Clue to en Email Scam May Be the Address

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Interesting read, I'll keep an eye out on this for when I start publishing books.

 

[The Dark One]

I get heaps of scam emails - mainly about wanting to help me market my work. I always delete immediately.

A writer friend stupidly got drawn in and paid a thousand dollars for marketing services which never happened.

The really insidious aspect of these emails is that they use AI to scrape digital copies of your work and send you a precis that looks like they've genuinely read and thought about your work.

Don't get sucked in.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I've noticed they've gotten better at spoofing legitimate e-mail addresses. Usually only off by a single character. So, get out those combs.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Interesting read, I'll keep an eye out on this for when I start publishing books.

Why wait? They won't. And they'll come after anything they think they can profit from. Fourteen years ago, when Faerie Rising wasn't even finished, there was a rising issue with authors discovering their name had been swiped out from under them, and they would have to pay. So, I grabbed up our domain and socials, just in case. Never hurts to start out alert and aware.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Why wait? They won't. And they'll come after anything they think they can profit from. Fourteen years ago, when Faerie Rising wasn't even finished, there was a rising issue with authors discovering their name had been swiped out from under them, and they would have to pay. So, I grabbed up our domain and socials, just in case. Never hurts to start out alert and aware.

I mean the only place I've been talking about publishing work is here and maybe on discord.
If the scammers somehow find me I'll be ready for their nonsense.
BUT I don't think I'll be getting that nonsense until I get to the publishing phase.

 

[RoccO]

I had scam emails about books I had never published. They even wrote a straight out extortion letter. No imagination in some of these guys.

The solution is to say no to most of their taunts and fail to reply. Then check out the firewall.

Like they say it takes two to tango. It is 50/50. Fail to play their game.

 

[The Dark One]

If you get an email you weren't expecting regarding your work...

No matter how exciting, 999 times out of a thousand, it's a scam.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I had scam emails about books I had never published. They even wrote a straight out extortion letter. No imagination in some of these guys.

The solution is to say no to most of their taunts and fail to reply. Then check out the firewall.

Like they say it takes two to tango. It is 50/50. Fail to play their game.

Interesting lol I assume I need to watch out for 'overly friendly ' emails too.
Even if the person seemingly has no ill will. I dunno. Being SUPER friendly to an author you didn't know existed feels a bit fishy.
I'm crossing my fingers I don't see any of these types of stuff until I publish a book. (Either on Kindle or otherwise)

 

[Mad Swede]

Interesting lol I assume I need to watch out for 'overly friendly ' emails too.
Even if the person seemingly has no ill will. I dunno. Being SUPER friendly to an author you didn't know existed feels a bit fishy.
I'm crossing my fingers I don't see any of these types of stuff until I publish a book. (Either on Kindle or otherwise)

You need to start being wary now, and above all you need to follow Writer Beware and also Bewares, Recommendations & Background Check on Absolute Write.

Parts of this community are open to the internet, and you'd better believe that scammers out there try to identify who people are and how to contact them. It isn't that hard to put information from several sources together - and this is one reason why I contribute here anonymously.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

You need to start being wary now, and above all you need to follow Writer Beware and also Bewares, Recommendations & Background Check on Absolute Write.

Parts of this community are open to the internet, and you'd better believe that scammers out there try to identify who people are and how to contact them. It isn't that hard to put information from several sources together - and this is one reason why I contribute here anonymously.

I'm a bit wary right now from reading these articles.
I just mean I'm going to get more 'prepared' for this nonsense as I get closer to finishing a project.
Though I do see your point, message received

 

[pmmg]

On RoyalRoad, which i am dabbling in, every story there gets pirated in a day. Must be careful where you post. But the site itself started as a pirate sight of sorts so….

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

On RoyalRoad, which i am dabbling in, every story there gets pirated in a day. Must be careful where you post. But the site itself started as a pirate sight of sorts so….

If it helps the only places I've uploaded my story online is google docs.
Beyond sharing a chapter here. I don't think I've shown it.

 

[pmmg]

Heh. Google stole it to train their AI for sure.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It does make me curious how something like film rights ever get sold. Imagine being a legitimate buyer for film rights, and you've found this amazing book you want to make a deal on. Send the author a message. 99 out of 100 times that just gets deleted as spam. Must be hard work.

 

[The Dark One]

I doubt whether a legit film rights buyer would give up easily.

And the reality is, most (not all, I grant you) writers whose books are pursued for film rights will have agents.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I doubt whether a legit film rights buyer would give up easily.

And the reality is, most (not all, I grant you) writers whose books are pursued for film rights will have agents.

Yup. And any legitimate studio who's interested in putting a pin in your film rights will know not only to contact your agent rather than direct to you, but also how to ferret out who your agent is without contacting you.

 

[Mad Swede]

Yup. And any legitimate studio who's interested in putting a pin in your film rights will know not only to contact your agent rather than direct to you, but also how to ferret out who your agent is without contacting you.

More than that, this whole business runs on personal contacts so your agent will have an ear to the ground and will have heard about their interest in the book. .

 

[A. E. Lowan]

And before we begin to think that scammers can only find us if we're published, that's not how it works. They're finding us in the Comments, especially on the larger pages and groups in our socials.

 

[RoccO]

You have got to give it to them, they basically run an empire. They are not viruses or bots, they are legitimate. They probably have bottomless bank accounts, fake passports, and crack safe houses.

If it was a throw up between live animal exports and game hunting, I do not know which category this falls into, they are probably onto something hot.

As far as participating in something like this, the best way is to maintain an obvious approach, and take it like a man.