By Anne R. Allen
The self-publishing boom of the past 15 years has been a gift to the scam community. Authors aren’t the only targets of scams, of course, but we have become easy prey. I used to say there are twice as many scammers making money off of writers as there are writers making money.
But now that the AI bots are in the picture, my estimate is way too conservative. AI generated scams have made the author-scam business explode. Maybe there are 10 times as many of them as there are of us. Or 20. Or 30. In any case, you can be pretty certain that anyone who contacts you as a writer—out of the blue—is a scammer. Other red flags will be false urgency (act by midnight tonight!) bizarre email addresses, lack of a website or online presence, and outrageous, improbable names. Here are some of the funniest scammer names I found in my inbox this week:
- Benedict Bookscape
- Sophie Remarkable
- Susan Cinematic
- Marvellous Omenican
- Thane Cawdor (for fans of the Scottish Play)
- Dawn Organizer
- And my fav: Chazzy Worm
To judge by the barrage of scam emails that clog my inbox every day, I’d say there must be 30 scammers for every midlist writer like me.
The Cruel New Amazon Scam
The latest scam aimed at authors is diabolical. I haven’t experienced it myself. But for first time authors who haven’t been able to gather many reviews, it’s nasty. The scammers inform you that Amazon itself will punish you for your lack of reviews.
This scam comes via an email that pretends to be from Amazon. They tell you that as of January 2026, Amazon will penalize all books with fewer than 10 reviews with “reduced visibility and listing restrictions.”
They recommend hiring their own “Certified Visibility Specialist” to keep your book from being thrown into the pit of Amazon obscurity.
Of course, Amazon does not have “Certified Visibility Specialists” and they have not instituted a new policy of penalizing authors for not getting enough reviews. Unfortunately, this cruel scam will probably terrify a lot of newbies into forking over their hard-earned money.
Do spread the word to try to reach them. If they pay this “specialist” the cash, the cash and the specialist will disappear into the scammerverse forever.
There’s a lot more about this scam on Rod Raglin’s blog, If the fake Amazon people contact you, he suggests you report it to the real Amazon at reportascam@amazon.com
A little sleuthing on his part found that, like almost all of these criminal enterprises, this scam originates in Nigeria. For more on this, see Victoria Strauss’s post “The Return of the Nigerian Prince.”
Amazon is the Hunting Ground for Scammers
All the scam emails I get are fueled by the information on my book’s “buy” pages at Amazon. The AI bots gobble up all the reviews, plus the product description, add some shameless praise, distill it down to two paragraphs, and use it to entice you to hire them to:
- Be your super-savvy publicist; let me count the ways.
- Make you a book trailer
- Get featured by their book club which has 10 gazillion readers who all love to write reviews. (But surprise, surprise, you have to pay each and every one of them.)
- Get you featured on TikTok or Goodreads.
Some of this praise is really convincing. AI is getting smarter and smarter. But remember, none of it is real. (More on these guys in my post Update on those Flattering AI Scams.)
Amazon’s info also fuels the emails from “Stephen King,” “Colleen Hoover,” “Danielle Steel” or some other bestselling author who thinks you’re so darn cool they want to be besties. I’m sure you all know you should send those immediately to spam and block the sender.
No, you’re not blocking the real Stephen King.
And Here are Some More Fun Scams that Have Been Hitting my Inbox This Week:
1. I Can’t Find Your Book. Can You Help Me?
I’ve been getting a lot of this annoying ploy: “I saw your profile on Facebook, and you’re such a fascinating person, I’d like to read your book, but I can’t find it anywhere.”
Of course, if they really read your profile on FB, or anywhere else, chances are very good they also saw a link to your Amazon author page or your website.
Yes, they can find “your book” just fine. (Always singular. They all assume you’ve only written one book.) Don’t reply, even simply with a polite link. They’ll think they have you hooked and you’ll hear from them again. And again.
2. The Lazy Scam
The newest scammers aren’t going to the trouble of using praise for the target author’s books. The emails are simply addressed to “Dear Author.” The AI praise is usually carefully generic. The ones I get are pushing the book club spotlight scam.
But sometimes they try to get a little less generic and fail miserably. I got one this week addressed to “Dear Author” that spent 4 paragraphs praising my “horror book.” This guy informed me that he helps “place horror books into reader-driven discovery spaces where people are already looking for psychological horror, supernatural dread, moral unease, or slow-burn tension”
Happy for you, dude, but I write how-to books for writers and humorous beachy mysteries featuring a sleuth who’s an excruciatingly polite etiquette expert. Camilla fans will know why I laughed out loud at this one.
3. The “I’ve Written You a Review, But…” Scam
I’ve had three of these this week, and I had to test one out to see what would happen. Here’s how it works:
- The scammer generates a glowing AI one-paragraph “review” of your book,
- They put it in an email, saying they tried to post the review, but Amazon has blocked it.
- They ask if you have a page on Goodreads or Bookbub where they could post it.
If you reply, they do post the review, but then you get the standard “book club” scam pitch. And wow, those book clubs are so popular, half the residents of the Anglophone world must belong to them. Every one of these (fictitious, of course) book clubs has at least 100K members. And each email promotes a different club. I’m surprised it isn’t bigger news that people have gone back to reading books instead of streaming TV shows and movies on their phones. 😊
4. The One-Sentence Mystery Email
These are fun. You get an email with the header “Your Thoughts?” or “Please Acknowledge.” Then there’s a one sentence message–“Are you the author?” or “Are you active here?”
Don’t bite. Whatever bizarre thing is going on, it’s aimed at your wallet. Send to spam and block.
There’s a Lot More About Scams…
At Writer Beware this week. Victoria Strauss gives a recap of all the worst scams of 2025.
by by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen and annerallen.bsky.social) January 18, 2026
***
What about you, scriveners? How many scam emails do you get per day? Have you got any from “people” with improbable, silly names? Have you pursued any of these scams to see where they lead?
Book of the Week
Romance scams are even more plentiful than writing scams. In this stand-alone Camilla Randall mystery, a romance scam leads to murder, and it’s up to Camilla, her cat Buckingham, and two ‘tween Nancy Drew wannabes to find the killer.
Book available in ebook and paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble
and your local bookstore can order it through Ingram
featured image by Mohamed Hassan
I haven’t been seeing the same type of scams as you are. But I’m getting tons of emails from people offering to help me market my book. I don’t even have a published book. None of them identifies which company they’re from.
Natalie–They even target writers who haven’t written a book? These people are out of control!
Thanks for the heads-up.
One scam I had was from someone who waxed lyrical about one of my books. There was information saying what she liked about it, with details of the plot and characters. Enough to make someone think she’d actually read it.
I suppose the scammers ran AI and got it to generate the glowing email. They commented on the lack of many reviews and said they could get me more.
Of course, I blocked it.
VM–That’s the #1 kind of email I get. Sometimes 20-30 of them a day. They make their AI bots work hard, summarizing your books, larded with over-the-top praise. Funny thing: I get them for dozens of books I’ve never heard of. I’ve got glowing summaries of thrillers, romances, memoirs, horror, gritty mysteries, etc, all written by people with “Ann/e or “Allen” in their names. There’s R. Allen, Ann C. Best, Annette Allen, Allen Parker, etc. It gets annoying, but I’m finding out about a lot of interesting books, which of course sound fabulous.
I knew AI had hit a new level of sophistication when it graduated from slobbering praise and started to use humor. One email promised increased discoverability for my writing guide book THE VILLAIN’S JOURNEY-HOW TO CREATE VILLAINS READERS LOVE TO HATE. The subject line read: “Your Villain Deserves More Victims—Er, Readers.”
New authors with a first book are esp. vulnerable. They’re full of hope and dreams. They usually don’t recognize dangers in the jungle and think that nice boa constrictor is giving them a warm hug until its grip gets tighter and tighter and tighter…
Thanks for continuing to sound the warnings, Anne!
Debbie–Oh, my. Now that’s one sophisticated bot! It’s lovely that they like to entertain us while perpetrating their scams. 🙂 Thanks for sharing that one!
You’re so right that new authors can fall for this stuff easily. We so much want to hear the kind of praise and flattery the bots provide, that it’s easy to convince ourselves it is real
Keep bringing it on, Anne. Thank you and will be passing it along. Judy
Judy–Thanks! If we can save a few newbies, we’ll be doing a good deed for the writing community.
Thanks, Anne, for keeping us updated. Just when I think I’ve heard it all, another crazy idea pops out of the rabbit warren and multiplies.
Kathy–They do seem to be proliferating like rabbits, don’t they? This must be an especially lucrative con, since so many new crooks are joining their ranks every day.
it truly is crazy how many scam emails I get every day. Fake book clubs, I can’t find your books, etc etc. My absolute favorite was the email that included all the ChatGPT prompts that the sender used to create the final scam phrasing to sound more “friendly and enticing.” The back-and-forth with AI went on for pages and it was all there in the email! Gotta laugh. Then delete.
Carmen–That’s hilarious! I’ve never seen one with the prompts included. It would be fascinating to see their process as they compose these (often convincing) bs emails. Before you delete and block, of course.
Yes Anne, I get about 100 a month. I have one former student who sends me these, pleadingly, hopeful that I will say one is legit. I feel bad for him. And I hate to think how many new writers fall for it, if they don’t have someone to act as a guide. And of course, I give my former students the reminder that bookclubs don’t need to contact the author. They simply get the book and read it..
Melodie–Oh, that’s so sad. But I understand your poor student’s desire to believe the con. The pitch is often exactly the glowing “review” you fantasize about reading on Amazon. And thanks for making the very good point that book clubs do not need to be approached by an author or their publicist. They choose a book, get it, and read it.
Hi Anne. I’m not only getting the “book club” and other email scams you describe (and I have to read carefully, because readers often begin their emails with similar words of praise) but I keep hearing from newer authors who say “I” contacted them on social media with some kind of offer. I just heard about a new TikTok account pretending to be me. I’ve had to create an X account, though I don’t use X, just to monitor the impersonators. Your post reminded me, so I went out just now and checked X again, and there was a new one. A few days ago I put a warning on my website home page for the first time ever, basically saying it’s not me contacting them on social media. And now for the really bad news: Will this get better or worse? I think we all know the answer.
Catherine–Oh, wow! It’s great to hear from an author on the other side of “Bestselling Author Wants to be your Bestie” scam. Impersonators can do a lot of harm to authors, publicists, and agents they pretend to be. I once had somebody make a FB page pretending to be me. It’s a scary, creepy feeling knowing they could do real harm and you’d be blamed. And it’s unkind they made you go back to “Elon’s Nazi Bar” as Jeff Teidrich calls X. 🙁 I’ve stayed there just to keep track of the lies, but there’s actually sometimes real news allowed, so you may not have to feel slimed the whole time. But what time-wasters these people are!
Yes, they’re wasting everybody’s time but their own, since they have AI to do all the work for them.
These scammers clearly have more time on their hands than they need. When to they eat, sleep, read, write, visit friends, live their lives? On the other hand, if they’re choosing to scam people, perhaps their lives are pretty sorry to begin with.
CS–This is not coming from kids with time on their hands. These people are part of a hard-working industry that takes over whole villages in Nigeria and the Philippines. Pakistan, too. They work long hours in “boiler rooms.” For anybody interested, there’s an eye-opening book on the Nigerian scam industry called I Do Not Come to you by Chance. by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. It shows how scammers command whole armies of workers who are often paid so much more than regular workers that joining them is “an offer they can’t refuse.”
The AI generated synopsis of the book’s blurb was an interesting hallucination.
Lester–These blurbs aren’t quite what we call “Hallucinations,” because they correctly summarize the positive reviews and description of the book. I haven’t seen any that make egregious mistakes, like calling my cozy mysteries “gritty science fiction” or changing The Hour of the Moth to The Hour of the Month. . Those would be considered truly “hallucinations.” What they are more like is wish-fulfillment dreams of beginning authors.
The ones posing as Amazon are evil.
I don’t get email scams but only because my email is not posted online anymore. (Long story why but it also involved a bit of a scam.) But people can certainly find my books from my social media and just a simple search at online bookstores!
Alex–I guess You’re smart not posting your email online. I do because we were told we had to be reachable by our readers, but I’m rethinking that. They impersonate Amazon, WordPress, real authors and agents–and yesterday, I even got one from “Oprah.” Yeah, right. You’re right. They are evil.
The latest Africa-identified spam email was from “Barrister Donald Duck.”
Liz–Haha! 🙂 “Barrister Donald Duck.” Quack! That gets a prize!!
I’ve just posted on LinkedIn about your latest post, Anne. Here’s what I had to say.
Having been around the block more times than I’d care to admit, I can easily identify and dismiss these (AI scam emails) at a glance as they stack up in the Gmail inbox, and I’m left seriously wondering what Gmail’s spam button is for any more. It certainly isn’t blocking this sh*t.
Anne R Allen focusses on the harm to newbie and less net-savvy authors who may fall for these cons, and in doing so makes an important point: “Some of this praise is really convincing. AI is getting smarter and smarter.”
I must confess I occasionally pop open an intriguing approach by what I know to be an AI scam, just to admire how good it is. I get dozens a day now – I blame Gmail’s redundant spam filter as much as the scammers themselves – but what I don’t do is blame AI.
I’m reminded of the best heist movies, where we know what the thieves are doing is wrong in every way, but still we have to admire how they do it.
There’s an important lesson here for the Luddite Fringe, still trotting out the same tired old mantra about how AI can’t string a sentence together and no-one will ever read anything written by a machine.
Sure, it makes us feel good, but sometimes its helpful to address reality. AI is a gazillion times better as we start 2026 than as we started 2025, yet the Luddite Fringe are still partying like it’s November 2022.
It will be a thousand times better still this time next year, and savvy authors and publishers and other creatives that learn to partner with AI will reap the benefits, just as the scammers are doing today.
The difference being, the scammers are using it immorally. Their choice.
We in the publishing industry have the opportunity to show the world how AI can be used positively.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mark-williams-int_anne-r-allens-latest-blog-delves-further-share-7418772856257413120-U0fR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAkqCu8Bc5VVYkhk4W4_E_dNICEhoS7Bz8I
Mark–Thanks for the shout-out on LinkedIn. This is an important point. People think they can just recognize “AI slop” and dismiss it right away. But it’s not always recognizable with handy clues like the sender leaves in the prompts like Carmen Amato’s clueless scammer-wannabe. 🙂 The truth is AI is improving by the month. Most of the AI scam emails I get wouldn’t be detectable except for the weird names and iffy email addresses (nothing like the name of the sender, with long trails of letters and numbers) And the sender doesn’t exist anywhere on the Internet, and of course the fact you’ve got 20 nearly identical ones in your inbox today. People shouldn’t fool themselves thinking “oh, this one sounds real.” Yeah, it sounds real, but it’s just clever AI. Delete and block them all. They’ve got to get tired of it eventually.
And no, use of the em dash doesn’t mean the sender used AI. I happen to be fond of the em dash, and I swear I’m not a robot. 🙂 That doesn’t mean lots of companies don’t use AI without knowing what they’re doing. My doctor’s office uses an AI bot that sounds like R2D2. Nobody is fooled.
Hi Anne,
I’m wondering if this deluge of scamming might just put authors off AI as a writing tool, given that we see it being used to do us harm.
But it does have its funny side, like those names you’ve quoted. You would think the AIs could come up with more plausible monikers!
Audrey–I think their AI program must not have been fed any Anglophone names. So it just grabs random words and makes them into names. Except for Liz’s “Barrister Donald Duck”–that AI bot must have been trained on Disney. I think this may make some writers wary of AI, but others are embracing it as a tool for editing and outlining. I think we’re going to have to get used to that.
I couldn’t believe it!
I think I got one last week (not an AI but a real person. maybe). I had a book marketer write glowing praise about my latest novella. I thanked them, and having noticed that their e-mail had a Flivver addy attached to it, asked them what platform they had purchased my book on. They truthfully admitted that they read the “look inside” function, but they were sure that they could do wonders for me in regards to marketing. I politely thanked them and said that my marketing budget for the upcoming year is one tankful of gas in your car.
To be honest, I was very surprised to get the e-mail, as I don’t have my personal e-mail plastered publicly anywhere. I did ask them where they got the addy, but of course they sidestepped that question.
GB–It sounds as if you did get a real one! The Fivrr address is a strong indicator. And the guy admitted he got the info from “look inside.” The scammers using AI bots usually act miffed and claim their feelings are hurt when you say they haven’t read the book. So this is probably a real low-rent publicist. He might be just as worthless in selling your books as the scammers, and may use junk marketing, like Tweeting to a bunch of bots, but anyway, it sounds as if he’s an actual human.
Lol Anne, at least your scammers add names. The ones I get never have salutations, and tell me how my ‘book’ could be helpful to others and even a become a movie, lol. Um, which book? 🤣 Great bewares. I’ll be sharing next week in my writer’s tips post. 🧡
Debby–It’s always one book, isn’t it? They’re looking for that one mark who published one book 10 years ago and only sold copies to their daughter’s book club and an elderly aunt. Those “we’re gonna put you in the movies” ones have been around a long time, but they’re still reeling in unsuspecting newbies and one-hit wonders. Here’s my post on “They’re (NOT) Gonna put you in the Movies.“
Invitation to Feature Proximity Factor
FRI JAN 23 7:51 AM
I am reporting this because the solicitation appears to use a legitimate Meetup group as a vehicle for a misleading or predatory paid service. I am requesting that the platform review the organizer and group’s conduct to ensure that Meetup is not being used for deceptive or fee‑based solicitations that lacks transparency for unsolicited outreach offering promotional opportunities in exchange for payment. Including:
Lack of transparency about the fee amount, what it covers, or how it is used.
No verifiable evidence that this “Reader Spotlight” program exists, has been offered before, list of authors, or has produced results.
Vague and generic language that appears copy‑pasted and does not reference my work specifically.
Misrepresentation by omission, as the Meetup group’s public event history shows no mention of paid author programs.
Pressure to pay for exposure, which is a known tactic in author‑targeted scams documented by writer‑advocacy organizations,https://authorsguild.org/.
Documentation of prior program participants
Links or archived materials demonstrating previous spotlights
Audience metrics (reach, impressions, engagement rates)
Any written policies governing refunds, cancellations, or service guarantees
Your business registration information
Hopefully, this will motivate you to stop doing this without full transparency, policies, and published results.
Subject: Re: Invitation to Feature Proximity Factor
> Thank you so much for your reply—I appreciate you sharing that.
> I completely understand wanting to avoid anything costly. Our Reader Spotlight does involve a small token fee to help cover basic coordination, discussion facilitation, and promotion across our community platforms. It’s a modest amount intended simply to support the time and resources involved, not a large marketing expense.
> If that still feels like something you’d prefer to pass on, I absolutely understand. Either way, thank you for taking the time to respond, and I wish you continued success with your writing.
> Warm regards,
> Sure go ahead. As long as this doesn’t cost me anything, I get a lot of scam emails, it sounds great. Let me know how you proceed.
>
> Subject: Invitation to Feature
> > I hope you are doing well. My name is Suzie, and I am the event organizer for the Dive Bar Book Club OC.
> >
> > I am reaching out because we spotlight authors whose work demonstrates strong storytelling, a clear creative voice, and thoughtful engagement with readers. We are drawn to books that feel intentional, well-crafted, and reflective of the author’s unique perspective.
> >
> > Your book stood out to us for its compelling narrative approach and the care evident in its execution. Whether through character, structure, ideas, or voice, the work creates an engaging reading experience that invites readers to reflect, connect, and stay immersed.
> >
> > What particularly resonated with our team is how your writing establishes a distinct sense of identity and purpose. The story unfolds in a way that feels both considered and authentic, offering readers moments of insight, emotion, and curiosity that extend beyond the page. It’s the kind of work that sparks conversation and rewards thoughtful discussion.
> >
> > Our members enjoy discovering books across genres and styles, united by strong writing and meaningful substance. Your work aligns well with the type of engaging, discussion-worthy reads our community values, and we would love to feature your book in an upcoming Reader Spotlight.
> >
> > Would you be open to having your book showcased with us?
> >
This is exactly what I’m warning you about in this post. It’s the kind of scam email that fills my inbox daily. I’ve just sent at least 20 to spam this morning. I have had several that claim to be from the “dive bar Book Club” with this exact email, word for word, except it mentions a different book (sometimes they even use the name of one of my books instead of somebody else named Allen) Many of these scammers use the names of real book clubs and even claim to be the real person who is in charge of the book club. Hey, yesterday I got one that claimed to be from Oprah herself! I am trying to educate writers so they don’t fall for this crap. These all come from the Nigerian gang Writer Beware has warned us about. If you paid their “small fee,” you would not only NOT be featured at this real book club, but you would never be able to find “Suzie” again. She doesn’t exist.
I’ve learned to ignore these and most are the same, the book club gig etc. and more visibility, but this morning I received a new approach. My snopsis on Amazon is unreadable because there is no Html formatting!! Heavens, how could I not have noticed that? So stupid of me. Yeah…..how stupid do these hackers think we are. Thanks, as always, for your blog posts.
Yvonne–Wow! That’s a new one. I haven’t had one of those yet. What a crock! I guess they hope to reach some seniors who don’t know enough about tech to see how absurd this is. Thanks for letting us know about this one.
All these scams are wearing me out! I doubt I would even recognize a legit offer if I ever got one.
Pat–I know how you feel! You can be pretty sure any unsolicited email is a scam. Good publicists get clients through referrals, and book clubs do not need your permission (or $$) to feature your book.
Great roundup. I’m at the point I hate opening my author email because there’s anywhere from 1-8 a day. Exhausting and annoying!
Jemi–Exhausting is a good word for it. I get at least 200 a week. I’m so tired of them!
Hi, Anne. I got an email from “Olive Williams” claiming to be from Amazon Book Scouts. She said one of their experts had seen my novel, Saving Atlantis, and they thought it would be appropriate for a complete read and review, no cost. But could I provide a phone number to call for feedback? I replied by asking why and declaring that I couldn’t find any reference of Amazon Book Scout. A re-reply asked again for a phone number without answering my questions. I didn’t provide it. I wonder what they were after, and why.
Fred–Yup. That’s the one. I got at least 20 in my inbox this morning. 15 more over the course of the day. Often for writers other than me, who write thrillers, memoirs, and “heartfelt romance.” Some of the scammers use believable names like Olive Williams, but some are hilarious, like “Archie Lucy” and “Williams Sparkle.” They claim to be from a a huge online book club or a big company that may or may not exist. But you can guarantee the real ones have never heard of Mr. Sparkle, or any of them. It’s best not to engage with them at all, since this will bring more of them to your inbox. They want your phone number because they think they can schmooze you into paying for their services. Once you pay, they evaporate, since none of these names are attached to real people. They are all part of a Nigerian gang of scammers using AI to pretend they’ve heard of you. One blog reader sent me an email he got from “Olive Sparkle,, or whoever, who turned into the author himself half way through. The AI hallucinated and half way through pretended to be the mark, not the con artist. Too funny. Follow the links to Writer Beware for more details. (I’m glad the spam elves finally let you in!)