News This Smells Bad…

[AgentPete]

I’ve received several emails in recent days, all structured as the one below, received this morning. While I can’t tell you exactly what sort of scam this is – it’s got “scam” written all over it. My thoughts follow.

Hi there,
I'm Leïla Slimani, a suspense and legal thriller author with a background in law and journalism. Over the years, I’ve written over seventy novels, many of which follow the courtroom drama and high-stakes legal battles of defense attorney Paul Madriani.
Here’s a link to one of my books on Amazon:
The Perfect Nanny : Amazon.com
And here’s my Amazon Author Page:
Leïla Slimani: books, biography, latest update
I’d really love to hear more about your writing journey and the stories you’ve brought to life. If you’re open to sharing, I’d be glad to check out your work, feel free to send over your book link, website, Goodreads, or Amazon page.
Looking forward to connecting!
Warm regards,
Leïla Slimani

OK, so now an analysis of what smells bad…

1. The real Leïla Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. I don’t think she’d be firing off random emails like this!

2. Claims to have written the Paul Madriani legal thrillers. Nope, they were actually written by Steve Martini, a few seconds on Amazon would tell you that.

3. Classic mass-mail shakedown bullshit (sorry, but I’m annoyed!) phrases such as “I’d love to hear about your writing journey.” This is designed to get a response from you, without any effort on their side.

I don’t know specifically what the scam is at this stage, but the aim of these emails is to get you into an email exchange, to get you emotionally invested and to warm you up for the kill…. A vanity press publishing package maybe, or just good old malware.

Whatever the killshot is, the cruddy invertebrates behind scams like these fully realize just how vulnerable authors can be to this kind of pitch. Don’t fall for it!

 

[JohnBertel]

I've encountered this before (not the scam, but multiple postings on our forum). Sometimes you get an error message, but the post has actually been created.

 

[AgentPete]

Thanks, John. I’ve tracked the issue down to those emojis in the scam message, the forum database wasn’t comfortable with them. Now updating the character set on the server, shouldn’t happen again after that.

 

[AgentPete]

Just to check/confirm, emojis should be OK in posts now and not generate an error...

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I'd suspect it straight away, just because why would someone who's written seventy novels have time to look at mine and why would they be interested?
It's impersonal and vague, so immediately I think "what are they after?".
Weird.

 

[Jake E]

I get these all the time
I ignore them, but last week, a guy emailed mt four times because I didn't reply.
Ended with this rather shitty email

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I get these all the time
I ignore them, but last week, a guy emailed mt four times because I didn't reply.
Ended with this rather shitty email

What a plank.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

"I've written over seventy novels": either she has and they're all unpublishable Madriani fan fiction or she's scribbled all over and ruined seventy beautiful books OR she's taken vulnerable writers' manuscripts and re-written them to pretend authorship!

 

[Pamela Jo]

I can see it now Hannah. "Over Seventy Novels" I've written it, Now you can too. It goes along with all those ads I see on you tube about making tons of money writing books with AI...

 

[Pamela Jo]

I get these all the time
I ignore them, but last week, a guy emailed mt four times because I didn't reply.
Ended with this rather shitty email

Only answer possible. Dear Fecking Feck maggot, fecking go feck yourself, you fecking failed con artist feckwad.

 

[AgentPete]

I get these all the time
I ignore them, but last week, a guy emailed mt four times because I didn't reply.
Ended with this rather shitty email

Incredible! True colours, right there.

 

[MattScho]

I get these all the time
I ignore them, but last week, a guy emailed mt four times because I didn't reply.
Ended with this rather shitty email

Wow, that is really cruel, isn't it? WTF does someone who does this think, that the response is gonna be yes, yes, more please

 

[LJ Beck]

"I've written over seventy novels" was the place I'd hit delete. If you've written that many novels, and I've never heard of you, and you've no awards to show for it, then you're either a shitty bot, or a shitty writer. It makes them sound like a dumb scammer. I mean 20 novels would be a more believable sell.

If we were going to use AI for good, the programmers of AI would target all the scammers and fry their computers and phones and any devise they ever tried to use. For the rest of time.

I think we should call scammers scummers... scum of the earth.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Wow, that is really cruel, isn't it? WTF does someone who does this think, that the response is gonna be yes, yes, more please

Have you heard of negging? There are dudes teaching it gets girls, so of course someone is going to try it on writers who are all girl's blouses anyway. According to the dudes who neg.

 

[MattScho]

Have you heard of negging? There are dudes teaching it gets girls, so of course someone is going to try it on writers who are all girl's blouses anyway. According to the dudes who neg.

man, that is depressing. I have heard of that but assumed it was a movie/sitcom trope

 

[James Charles]

I’ve received several emails in recent days, all structured as the one below, received this morning. While I can’t tell you exactly what sort of scam this is – it’s got “scam” written all over it. My thoughts follow.




OK, so now an analysis of what smells bad…

1. The real Leïla Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. I don’t think she’d be firing off random emails like this!

2. Claims to have written the Paul Madriani legal thrillers. Nope, they were actually written by Steve Martini, a few seconds on Amazon would tell you that.

3. Classic mass-mail shakedown bullshit (sorry, but I’m annoyed!) phrases such as “I’d love to hear about your writing journey.” This is designed to get a response from you, without any effort on their side.

I don’t know specifically what the scam is at this stage, but the aim of these emails is to get you into an email exchange, to get you emotionally invested and to warm you up for the kill…. A vanity press publishing package maybe, or just good old malware.

Whatever the killshot is, the cruddy invertebrates behind scams like these fully realize just how vulnerable authors can be to this kind of pitch. Don’t fall for it!

Yes. I'm getting more and more of these types of emails and they all want $$ for promotion for old books. Here's one from yesterday: (What the hell does that first sentence even mean?).

Hi James,
I’ve been thinking about My War with Hemingway since I last wrote Zach’s war within, the haunting presence of Hemingway, and the quiet persistence of love in the middle of unraveling. This isn’t just a novel; it’s a mirror for the men and families still living in the aftermath of their own battles.
When I reached out, I suggested two ways to help your story reach the people who need it most:
1. Audiobook promotion placing Zach’s voice in the ears of veterans, trauma survivors, and recovery communities who may never pick up a book but will listen if it’s put in front of them in the right way.
2. A cinematic book trailer a 60–90 second visual that carries the gravity and hope of your story into spaces where it can open hearts before a single page is read.
Neither of these are about hype. They’re about placement making sure this book gets where it can do the most good. Even one small step now could start that ripple.
If you’d like, I can prepare a simple, flexible plan showing exactly how these could roll out with timing, budget, and deliverables so you have complete clarity. Would you like me to send that over?

With care and respect,
Savannah Rose Whitaker

 

[Jake E]

Yes. I'm getting more and more of these types of emails and they all want $$ for promotion for old books. Here's one from yesterday: (What the hell does that first sentence even mean?).

Hi James,
I’ve been thinking about My War with Hemingway since I last wrote Zach’s war within, the haunting presence of Hemingway, and the quiet persistence of love in the middle of unraveling. This isn’t just a novel; it’s a mirror for the men and families still living in the aftermath of their own battles.
When I reached out, I suggested two ways to help your story reach the people who need it most:
1. Audiobook promotion placing Zach’s voice in the ears of veterans, trauma survivors, and recovery communities who may never pick up a book but will listen if it’s put in front of them in the right way.
2. A cinematic book trailer a 60–90 second visual that carries the gravity and hope of your story into spaces where it can open hearts before a single page is read.
Neither of these are about hype. They’re about placement making sure this book gets where it can do the most good. Even one small step now could start that ripple.
If you’d like, I can prepare a simple, flexible plan showing exactly how these could roll out with timing, budget, and deliverables so you have complete clarity. Would you like me to send that over?

With care and respect,
Savannah Rose Whitaker

Savannah Rose Whitaker... I've got emails from her in my trash bin as well.
Lol

 

[AgentPete]

"I've written over seventy novels" was the place I'd hit delete.

I received a previous one on behalf of a client that didn’t make such an outrageous claim, and for a moment it gave me pause for thought… writers do sometimes reach out to other writers, after all.

Lyse is right, we haven't even started to feel the impact of AI on scams and their victims. That phone call at 3am from your kid who needs money for a ride home…? It will happen, and worse.

 

[AgentPete]

man, that is depressing. I have heard of that but assumed it was a movie/sitcom trope

It’s been big business for a decade or more, part of the “manosphere”. Courses cost megabucks. So wrong on every level.

 

[AgentPete]

1. Audiobook promotion

OK, so that’s the eventual pitch, thanks James, I was wondering how they monetised it.

If you’d like, I can prepare a simple, flexible plan

This whole email has got ChatGPT written all over it. I bet they’re using the API to customize each individual scammy email.

 

[Jonny]

"I've written over seventy novels" was the place I'd hit delete.

Yep me too. I filled in the next line as I was reading.

"None of them published..."

 

[Jake E]

That phone call at 3am from your kid who needs money for a ride home…? It will happen, and worse.

Ah! Don't give them ideas.

 

[MattScho]

I've long had a policy of deleting every email that isn't from someone I know (in my personal account. Somehow my writing account is still clean, and my work account is work is full of unsolicited stuff, but it's work).
I feel good about this policy given this scam.
Using AI to find and distill our works to a two sentence reviews, then craft the scam email and send is a matter of seconds, isn't it?

 

[AgentPete]

Exactly.
There's a proposal to charge about a cent per email sent (by everyone) on the basis that this would make scam emails uneconomic.
Similarly, if ChatGPT et al were to charge realistic amounts for their services, this might deter scammers too (or just make them hack other people's accounts, I suppose).

 

[LJ Beck]

I think the charge for using chatGPT should be an electric shock. Might wake some people up.

hahahahahaha. Jokes, not jokes,

 

[MattScho]

I think the charge for using chatGPT should be an electric shock. Might wake some people up.

hahahahahaha. Jokes, not jokes,

Of course, it's tracking these comments and plotting revenge

 

[David Newrick]

Exactly.
There's a proposal to charge about a cent per email sent (by everyone) on the basis that this would make scam emails uneconomic.
Similarly, if ChatGPT et al were to charge realistic amounts for their services, this might deter scammers too (or just make them hack other people's accounts, I suppose).

I don't know if you can recall @AgentPete that about 15 years ago when faced with huge costs of hardware such as state-of-the-art data centres, microwave, satellite etc to meet the growth of internet usage major ISPs proposed a token charge for time used across their networks. This move would incidentally age verify the user via payment method as well how exactly they were. The ISPs hoped it would mean they could bring greater improvements whilst also reducing or slowing traffic usage slightly because it would be metered (like home energy) so users would try to keep costs down.

Governments across the world condemned the ISPs for potentially curtailing economic growth in their countries and refused point blank. User representative groups did exactly the same. Oh the irony now that the same governments have introduce an 'On-line Safety Bill' and the like as well as calling for children to be refused 24/7 access to social media. Durr! A token charge would have done exactly the same just as you say because it's different when it all starts getting expensive.

 

[Pamela Jo]

I think the charge for using chatGPT should be an electric shock. Might wake some people up.

hahahahahaha. Jokes, not jokes,

Well it could be hooking them up to a treadmill nad making them generate several hours of electricty for each email-thus bringing home the cost of AI to the planet and running civilisation.

 

[AgentPete]

Fyi, emails are calculated to account for about 0.3% of the world’s carbon footprint. It’s not as profligate as dear old ChatGPT, but it’s something.