Fighting Scammers
What can you do?
I got a lot of response to last week’s newsletter about scammers. Many people have received similar scams, including my friend Steve Greenberg, an award-winning author, TV personality and expert on innovation and technology. He regularly guests on TV programs like The Today Show to show off new gadgets, and he has a YouTube channel and runs an online game show called “What the Heck is That.” He told me scammers are offering him “Everything— more subscribers on YouTube, more clients, improve my sites SEO, etc. All nonsense.”
Another friend, Vicki Hendricks, author of the recent Gothic noir novel Chez Usher, emailed, “Can we trust that the people who accept payment in the normal methods really do read the books and give an honest opinion? I’m not sure that’s true. They’d have to be super speed readers to make any money at it.”
In the case I was referring to, the scammer said he ran a group of avid readers looking for books in my genre, and they were “tipped” if they finished the book and wrote a review. There are legitimate companies that can get you reviews on your books.
Sadly, my warning didn’t reach some authors in time. My friend Neil Crabtree, author of Smuggler’s Return, told me, “Good research but almost too late. I got burned for $3100.” His book is in Kindle Unlimited, so perhaps you can show him some love with page reads, if you’re a KU reader.
What I’ve figured out is that if the scammer is clever enough to write an engaging email, they’re clever enough to use AI to write several slightly different reviews, and post them under different aliases.
But reviewing isn’t the only thing the scammers are offering, as Steve’s message indicates. What if they’re offering something you need but can’t do yourself—more YouTube views, for example, or creating TikTok videos. How can you tell if someone is reliable?
You can do some quick due diligence. Do they have a website where they are clear about what they’re offering, and how much? In my experience, reliable contractors do that. Does that website include testimonials? When I hired one contractor, I asked if he could refer me to satisfied clients. He gave me a name and email address, and the woman confirmed she had hired him, and that she was happy with his service. That convinced me, even though there was no website.
But in general, I’d avoid hiring anyone who contacts you directly, unless there is a real person you know involved. For example, “Dear Vicki, I’ve done some work for Neil Plakcy, and he indicated you could use some help with the kind of work I did for him.”
I’d still follow up, of course.
If you need help, there are lots of reputable places to look. Start with your personal network. Do you have author friends who have faced similar challenges?
I belong to Mystery Writers of America and Novelists, Inc. and both have email groups where I can ask for a new website designer, a new personal assistant, or someone to do specific tasks. Other groups have similar lists, and there are also groups like Marketing for Romance Authors where you can ask for information.
Often the questions I see are on behalf of someone else, so even if your friend can’t help you maybe they can ask in their networks.
To encourage readers to try the Mahu Investigations and the Have Body Will Guard series, the first books, Mahu and Three Wrong Turns in the Desert, are only 99 cents.
Grounds for Hope, the third book in the Smiling Dog Cafe series, is on pre-order at Amazon for release next Monday. Next week I’ll show you what went into putting that book together.
In love and gratitude,
Neil
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