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What are these scammers hoping to gain?

Posted on 31st May, 2026

There have been a plethora of scams being sent out to writers and  others in recent weeks. I’ve been getting several every day purportedly from a ‘reader’ group looking to feature me on their ‘forum’. These are easy to spot – gushing AI generated rubbish about my latest book, often a book not even out yet, and they just get deleted. Easy to spot. I can see what these scammers are hoping for. They want me to pay them a ‘small fee’ to pay for my feature.

However, I was fooled by one from a ‘publisher’. I’ve been contacted twice by email by genuine publishers first HoZ, who I wrote for a few years ago,  and then Boldwood. Therefore this one seemed genuine. I’d just indie published the first of my new Regency series, this was what the editor was interested in. The editor profile was genuine, the photograph of the person it was supposed to have come from also correct, and the content of the email was very similar to the ones I’d had previously. What completely fooled me was that his scammer said that if I had an agent then they could contact her and they’d take if from there.

I’ve now spoken to several writers who had the identical email. What possible gain could these scammers hope to get from this approach? No money involved, no files sent. I was lucky and Boldwood have reconsidered and agreed to publish these four books. I actually replied to the scam to thank her for her interest. I genuinely believed this was a real senior editor. Feel a nitwit for being taken in. I know now to check the email – didn’t do that.

What I’d like to know is why these people are doing this? What possible gain can they get apart from causing embarrassment and disappointment? If any of you know I’ve love to hear from you.

Fenella J Miller