Intercepting the scammers

Shortly after the publication of Betrayal of the Soul in June, I was bombarded with a series of emails, supposedly from people claiming to be literary agents, and even one from a person masquerading as a representative of Magic Radio. Fortunately, I wasn’t caught out, but with thousands of scammers operating on social media, I realised it would be so easy for many unsuspecting independent authors to get sucked in. Piers Blofeld, a ‘proper’ literary agent who writes a monthly column for Writing Magazine, highlights the problem in their August issue.

My response appears in the September edition of the magazine...

INBOX SCAMMERS

“I’m pleased that Piers Blofeld has highlighted the problem of AI-generated critiques from scammers in his article, 'A Tool for Scammers,' (WM, August 2026). Indeed, I have also received emails with flattering comments about my latest novel, Betrayal of the Soul. To date, I have received three emails with very similar content. It appears the person(s) behind the scams have used the book’s synopsis to craft their spiel with AI. Any genuine critique writer would pick up on plots and characters from within the book, not only to give their own opinion but also for validation.

My initial suspicion was confirmed by several early warning signs. All the emails I have received have come from a Gmail.com address. Surely, any bona fide communique would come from an official company address? The use of long dashes, instead of commas or colons, in the text also suggests that the narrative has been processed by AI. Then, of course, there is the follow-up email, which, if you answer, you will notice the ‘catch’.

As Piers suggests, these people are only after my hard-earned cash, and as an independently published author, I don’t have too much of that. We have been warned!"

Mal Foster