Not every scammer does all of the things below but many do one or more of them!

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Attorney James M. Walsh and I have spent the past several weeks researching ads on Facebook, websites, WhoIs info., and much more. I have to tell you that the funnest part about this research is engaging these scammers in conversations to see how truly LOW they will go. We will be sharing much of that in later parts of this series.

Today, we want to give you all a simple list to follow that will show you specific red flags that scream, “You’re about to get scammed!”

1. First and foremost, this is the easiest way to spot a scammer. Ask them for their address and phone number. Google those. The phone number might pop up under the publisher’s name…but it might not. When you Google the address, look at Google Street View. Almost all of these firms are using fake addresses to make it appear they are located in the U.S. After all, why would an author sign up to have their English-language book edited in Pakistan or India? If the scammer can convince you they are located in the U.S., that makes you trust them more, and makes you feel you have some sort of legal recourse if they scam you.

Just last week, one of these scammers who was chatting with me on Facebook gave me the address for a Health and Human Services building. Several scammers have given me addresses for houses in neighborhoods. Another one gave me the address for a housing project. If you call them out on it, they’ll claim that Google is wrong or that they really ARE located in that building (if it is, in fact, a building). I asked one of the scammers for a picture of their office door with their sign on it. He said he would send it, but never did. The fact is, he’s a guy sitting in Asia or the Middle East in a call center. And, it’s also possible that the “person” you’re chatting with isn’t a person at all. Some of these scammers are using Artificial Intelligence. Yep, you’re texting back and forth with a robot.

2. Their website is basically new yet they claim to have published thousands of authors. One new scammer website claims to have published 100,000 authors. If you look up the domain in ICann, you can see the date the website was created. If you’re lucky, and if the person who purchased the domain wasn’t careful, you might see what country the company and/or its website hosting company is located in. Many use privacy features to hide that but not all of them do.

3. Only $199, $299, or $399 (Or worse:  199$ or 299€!) for editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, etc., etc.!
Anybody who thinks these prices are real needs to have their head examined. There are MULTIPLE ads on Facebook right now that are offering these too-good-to-be-true prices and authors are falling for them left and right!

The fact is you’re NOT getting those services for those prices! They just want your credit card number, social security number, and bank account info. Before you ever get a book in your hand (and you probably never will anyway), they will extort you for thousands more, always dangling that first printed copy of your book (that doesn’t exist) in front of you as bait.

4. Trademark Infringement. There are several scammers posting ads with business names that have the words Harper Collins, or Amazon (and/or KDP) in them, or the names of other legitimate publishers. Penguin Random House is a traditional publisher, and does not charge authors. However, there is a scam company using the name Penguin or Penguins and they’re using the penguin logo. Scammers are stealing the trademarked names, and often logos, of other legitimate publishers as well. An egregious example:  Harper Kollins.

5. The major typo appearing in most of these ads:

Get published for in just $199.
Get published for in just $299.
Get published for in just $399.

Other variations:

Get published for in just 199$.
Get published for in just 299€.

Sure, some of these scammers do charge higher amounts (knowing smart people won’t fall for those low price offers) but the “in just” typo is ALL OVER their ads on Facebook. Attorney James M. Walsh tried to get Facebook to take down an ad from a scammer. Facebook refused. Remember, Facebook is making money selling those ads! Just because there’s an ad on Facebook does NOT mean the company is legitimate.

6. There are syntax errors in their ads and on their websites. “Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.” (Thank you, Oxford Languages.)

Here are some examples:

#1 Book Publishing Services Company In USA (should be in the USA)

Turn Your Book Into Bestseller for $399! (should be A Bestseller)

Publishing on 2 platform (should be platforms)

Services includes (should be include)

These types of errors are a sure sign that the scammer is NOT in the U.S., and is NOT a native English speaker. And, when these firms do edit books, the editors are usually not native English speakers and they add more errors to a book than they fix.

7. They feature covers for books they didn’t publish, or completely fake book covers.

It’s easy to find these. Go to the scammer’s website, and look at the book covers. You might be surprised to find some of your favorite bestselling authors’ books there! One scammer told me they did publish an audiobook by Nicholas Sparks and even went so far as to tell me they met him over Zoom. When I pointed out that his audiobook was published by Random House audio, the scammer told me they work with Random House. It was one lie after another!

Scammers posting those fancy covers did NOT publish those books! Even if you don’t recognize the book, look it up on Amazon. In most cases, you won’t find it at all. If you do find one, you’ll see that the book was published by a traditional publisher, not by the scammer.

Also, click on any book on Amazon.com, and then click on the link at the top of Amazon’s website that says, “advanced search.” Type in the name of the scam publisher. Chances are you will find no books published by that company for sale on Amazon.

8. Clear errors in their ads and on their website. This is one from a graphic ad on Facebook:

Barnes &Amp; Noble

9. They spell the names of well-known retailers incorrectly.

Example: Barnes and Nobles

10. Missing and incorrect punctuation. For some reason, many of these scammers don’t know how to use periods! One ad had open quotation marks and the ad text went on and on. There were no closing quotation marks.

11. They offer “reviews” on Amazon. That means those will be fake reviews posted by the so-called publisher, which can get you permanently banned from Amazon.

12. They don’t tell you how much it’s all going to cost in the end. “Starting at $125” is a sure sign you’re going to be hounded (extorted!) for more and more money after your initial payment.

13. They won’t answer your questions under their ad on Facebook. Rather, they type: check your inbox. Salespeople always know they have a better chance of making a sale if they can engage you privately, one on one.

14. They respond instantly to you, no matter what time of day or night it is. These people are working in a call center or they’re working from their homes (a network of folks) and they have multiple employees instantly ready to jump on any and all questions posted. And, they will try to rush you to sign up. They will require a phone number, email address, etc., and will send you right to an order form.

15. They ARE negotiable??? If you balk, they will offer you a lower price on the spot just so they can get all of your info., and get money from you right away, before you’re able to do research to see if they are legitimate.

16. “How much are you willing to pay?” Some will actually ask you how much you can afford, or are willing to pay, before they quote you a price. Remember, it’s all about fast-tracking you to their order form so they can get all of your personal information, including your credit card number.

17. The scammers’ ads on Facebook (and many of their actual websites) all look essentially the same. They use the same style, but different company names.

18. They aren’t just scamming authors! Once you start clicking on those ads, and posting comments underneath them (or chatting with a representative), Facebook will start feeding you more and more ads. That’s how we discovered that these firms are running separate ads for just cover design, website design (not just for authors!), marketing services (also not just for authors!), and much more. Their Sole objective:  TO STEAL YOUR BANKING AND OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION.

19. You get a phone call from “Barnes and Noble” (or some other retailer) telling you they want to stock your book on their shelves. That is also an overseas scammer who is then going to say that you need to pay THEM to republish your book in order for that big transaction to happen. Also, they’ll later make YOU pay for those copies (not Barnes and Noble) and Barnes and Noble will never receive those copies because it was all an elaborate scam.

What’s the easiest way to avoid these types of scams? While there are some crooked “publishers” located in the U.S., at least if you have a beef with them, you can take them to court in the U.S. Only work with real publishers who have been in business for years, and who are LOCATED IN THE U.S.!

AND, NEVER, EVER WORK WITH A COMPANY THAT SPAMS YOUR OR COLD-CALLS YOU!!!

Next week, we’ll be sharing some of the conversations we’ve had with some of these scammers so you can see that they have no conscience. If you tell them that you have sick kids, or a sick spouse, and very little money, they don’t care! They still want to rip you off!

Read Part I: EXTREME AUTHOR ALERT – PART I: This International Scam is Fooling THOUSANDS of Authors Across the Globe!

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