BOOK REVIEW EXTORTION SCAMS: How They Work and How to NOT Become a Victim!

An author named Susan contacted us recently, asking if an email she received was from a scammer. It was far worse. She was at risk of becoming a victim of extortion. We’ve seen almost this exact same email from many other authors who have contacted us as well.

Here is the email:

Hello,

I tried leaving a review for your book on Amazon, but something strange happened on my end. The review didn’t go through, and I’m not sure why.

Before I try again, I wanted to ask if you have a Goodreads link or another place where I could leave the review instead. I’d still love to share my feedback and support your book.

Could you send me the link if you have one?

What they are looking for are authors who have active email addresses, and whose books are on Goodreads.

Notice he didn’t address the author by name, nor mention the book title. The extortionists generalize the emails so they can send them to thousands of authors en masse.

If you do reply to an email like that, you’re life will become a living hell. You’ll instantly get added to their list of active authors who are being extorted.

If you respond, what happens next?

1. They actually post a good review on Goodreads.

2. Then, they demand that you pay them for the review. If you don’t, they will threaten to post 1-star reviews about your book on Goodreads, Amazon, and elsewhere. They will require payment via bank transfer, through an online payment platform, and even through bitcoin.

3. And if you don’t pay them, they will follow through on that threat, while continuing to email you demanding money, and saying they will remove the 1-star reviews if you pay up. They won’t remove the 1-star reviews no matter how much money you send to them! Some authors have been successful at getting Goodreads to remove those fake 1-star reviews.

This is why is IMPERATIVE that authors do NOT respond to emails from strangers. They’re all from foreign scammers.

If you don’t respond to them, they will simply assume your email address isn’t working, and they’ll move on to the next victim.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: SPAMMERS ARE SCAMMERS!

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