We’ve been writing about the rise of AI-powered scams directed at writers for several months (here and here).
And now this issue has made it to The New York Times.
Author Dan Berry writes:
It turns out that the fawning emails I’ve been receiving are mere specks in a virtual mudslide of fraud descending upon the publishing world. Scam artists overseas, using artificial intelligence, are impersonating publishing figures on illegitimate websites and in flattering emails, to hoodwink both fledgling and established authors into paying fees for services never to be rendered.
The literary chorus sounding the alarm includes the novelists George Saunders, Rebecca Makkai and Colson Whitehead; the Authors Guild and Bomb magazine; numerous book agents and publishing houses; and, quite recently, the National Book Foundation.
Read more here.
And be careful out there!
John is co-author, with Midge Raymond, of the mystery Devils Island. He is also author of the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead. Co-founder of Ashland Creek Press and editor of Writing for Animals (also now a writing program). More at JohnYunker.com.