Magabala, the Book Show warn of fraudulent emails
Radio National and publisher Magabala Books have each warned creators about fraudulent emails being sent to authors.
Magabala said an email from someone claiming to be a Magabala editor had been circulating to creators with online followings. “We are working with our IT provider to investigate this scam,” said the publisher. “We do so in a context of historical and ongoing colonial theft of First Nations cultural and intellectual property.”
At Radio National, both the Bookshelf and the Book Show programs have been made aware of fraudulent emails offering coverage on the programs and requesting an appearance fee from writers that respond.
“Please note that neither program will ever request payment, fees or money of any kind,” said the ABC in a message to publicists and authors, highlighting that “all legitimate correspondence from ABC programs is sent from official ABC email addresses”.
The variety of fraudulent emails targeting authors has increased in recent years, with the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) recently warning of “a marked increase in email scams, enabled by AI technology”.
The ASA said, “Where solicitous emails were previously impersonating publishing houses, book marketers and film production companies, now they are also impersonating book clubs, podcasts, literary magazines, book strategists and platforms that promise to promote your work to any number of reading groups.
“There has also been a rise in emails purporting to be from famous authors hoping to connect with the recipient about their work.”
While some Australian publishers have reported that they have been impersonated in fraudulent emails, many such emails have previously purported to be from non-Australian organisations.
“As a blanket rule, proceed with caution if anyone is requesting payment from you in return for visibility, promotion or sales,” said the ASA.
However, a spokesperson for the ABC told Books+Publishing that specialists in the organisation’s cybersecurity teams suggest the solicitous emails “might not even be about scam fees but about malicious software”.
Sharing advice to authors, the ASA concluded, “The best practice is to avoid engaging with these messages altogether – ignore them rather than responding.”
Category: Local news
