SCAM MUCH?? by Donna M. Cramer

Here are the first lines of some emails I have recently received: “Your book is wonderful,” “Your book is not getting the attention it deserves,” “You are a great writer.” I like to believe that these statements are true, but as the flattery continues on for several paragraphs, it begins to seem… well, over the top. Also, several times a week, famous authors claim to have read my book and want to connect with me. Stephen King, Donna Tartt, Delia Owens, and others want me to email them to discuss my writing process. Unbelievably, I receive emails like this almost daily. I am pretty sure that Stephen King and the others are not sitting around thinking about me. However, it seems quite a few scammers are thinking about me.

Some of these scams are very easy to identify. This was a good one: “Please contact me so I can learn more about the beautiful Maine coastline you describe in your novel.” Uh, hello, my book is titled Vegas Goodbye, and wait for it … it takes place in Las Vegas, not in Maine.

My last scam, received just this week, was a phone call instead of an email. This company had read my novel and was impressed with the topic and the writing. They wanted to interview me and produce a video to be sent to Hollywood agents. I could have a movie deal in mere weeks. This sounded too good to be true, but I actually researched this one. Apparently, there are scammers impersonating this company, taking your money and providing nothing. However, it seemed that I was being contacted by the actual company, which professionally interviews you, provides you with a video snippet to send out or use on your own website, and more. This company does have a YouTube channel. A good website for writers to know about is Writer Beware. It lists scams. It appears that this video offer is not necessarily a scam; however, it is sketchy. There are not many subscribers to their YouTube channel, so you won’t get much visibility. I had requested a callback after I did some research, and when they called back, as the salesperson babbled on, I kept repeating, “Price, please.” She finally said $1,500 to start, with higher tiers—i.e., higher price—getting you even more visibility. No thanks, have a nice day!

I haven’t even mentioned festival scams yet. I get a lot of visibility for my books at local festivals, such as the Seaside Festival and the Clam Festival. I found an advertisement for a pop-up holiday festival at a local hotel. I have participated in these before, and it is a decent way to make some sales. I noticed I was right at the application deadline, but decided to try anyway. I sent a request at 11 p.m., feeling certain the sales representative would see it when they came in to work the next morning. I was surprised to get an affirmative reply only minutes after submitting. This seemed strange, but again the flattery was there: “love to have you,” “great product,” etc. I eagerly began filling out the application, but decided not to submit until the morning to avoid any mistakes. When I hesitated and did not submit payment online, I began to get pressure messages: “eagerly awaiting your reply,” “submit right away so you don’t lose your spot.” It didn’t feel right. In the morning, I called the hotel. They said that all vendor slots had been filled two weeks ago. When I said that a Mr. Johnson had told me to submit my application the night before, they stated that no one by that name worked in their marketing department. I informed them that I had been on their website. They pulled up the website while I was on the phone and said, “Oh, no, we will contact our security immediately.” Someone had linked to their website and was giving out fraudulent information. I’m not sure how this would be done, but then again, I’m not a scammer.

Scamming, apparently, is lucrative. My husband is selling parts from the computer business he recently retired from, and he is contacted by scammers almost daily. Recently, he sent out a computer part to a buyer, and the part was returned with a complaint filed against him for sending out a defective part. He had apparently sent a used part when his part had been advertised as new. It was new! He received the part back, inspected it, and realized the scammer had kept his new part and sent back their own defective part, claiming it was the one my husband sent. This was hard to prove, so my husband gave up and took the loss. The scammer got a new, free computer part.

All this being said, I refuse to give in to cynicism regarding this new career choice of scammer. I could say that I believe in karma—and maybe I do—but I know that I believe in honesty, truth, and kindness, and, if you read my books, in hope. So I will tenaciously continue to believe, to write, and to never give up. Maybe I will be discovered by Hollywood one day, or maybe not, but I will keep my integrity intact. So keep trying, keep believing, keep writing, and push past the scams. We are better than that!