{"id":533826,"date":"2026-03-11T18:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533826\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:19:09","slug":"self-publish-and-be-scammed-jons-tale-of-heartbreak-highlights-boom-in-fraudsters-using-ai-to-supercharge-book-swindles-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533826\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-publish and be scammed: Jon\u2019s tale of heartbreak highlights boom in fraudsters using AI to supercharge book swindles | Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight years of dedication were poured into the pages of Angel of Aleppo<\/a>, Jon Cocks\u2019 debut historical novel. Inspired by his wife\u2019s grandmother, a survivor of the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century, it was a labour of love, distilled from thousands of hours of research and oral testimony.<\/p>\n

The retired South Australian high school teacher\u2019s project carried the weight of family history and historical truth. It was precisely this emotional gravity that rendered him vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The new wave of artificial intelligence-fuelled publishing fraud that began saturating global markets last year lifts directly from the lonely hearts playbook. Rogue publishing schemes \u2013 most operating out of south Asia, the Philippines and Nigeria \u2013 have become the new romance scams, substituting the promise of true love for the dream of literary recognition.<\/p>\n

In six months Cocks has lost almost A$10,000.<\/p>\n

Jon Cocks at home in Mount Barker, South Australia. Photograph: Sia Duff\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t vacuous adulation that hooked him but the political and moral significance the solicitations attributed to his work. The pitches argued that his years of emotional investment deserved a global audience befitting a historically vital narrative; that an advanced marketing campaign would deliver his message to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here\u2019s me stupid enough to think these people were for real,\u201d he says. \u201cIt still makes me angry \u2013 I rant for a bit, then I calm down again. I\u2019m 70, I don\u2019t want to bring on an episode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocks\u2019 wife Lilet (centre) stands behind her grandmother Anoush \u2013 the woman who inspired Angel of AleppoThe new age of scams<\/p>\n

Literary deception is not a new phenomenon; it existed long before the invention of the modern printing press in the 1400s \u2013 the Catholic church had been citing forged papal letters and decrees for 600 years. Enormous financial gain has been the motive behind more contemporary deceptions. The fake 1970s \u201cauthorised autobiography\u201d of the billionaire recluse Howard Hughes<\/a> netted its creator a writer\u2019s fee of more than US$765,000 (US$5m today) and 17 months in jail.<\/p>\n

A copy of the fake Hitler diaries for sale at a German auction house. Photograph: Michael Urban\/DDP\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was a sum dwarfed a decade later by the fake Hitler diaries<\/a>, bought for 9.3m marks (more than US$11m today) and earning a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for their creator.<\/p>\n

But AI technology has triggered a pandemic of scams in the publishing world, where the roles of writer as perpetrator and publisher as patsy have been reversed.<\/p>\n

While even distinguished authors are being targeted in increasingly sophisticated schemes, self-published authors are fraudsters\u2019 primary prey. In 2023 the number of self-published books topped 2.6m, compared with 563,000 traditionally published titles.<\/p>\n

double quotation markGone are the days where scams were easily identifiable by spelling errors, strange formatting, and impersonal salutationsAustralian Society of Authors warning<\/p>\n

AI can trawl through tens of millions of titles, identifying low-selling authors and generating personalised solicitations at unprecedented speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have always been scams but they have been relatively easy to identify,\u201d says a US-based intellectual property attorney, Kathryn Goldman, who founded Baltimore\u2019s Creative Law Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with AI, it has absolutely exploded. It\u2019s easy to set up these websites. It\u2019s easy to create fake people. It\u2019s easy to create fake videos \u2026 New authors just don\u2019t have that level of sophistication to keep up with the scams that are now out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The courtship begins with praise. Via Facebook ads and unsolicited emails, guarantees are made to transform a self-published work into a bestseller. Once the author is tethered, the final demand drops: pay thousands for a \u201cmarketing package\u201d or the dream dies.<\/p>\n

Visitors at the 2025 Frankfurt book fair \u2013 the world\u2019s largest publishing industry event. Photograph: Thomas Lohnes\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The scale of these operations is massive, says Angela Hoy, the founder of the longest-running US website for freelance writers, Writers Weekly. \u201cIn the past year, we\u2019ve identified more than 2,500 scam publishers<\/a>,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The core deception involves selling authors meaningless services, such as \u201cguaranteed bestseller\u201d status, charging thousands for vanity media placements like low-viewership interviews or book fair booth displays that don\u2019t exist, and procuring positive reviews on major retailer sites \u2013 illegal in many jurisdictions, including Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Writers have paid thousands for a 15-second spot on a Times Square billboard \u2013 only to find that their book cover has been poorly Photoshopped on to a stock image.<\/p>\n

Australian writers \u2013 eager to crack the US market but ignorant of how it works \u2013 can be duped into paying thousands more for worthless \u201cbook returns insurance\u201d<\/a> and fictitious \u201cauthor\u2019s licenses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among the more ambitious claims is access to Hollywood producers and streaming giants. In a typical book-to-film scam, a single fraudster assumes three personas: literary agent, movie executive and screenwriter. The fake agent hooks the author with flattery, then introduces a fake executive who demands a professional screenplay, conning the victim into paying thousands to a fake screenwriter for a script that never materialises.<\/p>\n

The losses Writers Weekly records from each victim range from about $5,000 to $20,000. The book-to-film deals have cost some writers as much as $100,000.<\/p>\n

Last year an FBI investigation<\/a> led to the arrest of three people involved in a $44m scam that defrauded more than 800 elderly authors by promising fake film deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cFraud remains one of the most devastating violations the FBI works [on] due to the number of victims and staggering amount of loss,\u201d said an FBI special agent, Stacey Moy.<\/p>\n

Romance fraudsters of old were \u201clong-con\u201d scammers, requiring an investment of months, sometimes years, to cultivate a victim\u2019s trust. AI has created a scam book marketing industry that allows it to target vast numbers of hopeful authors simultaneously. The grooming process is now fully automated.<\/p>\n

\u2018Extortion demands\u2019<\/p>\n

The Australian Society of Authors issued its first warning to Australian writers about the emergence of AI-generated fraud in October, noting that technological advances were giving fraudsters the capacity to deliver personalised, realistic and targeted solicitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone are the days where scams were easily identifiable by spelling errors, strange formatting, and impersonal salutations,\u201d the warning said.<\/p>\n

David Tenenbaum at the book publishing company he founded, Melbourne Books. A scammer site called Melbourne Book Publisher copied his website in a bid to defraud prospective authors. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

A month later Guardian Australia reported on suspected fraudulent websites<\/a> luring first-time writers with promises of publication for an upfront fee. Within 24 hours, all four sites identified \u2013 Melbourne Book Publisher, First Page Press, Aussie Book Publisher and Oz Book Publishers \u2013 had been taken down.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has uncovered nine more suspicious sites, although the number is probably much larger. Many share common characteristics: a parent company or owner based in Pakistan and domain registration in Iceland \u2013 more specifically, the address of Kalkofnsvegur 2, Reykjavik<\/a>, a building that houses an H&M outlet and the world\u2019s only penis museum.<\/p>\n

It is also the registered address of Withheld for Privacy, a generic placeholder name used in public Whois records by domain registrars to comply with privacy regulations. It is used legitimately by individuals seeking to protect their personal information but also by bad actors trying to conceal their true identities.<\/p>\n

A US author and the founder of the website Writer Beware, Victoria Strauss, has been tracking publishing scam sites since 2018. In the past three months she has collected stories from more than 200 victims and potential victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scams do sometimes publish books, partly in order to look legit, but also to keep writers on side so they can be pressured to buy additional marketing services or targeted for more serious fraud,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Most frequent are book order scams, in which writers are told there are bulk orders but they have to pay for printing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also seen what amounts to extortion demands \u2013 a scammer has removed an author\u2019s book from sale until the author pays thousands, supposedly to meet \u2018Amazon\u2019s publishing standards\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Another writer was told that Amazon required authors to \u201chave a trademark in place\u201d to keep books on sale \u2013 a service the scammer was happy to provide for a few thousand dollars.<\/p>\n

The cost of a dreamCocks the day he received the proof copy of his book<\/p>\n

One memory still carries a sharp, sweet clarity for Cocks. The proof copy of Angel of Aleppo had just been hand-delivered to his home. His wife, Lilet, snapped a picture of the first-time author posing with his creation, a smile stretched wide across his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, this is it,\u201d he says. \u201cHere it is \u2013 my message to an Australia that still will not recognise what happened a century ago.\u201d Angel of Aleppo was more than a vanity project. It was Cocks\u2019 testament to the Armenian diaspora, a plea for recognition of the 1915-22 genocide \u2013 an event successive Australian governments have refused to formally recognise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While teaching teenagers the power of words stood Cocks in good stead to craft an absorbing tale, he admits to zero knowledge of the publishing industry. He outlaid just under A$8,000 for the services of a professional editor and a print run of 300 copies. Almost two years after publication, Angel of Aleppo had shifted about 250 copies.<\/p>\n

For the second print run Cocks decided to seek the advice of an established self-publishing company in Adelaide. He invested $4,670 in a new cover design, a new font and a print run of 100 copies.<\/p>\n

Cocks, impressed by the improvements, celebrated by sprucing up his Facebook page publicising the book.<\/p>\n

Then everything changed.<\/p>\n

Almost overnight he was feted by a flood of book market specialists. They all seemed to \u201cget him\u201d, offering encouraging praise like \u201ca work of care and vision\u201d and \u201can important statement about the Armenian genocide\u201d. The hardest part, it seemed to Cocks, was deciding which specialist to choose.<\/p>\n

So bad it’s unusable \u2026 an AI-produced book trailer sent to Jon Cocks by a scammer \u2013 video<\/p>\n

He went with a person purporting to be \u201cMary Brown\u201d who told him that Angel of Aleppo added enormous \u201chistorical and emotional weight\u201d to the story of the genocide. He agreed to pay Brown $478.65 for a book trailer and some commissioned reviews, which she promised would assist in the distribution to her \u201cwide network\u201d of book clubs across the US, the UK and Australia.<\/p>\n

When a PayPal receipt arrived, Cocks learned that he had paid the $478.65 to someone called Dayo Oguntuase. The quality of the AI-produced book trailer was so poor it proved unusable. He found no evidence of any book club picking up his novel.<\/p>\n

double quotation markIt\u2019s bitterly ironic that these language models \u2013 trained on the written work of real people and often taken without permission and authorisation \u2013 are now enabling authors and creators to be exploited all over againWalter Marsh, author<\/p>\n

Thirty glowing five-star reviews appeared on Goodreads, all written by people who had joined the site on the same day. The reviews shared a \u201ccurious rhythm\u201d, Cocks recalls, and offered similar praise \u2013 \u201cheartbreaking story, compelling characters, that sort of thing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cocks contacted Goodreads, which deleted all the reviews. When Cocks demanded a refund, \u201cMary Brown\u201d stopped responding.<\/p>\n

Angel of Aleppo\u2019s first editionThe revamped second edition<\/p>\n

Next came a person who went by the name of \u201cCharlotte Hawthorne\u201d. \u201cNot just a novel \u2026 it\u2019s a gut-punch of history, courage, and humanity rolled into one,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Hawthorne claimed to be a freelancer working for the global digital marketplace Upwork. She had access to \u201ca private community of more than 2,000 active readers and reviewers \u2026 people who actually read the book before they review it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her email asked for a \u201cclean pdf\u201d of the book (easier for AI to scrape in its entirety). She also recommended that he \u201ctip\u201d a cohort of reviewers.<\/p>\n

Cocks paid Hawthorne US$1,500 for 50 reviews on 29 August. Six days later he received an email with a full refund from the company she claimed to represent.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately we had to block the freelancer you were working with, Olatunji Moses Mark, from Upwork due to Terms of Service violations,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n

When the Guardian sought clarification from Upwork, its head of communications, Elizabeth Hutchinson, said she could not share further specifics due to \u201ccustomer privacy\u201d. \u201cUpwork requires users to be legitimate individuals who represent themselves accurately,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Cocks was prepared to put the entire mess down to a novice\u2019s bad luck. Then he was contacted by a major UK-based company specialising in academic publications, Express Publishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018I wanted this book to go viral,\u2019 Cocks says. Photograph: Sia Duff\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Except it wasn\u2019t. It was a California-based outfit called Express Book Publishers. Believing he was signing a contract with a prestigious publisher and lured by false promises of prominent placement in the US bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, Cocks paid US$6,700.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted this book to go viral \u2026 I was targeting 100,000 copies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Liaising with marketers using the names \u201cSebastian Brown\u201d and \u201cMartin Garratt\u201d, there was an initial US$1,200 payment, followed by a request for an $8,000 printing fee, which Cocks negotiated down to $5,500 in exchange for an order of 1,000 copies, which he was told Barnes & Noble required if he wanted the book to be prominently displayed on its website.<\/p>\n

The book did not sell. When Cocks started asking questions, \u201dBrown\u201d and \u201cGarratt\u201d stalled. Then, on 23 October, Cocks received an email from Express Book Publishers saying a royalty cheque was on the way. He just needed to pay $4,000 for a \u201cUS author\u2019s license\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cocks\u2019 Google search revealed that no such licence exists. It\u2019s a common ploy used by scammers to siphon off thousands more from victims not familiar with the US publishing landscape.<\/p>\n

He also messaged Barnes & Noble about the upfront printing costs and received the following reply:<\/p>\n

double quotation markBarnes & Noble and its affiliates \u2026 will never request money in return for in-store, publication, or distribution services. These contracts are a scam designed to get payments from authors, in exchange for in-store placement of their title(s). This offer is not legitimate.<\/p>\n

Cocks realised he\u2019d been had. For the third time.<\/p>\n

\u2018You magnificent fiend \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Even major players in the publishing industry are being targeted, with fraudsters impersonating staff, literary agents and service providers associated with large publishing houses.<\/p>\n

Logos from some of the scores of sites impersonating Penguin Random House<\/p>\n

Penguin Random House has issued a warning identifying more than 60 known sites impersonating it, many using variants of its logo and more than a dozen using \u201cpenguin\u201d in their website names.<\/p>\n

It stressed that Penguin Random House \u201cwould never seek a fee from an author or require outside services to consider a manuscript\u201d.<\/p>\n

Amazon has also issued a warning, saying its Kindle Direct Publishing platform is a free self-publishing service that does not offer fee-based services such as editing, formatting or marketing. If a company claiming affiliation with KDP asks for money, Amazon says, it is a scam. It is suing individuals and corporations<\/a> that falsely claim affiliation with Amazon\u2019s publishing services.<\/p>\n

About the same time Cocks was being wooed by\u201cCharlotte Hawthorne\u201d, \u201cMelissa W Speier\u201d was making overtures to the US science fiction writer Jason Sanford.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason, you magnificent fiend of speculative fiction, We Who Hunt Alexanders isn\u2019t just a story, it\u2019s a moral workout for the soul,\u201d she enthused. But Sanford had read an investigative piece on Writer Beware about the rise in publishing scams and recognised AI slop instantly.<\/p>\n

In a Substack post<\/a>, he described tracing the fictitious persona back to an X account called @mosesmark08 and a Moses Mark website<\/a> created by Vzy, an AI-assisted web builder. When it was time to make his first payment, the banking details weren\u2019t for an account under Speier\u2019s name. They were for Olatunji Moses Mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a science fiction author, I\u2019ve always loved hearing from fans of my fiction,\u201d he tells the Guardian. \u201cBut now when someone emails saying they loved one of my stories, my first thought is that this is yet another scammer setting me up for the kill.\u201d<\/p>\n

To author and Guardian contributor Walter Marsh, the irony of being inundated by scammers since the publication of his second book, The Butterfly Thief<\/a>, is not lost. It is a work of nonfiction about fraud. His 2023 book Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire<\/a>, has also attracted renewed and unwanted attention, flooding his inbox with gushing pitches.<\/p>\n

It started with \u201cLisa\u201d, the \u201cOrganiser of The 1000 Books Book Club\u201d, who used a Guardian logo to lend legitimacy to her missive. Over the next two weeks, the pitches poured in from \u201cOlivia\u201d representing \u201ca private community of over 4,200 passionate readers\u201d, \u201cAmelia\u201d, with access to \u201ca global audience passionate about \u2026 the fusion of investigative journalism and storytelling\u201d, and a \u201cNykkyb\u201d \u201cwith 4,600+ devoted readers\u201d. And dozens more.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuthors write to be read but for most the path to publication is paved with rejection,\u201d Marsh says. \u201cThese schemes exploit that, preying on aspiring authors\u2019 emotional investment in their work and the very human desire to share stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bitterly ironic that these language models \u2013 trained on the written work of real people and often taken without permission and authorisation \u2013 are now enabling authors and creators to be exploited all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enablers<\/p>\n

These schemes could not operate at the scale they do without tech platforms, search engines and social media sites tolerating or even enabling them, according to victims and advocates.<\/p>\n

The US-based writer James Walsh, who has lost thousands to marketing schemes, says that under Meta\u2019s business model Facebook and predatory publishers \u201chappily feed off one another with impunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Reuters investigation<\/a> found in November that Meta was expecting to earn as much as 10% of its annual revenue \u2013 a figure potentially equating to US$16bn \u2013 from advertising tied to scams, banned goods and other illicit schemes.<\/p>\n

Critics argue that Meta\u2019s approach is structured to benefit from this revenue stream rather than eliminate it by requiring a \u201c95% certainty\u201d of fraud before banning an advertiser. If a scammer falls just short of that mark, ads aren\u2019t removed; instead Meta applies a \u201cpenalty bid\u201d, charging the advertiser a higher rate.<\/p>\n

A fake Barnes & Noble invoice \u2018Martin\u2019 sent Cocks<\/p>\n

The Reuters expos\u00e9, alongside lobbying by Walsh and others, has produced results. On 4 February a bipartisan bill was introduced<\/a> to the US Senate that, if passed, will require social media platforms to take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to combat fraudulent advertising or face legal action by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.<\/p>\n

A Meta spokesperson, Andy Stone, has called critics\u2019 claims \u201cexaggerated and wrong\u201d and says his company will \u201caggressively fight fraud and scams\u201d, citing a 58% reduction in user reports of scams over 18 months.<\/p>\n

For now, Jon Cocks remains tethered to his tormentors.<\/p>\n

The phantom marketers \u201cSebastian Brown\u201d and \u201cMartin Garratt\u201d still hover in the shadows, resurfacing to pester him for more money. During one of his final interviews with the Guardian, a call from \u201cMartin\u201d flashes across his mobile screen.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day \u201cMartin\u201d sent a forged Barnes & Noble royalty dispatch notice: Cocks had sold 258 copies of Angel of Aleppo, it said, and $4,399 could be all his \u2013 if only he would complete a form providing his paid-up $4,000 \u201cauthor\u2019s license\u201d number. Failure to do so would result in his royalties going to charity.<\/p>\n

As Cocks opens his email account each morning, it\u2019s like opening a digital clown car. Pitches keep spilling out.<\/p>\n

A \u201cbook placement specialist\u201d named \u201cMicheal Rollins\u201d has offered him a virtual multi-book club event, newsletter promotions to thousands of readers, an upgraded Kindle thumbnail, a full-scale social media campaign, a podcast pitch and a custom promotional video.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately \u201cMicheal\u201d forgot to delete an internal instruction from the pasted email message:<\/p>\n

double quotation markHere\u2019s a professional, warm, and convincing response you can send to Jon. I\u2019ve incorporated all your points, addressed his questions carefully, and made it sound human, credible, and reassuring.<\/p>\n

While Cocks wants regulators to act, he appears resigned to the fact that, in the brave new world of artificial intelligence, the internet is beyond regulation. Still, he is collecting evidence against the AI-fuelled scams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m resolute in my own head,\u201d he says. \u201cI haven\u2019t given up, I\u2019m not going away. Those bastards are going to be just a footnote in history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight years of dedication were poured into the pages of Angel of Aleppo, Jon Cocks\u2019 debut historical novel.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-533826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}