An aspiring Australian writer met an apparent scammer face-to-face before realising she may have become a victim of a suspicious international publishing venture.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s National Anti-Scam Centre is now investigating the case of a website luring people seeking a foothold in the increasingly crowded space of vanity and self-publishing. The Guardian has uncovered similar suspicious websites operating in the UK and New Zealand<\/a>, as well as two others operating within Australia.<\/p>\n This apparent network of publishers \u2013 using cloned websites, AI-generated staff and virtual offices across Australia, the UK and New Zealand \u2013 includes websites trading by the names of Melbourne Book Publisher<\/a>, First Page Press (UK)<\/a>, Aussie Book Publisher<\/a>, Oz Book Publishers<\/a> and BookPublishers.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n The entity operating as Melbourne Book Publisher is confusing aspiring authors who think they are dealing with the well-established publisher Melbourne Books \u2013 which is not a vanity publisher \u2013 going so far as to use a near-identical name and its Australian Business Number (ABN).<\/p>\n The website for \u2018Melbourne Book Publisher\u2019, which is confusing aspiring authors who think they are dealing with the well-established publisher Melbourne Books<\/p>\n The company appears to be linked to a similar operation based in London, First Page Press, with both pulling down parts of their websites after the Guardian contacted them with questions about the use of AI-generated content, including staff profiles and testimonials.<\/p>\n First Page Press, which lists addresses in London and Melbourne, also lists books on its site that were actually published by a US-based self-publishing company, Atmosphere Press. Its CEO, Nick Courtright, told the Guardian he considered this \u201cbrazen theft\u201d and has since issued a cease and desist notice to First Page Press and reported the matter to Scamwatch.<\/p>\n The \u2018First Page Press\u2019 website<\/p>\n Andrea*, a first-time author from Western Australia recovering from cancer, poured her energy into a fantasy romance novel and was thrilled to receive a prompt response to her Facebook query on Melbourne Book Publisher\u2019s page. An executive of the company going by the name of Marcus Hale was keen to discuss her 86,000-word manuscript and scheduled a video conference to discuss the publishing and promotion plans for her book.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw him. He saw me,\u201d Andrea says. \u201cHe answered every detailed question about contracts and publishing percentages, we discussed plans for a book signing in Melbourne, we talked about me getting a presence on TikTok, and a launch at my local bookshop. I believed it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrea only outlaid $88 for what she was told would buy her an ABN, when the deal began to unravel. She called the Melbourne Books office, who she mistakenly thought she had been dealing with, to ask for further advice before signing her contract. \u201cThere\u2019s no Marcus working here,\u201d she was told.<\/p>\n She came to the \u201cgut-churning\u201d assumption that she had met her scammer face-to-face. A second aspiring author from WA, Peter Ortmueller, confirmed he was dealing with someone using the name Marcus Hale and also a Hannah Preston, another name Andrea says she had come across in her communications with Melbourne Book Publisher. He too found the page through Facebook, believing it was a traditional publisher, but realised early on that he was dealing with an imposter company, losing only $150, which he believed was his first downpayment on a publication package.<\/p>\n A screenshot of since-removed AI images under the \u2018meet our team\u2019 banner on the Melbourne Book Publisher site\u2018Meet the team\u2019: AI-generated staff with virtual offices<\/p>\n The true scale of the venture remains impossible to gauge, says the owner of Melbourne Books, David Tenenbaum, as the only known victims are those who became suspicious early and did their due diligence.<\/p>\n First-time authors are being targeted because excitement over the prospect of seeing their work in print often overrides caution, making them vulnerable to promises of immediate publication and industry success.<\/p>\n Self-publishing involves the author taking on the full role of a boutique publisher, investing their own capital to commission creative services and retaining all artistic control and financial returns. Vanity publishing is a model where a company solicits significant financial contributions from the author for assistance with publication, often providing substandard creative support and prioritising the collection of the author\u2019s initial contribution over generating widespread book sales.<\/p>\n \u201cMalicious actors are getting far more sophisticated through the use of AI tools, which allow scammers to rewrite or paraphrase text and alter imagery to make subtle changes that maintain the appearance of authenticity while avoiding detection,\u201d Dr Ashish Nanda, from Deakin University\u2019s Cyber Research and Innovation Centre, says.<\/p>\n While unwilling to say with certainty whether Melbourne Book Publisher was a scam, varying logos, claims on its website that it was established in 1999 yet a domain search showed it was only registered last month, and a fake 4.7 star rating on Trustpilot (the company has no reviews) are suspicious, Nanda says.<\/p>\n By the time Andrea had contacted Melbourne Books, Tenenbaum had already posted a public warning on his company\u2019s website. His office had been receiving calls for Marcus Hale and Hannah Preston for more than a week.<\/p>\n David Tenenbaum, the founder of the well-established publishing company Melbourne Books, at his office in Collins Street, Melbourne. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n When Andrea contacted her bank to retrieve the $88, she was sent threatening messages, including a demand to cancel the dispute or face legal action. \u201cA legal case for $88 would not be a nice thing,\u201d Melbourne Book Publisher warned her in a Facebook message. When she asked for their ABN to confirm they were a legitimate publisher, they sent her Melbourne Books\u2019 number.<\/p>\n Tenenbaum personally called the number listed on Melbourne Book Publisher\u2019s Facebook page, pretending to be a first-time author. He was emailed publishing options ranging from a $1,495 \u201cAdvance Worldwide Plan\u201d to a $1,799 \u201cPremium Worldwide Plan\u201d. He noted that one person who alerted him to the page was asked to pay almost $5,000.<\/p>\n When he challenged the company\u2019s authenticity, he was sent links to three books for sale on Amazon that Melbourne Book Publisher claimed it had published. Amazon told the Guardian it has \u201cfound no records to suggest the books in question were linked to Melbourne Book Publisher\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to protecting rights owners and our customers from bad actors attempting to abuse our services,\u201d Amazon said in a statement.<\/p>\n The increasing use of AI is enabling publishing scams to fabricate entire teams of fake executives and use the identities of real authors to create a highly deceptive corporate facade.<\/p>\n The \u201cmeet our team\u201d page on the Melbourne Book Publisher site used AI-created images of immaculately groomed white executives with a rotating cast of names including Jonathan Hale, Marcus Ellison and Lydia Preston. When the Guardian first checked Melbourne Book Publisher\u2019s team page on Monday, Marcus Hale and Hannah Preston were not listed. First Page Press uses a similar \u201cteam\u201d, initially with the same AI-generated images. None of the people named are known in Australian publishing circles.<\/p>\n The images were swiftly pulled down on both websites after the Guardian contacted Melbourne Book Publisher asking why they were using AI-created images for their executive team. When the Guardian contacted First Page Press in London asking why they had suddenly pulled down the images, someone identifying themselves as Kendrick Wilson, a \u201csenior consultant\u201d not listed on First Page\u2019s website, said they were not using any kind of AI-generated means to portray staff.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cBut apart from that, these days \u2026 every other website is taking advantage of AI, so I don\u2019t think that using AI or artificial intelligence to enhance the website that you have, or enhance the brand presence that you have, is any kind of an illegal thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Guardian asked if he could put any of the staff named on the website on to the phone, he hung up.<\/p>\n Websites using real authors to lure people<\/p>\n The operations known as Aussie Book Publisher and Oz Book Publishers have created fake testimonials, using the images and names of real authors.<\/p>\n US children\u2019s author Blair N Williamson who was renamed \u2018Kristine\u2019 on the Aussie Books website<\/p>\n US environmental activist and children\u2019s author Blair N Williamson was renamed \u201cKristine\u201d on the Aussie Books website, and quoted giving a testimonial about a \u201cleadership book\u201d next to a photo of her holding a copy of her children\u2019s picture book, Birthday Bash \u2013 with her real name still visible on the cover.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an author, you work so hard to build trust with your readers,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cSo to see my name used and my photo in a deceptive way felt pretty unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n Australian children\u2019s author Katrina Germein becomes \u201cSarah\u201d on Aussie Books\u2019 testimonial page.<\/p>\n