Readers Groups Scams > Likes and Comments

Just got conned out of $200 by two people claiming to be part of a large goodreads readers group with the promise to get my new book noticed, and possibly reviewed by thousands of readers. I few like a complete idiot. I should have spent more time on goodreads before being so gullible.

Michael wrote: "Just got conned out of $200 by two people claiming to be part of a large goodreads readers group with the promise to get my new book noticed, and possibly reviewed by thousands of readers. I few li..."

Every author, sooner or later, falls into these kinds of traps. We write because we want someone to read us, and we want someone to love what we have written. You shouldn’t worry too much. These people have no passions of their own, so they exploit the passions of others. Thank you for warning the rest of us as well. Unfortunately, it probably won’t save us from our own moments of weakness. Still, no great harm done. After all, tomorrow is another day.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/genre-g...

Please report this to Goodreads and if this was conducted via Paypal, there's a chance you can get your money back.

Don't feel bad, Michael. I once got scammed by a fake agent who wasted a year of my time. She had me send my book to publishers who had no idea who I was or why I was submitting my work. Also, I lost $300. Eventually, she and her crooked husband got arrested and charged with theft by deception. The cops found over 400 unpublished scripts in her office from countries all over the world. Most weren't even opened. That's when I gave up on agents and self published my 3 books on Amazon. I wasn't even so much mad about the money as I was that she wasted my time when I could have been looking for a real agent.

I've also been getting the same emails you got. It's monotonous now. I know they're fake when they address me as "Hello Reggie13chip" instead of my name. I just block or send them to spam and trash.

Last year I kept hearing from some guy in the UK saying that some radio host wanted to interview me about one of my books, but I would have to pay him $999! Yeah right! I don't think so!!!!! I told him to take a hike!

Anyway, good luck with your book and don't feel bad. Publishing is a live and learn business and we all get scammed at some point.

I also highly recommend following the Writer Beware site as they keep folks informed and up to date on the latest con jobs that are targeting authors:

https://writerbeware.blog/

Liz wrote: "I also highly recommend following the Writer Beware site as they keep folks informed and up to date on the latest con jobs that are targeting authors:

https://writerbeware.blog/" Thank you, that was very helpful.

Michael wrote: "Just got conned out of $200 by two people claiming to be part of a large goodreads readers group with the promise to get my new book noticed, and possibly reviewed by thousands of readers. I few li..."

Foucault's Pendulum was the first book by Umberto Eco that I read, before The Name of the Rose. It is a concentrated blend of medieval history and a gripping thriller. With ruthless irony, it also portrays the world of publishing in Italy — and, I believe, throughout the world. I think anyone who has written a book should read it. For me, it serves as a reminder not to take myself too seriously, and not to take publishers’ promises — or those of self-proclaimed publishers — too seriously. You should read it.

I get 3-5 scam solicitations every day. Reader groups, metadata optimization, video trailers, radio interviews, and so on. All fake. If they ask for money upfront, walk away. If they don’t use your name or your book title it’s fake. If their email is personal and not from the organization they say they represent it’s fake. One clue is extensive use of AI that writes a long email filled with excerpts from your bio and book info from Amazon. Sorry you were duped. Some of these people are very sophisticated

Michael wrote: "Just got conned out of $200 by two people claiming to be part of a large goodreads readers group with the promise to get my new book noticed, and possibly reviewed by thousands of readers. I few li..."

Sorry that happened to you Michael. There's been a lot of scams going on lately and unfortunately Goodreads is no exception. In fact, I received an e-mail on my website from a person claiming to be from a group asking me to join to enter my book in a contest. I actually ended up joining the group and asking the mods if any such request was made and they said no, it was scammers. Jokes on them because now I'm a member of the great group with over 20,000 readers.

Now that you've been scammed, you'll be on higher alert, and you know now to do thorough research and a simple Google search to see if whoever is trying to sell you something is legit. Best of luck to you and I hope that didn't turn you off to this site

Justin wrote:  "... you'll be on higher alert ..."

Helps, but not enough.
They play the percentages.
You don't defeat them with awareness.
It requires attacking them on multiple fronts.
And that presupposes coordination and will.
We fall short in both categories.
So get used to it.
The vermin are here to stay.

Me too Arthur. I get countless emails promising to increase my books profile, etc. I wonder if some of these scammers are actually members of Goodreads.

Michael wrote:  "... I wonder if some of these scammers are actually members of Goodreads."

Of course they're members.

There's one named Reader
with about 100 accounts.

There is no gate keeper,
so why wouldn't they come inside . . .

Michael wrote:  "... I wonder if some of these scammers are actually members of Goodreads."

Update:

Besides the 100 Nigerian accounts named Reader,
there are also 100 Thai accounts named Gift.

Of course that's only 2 data points.
Thing is, I didn't go looking for them.
I just stumbled across them.

Anyone who's worked in tech should know
that if something looks odd, you look into it.
It's probably nothing and you're wasting your time,
except that when it does turn out to be a problem,
repair/recovery will cost a lot more than "looking into it" would.

So if it looks odd, I habitually look a little further.  It's easy.
And all too often, it looks odd because it is odd.

Mods try our best but I suspect the support team is overworked and underfunded. On top of that, because these things tend to come in waves, I get the feeling that support thinks we're being paranoid (I.E. One day I had to report about 6 accounts within an hour. It was all clearly the same person or couple of people trying out alt accounts in an attempt to scam readers in one of the groups) It helps us when regular users point these things out too because I think support gets a sense that hey, there is an actual problem here.

That's just my feel of the situation, though. Could be wrong.

Michael wrote: "Me too Arthur. I get countless emails promising to increase my books profile, etc. I wonder if some of these scammers are actually members of Goodreads."

This is a problem across social media right now, sadly. It isn't Goodreads specific but they could surely do more.

I'm not sure that AI is the answer to this because I've seen AI flag some ridiculous things on other sites that clearly shouldn't have been flagged.

I would appreciate if they just listened to mods more though as we are out here doing this for free because we want to help out the community.

Liz wrote:  "I would appreciate if they just listened to mods more ..."

Agreed.

If we set up a scam-busters group,
would they just ignore it?

Start with a few obvious folders:

    Phony authors.
    Phony ratings.
    Phony reviews.
    Phony accounts.
    Phony offers.
    Death threats.
    Scammer scalp tallies, awards.

Play gets more enthusiasm than does work,
even when the situation is dire.

Liz wrote:  "I would appreciate if they just listened to mods more ..."

And if they still remain detached, we could start a group called

        GR♥SCAMRZ

1) to test whether they prefer the stick to the carrot, and
2) to teach them to respect/fear the dark side of creativity.

Arthur wrote: "I get 3-5 scam solicitations every day. Reader groups, metadata optimization, video trailers, radio interviews, and so on. All fake. If they ask for money upfront, walk away. If they don’t use your..."

I get the same thing, if not more. Also, the fake famous author emails. I've had Daniel Silva, James Patterson and Evie Woods email me, just to name 3. Honestly, I mess with these guys some time. Especially the ones which claim to have read my book but only know the blurb.

Liz wrote: "Mods try our best but I suspect the support team is overworked and underfunded. On top of that, because these things tend to come in waves, I get the feeling that support thinks we're being paranoi..."

Liz, I have been reporting a couple of accounts probably about 10 times and nothing gets done, no investigation, no follow up. It's a shame that they aren't more proactive to these reports.

In the end I've just given up trying to use goodreads these days.