PR Ploy

      I think all authors have gotten these lately--e-mails praising one of your books to the skies, so lovely and well-written, full of understanding of your book and most likely written by AI. The person supposedly contacting you wants to represent your wonderful book and make it famous. Ordinarily, I just delete these, though in two cases I did inform them that Lady Flora's Rescue was going out of print shortly along with thirteen others when one of my small presses closed. and so I had no need of PR services. I was feeling rather low after finding no publisher wanted reprints and that left me vulnerable to the scam. 

     I received the most gorgeous letter offering to represent Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, easily my best book and a steady seller which has been out for years. I took the next step to see what was being offered. Immediately, the author of the post switched to another e-mail address but sent me a very friendly note saying she could boost my book sales thorough her many contacts. I asked how. The answer was unclear but she wanted $18 dollars per contact, pretty cheap. I asked for a list of her clients. Oh, that was confidential. I checked the person's name online-no presence at all except that the name she was using was that of a minor member of British royalty. Let's call her V. When I asked if I could pay by PayPal. Umm, no because her PayPal account was not working well. Red flag, red flag, red flag. 

     At this point, I said I believed she was scamming me, and I was no longer interested. The ploy thickens. I get an e-mail from a concerned person who knows V, and V is infuriated and will use her contacts to destroy my book with tons of bad reviews. At least I think that was the intent. I should apologize to V who was absolutely legit and appease her by buying some contacts.  I actually contacted V again, said sorry but did not want her services. V then said she'd already set up several contacts for me and I'd have to pay her a setup fee of $50. Actually, she tried for $90 but I said I could not afford it.

    Okay, I could pay her using my PayPal account under Friends and Family to be sent to another e-mail address, this one under a male name. When I tried this, PayPal had flagged that address as a scam. I reported this to the concerned friend who said, no, Kyle was not a scammer and V was now incensed that the bill had not been paid and was bent on destroying my writing career again. Here's where I admit to being an idiot. I overrode the scam message. PayPal told me I was now on my own, and I pressed Send with a message that this was my final contact with V or Kyle or whoever.

     Concerned person e-mails me again. V is angry again. The payment did not go through. When I pointed out that V was a dude noted as a scammer by PayPal, she swore that no, sometimes V just used this other address for her dealings. She was one-hundred percent real and very ticked off at me.  I should send concerned person a copy of my transaction. Guess what? I finally realized that concerned person was part of the scam. Told her no way. I was through with both of them and blocked all their e-mail addresses.

    Here's the twist. When I went back to PayPal, the transaction had disappeared. I don't know if they blocked it again, but many thanks if they did. So far, I am out no money and have not yet been destroyed as an author, but guess it could still happen. I can only say beware of beautifully written letters about your books. Do not be as stupid and desperate as I was. Better no PR than this.

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