Scam Artists Beware! (Part II)

I recently had a conversation with a family member about a newly self-published author she knew.  Because this topic (self-publishing) has been of great interest to me over the past year, I inquired of the reasons this budding writer choose the indie route to publication.  Her response surprised me.

She said, "The author told me she couldn't afford to be published the traditional way."

Couldn't afford it?  I was confused - traditional publishing does not require money upfront to get your book in paper format.  In fact, you can get paid for your work before it is published in some instances, in the form of an advance.

It sounded like this new author was confused as well.  It sounded like this new author had been looking at vanity publishing.  If you don't know what the definition of vanity publishing is, then chances are, you're more likely to get ripped off by it.

Two weeks ago I did a post about telemarketing scams and computer viruses.  This week, I want to draw your attention to a type of scam that hits a little closer to home for most of us that frequently visit this blog - scams aimed at hurting writers.

I'm not saying all vanity publishing is a scam - I'm just saying that as an author you need to be aware of what is acceptable and what is not in terms of money transfer between an author and a publisher.  That means you need to do a little business research when you've finished the story research.  I'm sad this new author didn't understand the difference between the two systems.  I wish that this author had been mentored by another of either the traditional or self-pub route.  But I am glad that, in this case, no money was lost.

Visit "Preditors and Editors" "Writer Beware" and "Association of Author's Representatives" to find good agents and avoid bad ones. (You will have to google the sites).

The bottom line comes down to this: never just hand someone over your money without understanding what you get in return.  And, as the old adage goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Scam Artists Beware! (Part 1)

Dishonesty is nothing new.  Especially dishonesty linked to money.  And it only seems to get more sophisticated along with advances in technology. 

So I wasn't too surprised last year when I received the first of many calls to come from a company claiming to support Microsoft Windows, claiming that they'd received an error message from my computer about malicious files that had invaded, and they had the means to fix it.

At first I was totally sucked in - I've seen those error messages pop up when programs close unexpectedly.  However, as I'm not the technology guru of the family, I often defer such issues to my wise and ever-computer-loving husband.  That wasn't good enough for the tech-center caller - he wanted me to simply follow his step-by-step instructions to fix the problem.  I became uncomfortable at this point and hung up.  When my husband came home that day, I informed him of the call, which he promptly googled.  Turns out, it was a scam.

The idea behind the call was to gain remote access to my computer, insert a virus, and then charge a fee ($160) to remove it.

Well, they called again.  And again, and again, and again.

At first, I asked them to stop calling.  That didn't work.  I then told them I knew they were scam artists (anything to get them to declare my number dead in their records and stop calling).  This only made them defensive and verbally abusive.  Affronted, I asked to speak to a manager, who was even more abrasive, cursing caustically.

Then I got smart.  I started playing along, pretending to follow their instructions just to keep them on the line, when in reality, my computer wasn't even on.  Ten or fifteen minutes into the call, they figured me out and hung up.  Then, finally, they stopped calling.

Until this week.  Almost nine months later, they're trying to scam me of my hard earned money, again!  I tried a different approach this time - I proclaimed they must be a scam because I have a Mac, not a PC.  The line went dead.

And still they call.  I started researching the issue again, and found this site.  Makes for an interesting read (I don't have time to watch the video, nor am I that invested in this issue).

Why am I telling you all this?  Because it comes at an interesting time of research for me.  I've read a few articles about the wolves in sheep's clothing that seem to be invading the world of writers (particularly in the realm of self-publishing, where some good people have been robbed of lots of money with the alluring promise of publication).

How does one fully protect themselves from scams that aren't as clear cut and identifiable as they may have once appeared to be (hindsight is, after all, 20/20)?

Check back next week, because I'm going to do some more research, and share what I find.

In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment about resources you have found/used to help protect yourself and your work.

And watch out for these phone calls.  According to Microsoft, it never makes calls out to its customers.  Don't get robbed of your hard earned cash.