I spend a lot of my time at $dayjob handling phishing spam. This seems to be a long game as opposed to the usual "click on this link and you are PWNed" scam, but I don't see how they make enough money to cover the costs even if they are from somewhere with cheap costs of living. Even if the first email is AI generated (which I think it is) it will take some time and effort to build a chain of replies so as to convince the author to commit to money. Not to mention that authors are not exactly known to be rich in general.
There must be more financially rewarding ways to scam people
All it takes is one. The investment is low, and there are people desperate enough out there to jump at anything. If it wasn't for the fact that people DO fall for this, they wouldn't be doing it.
good eyes, gooood catch, dude!… yeah, and i am familiar with Toni Weiskopf, and the entire Baen group… been a customer for decades… and the letter felt wrong from the beginning… and with a large Baen group just returning from a very large con, the sender of the letter may have been thinking he could sneak one by… i work in IT Security, and i almost have to wonder if the sender was man or machine, but leaning toward human, there were so many mistakes that i can see an ai making that many mistakes… and i think they may try again… so, once again, good catch!…
I noticed that. No real publishing company would use a Gmail address.
I haven't seen an email from Baen, but I'm guessing it would be something like JSmith@Baenbooks.com.
Do they think all aspiring authors are batshit stupid?
Apparently. Then again the people sending it are batshit stupid.
Some od the small presses still use Gmail, like Three Ravens, but for the big ones, absolutely.
Lmao. I got as far as 'her' email address and started laughing.
I spend a lot of my time at $dayjob handling phishing spam. This seems to be a long game as opposed to the usual "click on this link and you are PWNed" scam, but I don't see how they make enough money to cover the costs even if they are from somewhere with cheap costs of living. Even if the first email is AI generated (which I think it is) it will take some time and effort to build a chain of replies so as to convince the author to commit to money. Not to mention that authors are not exactly known to be rich in general.
There must be more financially rewarding ways to scam people
All it takes is one. The investment is low, and there are people desperate enough out there to jump at anything. If it wasn't for the fact that people DO fall for this, they wouldn't be doing it.
That's the scary part: People fall for this shit.
Bean is the worst. (Insert cheap pay scale joke here)
In a perfect world scammers who steal your precious time should be flogged or composted.
both!!!…
good eyes, gooood catch, dude!… yeah, and i am familiar with Toni Weiskopf, and the entire Baen group… been a customer for decades… and the letter felt wrong from the beginning… and with a large Baen group just returning from a very large con, the sender of the letter may have been thinking he could sneak one by… i work in IT Security, and i almost have to wonder if the sender was man or machine, but leaning toward human, there were so many mistakes that i can see an ai making that many mistakes… and i think they may try again… so, once again, good catch!…