The Spammer Becomes the Spammee

A fake reader in search of a fake book club.

After receiving one too many fake-book-club scams, I clicked reply

By Teddy Wayne

My wife, Kate Greathead, published her second novel, The Book of George, in October 2024. After the paperback came out a year later, she began receiving numerous e-mails offering to promote it. The letters were well written but only vaguely touched upon her novel, leading us to believe they had been composed with the assistance of A.I.; even her publisher was fooled by one.

Kate ignored them, but one e-mail came from a California-based book club that had an active Meetup page with more than a thousand members and a history of monthly events stretching back to 2012. Thinking it was a legitimate request, she sent the requested materials. Here is the sender’s response: READ ON