Beware of fake accounts
It's troubling when someone tries to friend/connect with me here and they're impersonating an author, especially since I'm an author myself and know exactly how this violates the community.
Just had two more attempts recently. Both accounts created this past September, bios claiming to be authors of specific books. Takes like 30 seconds of investigating to find the real author page, complete with the Goodreads Author seal and 7-10 years of history.
As someone with my own author page, this hits differently. These scammers are stealing someone's professional identity, potentially confusing readers, and making the rest of us look bad. What's the endgame? Phishing? Scamming readers? Building fake credibility?
If you're getting friend requests from "authors," always verify:
-The Goodreads Author badge (that official seal matters)
-Account age (established authors usually have older accounts)
-Actual engagement history: reviews, updates, legitimate activity
Fellow authors and readers, stay vigilant. Report these fake accounts when you spot them. We owe it to each other and to the real authors getting impersonated.
Just had two more attempts recently. Both accounts created this past September, bios claiming to be authors of specific books. Takes like 30 seconds of investigating to find the real author page, complete with the Goodreads Author seal and 7-10 years of history.
As someone with my own author page, this hits differently. These scammers are stealing someone's professional identity, potentially confusing readers, and making the rest of us look bad. What's the endgame? Phishing? Scamming readers? Building fake credibility?
If you're getting friend requests from "authors," always verify:
-The Goodreads Author badge (that official seal matters)
-Account age (established authors usually have older accounts)
-Actual engagement history: reviews, updates, legitimate activity
Fellow authors and readers, stay vigilant. Report these fake accounts when you spot them. We owe it to each other and to the real authors getting impersonated.
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