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Has anyone recieved an email from Alex Pavlenko
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We don't want the email addresses posted here, but did the email come from a free account (Gmail, Yahoo, etc...) or a dedicated website? That might give us something to work with.
I received one. It is a gmail address. It sounded suspicious so I trashed it. The subject line on the email did reference my book on goodreads.
Yes gmail account and yes to reference my book on goodreads as well. I shall delete it thanks
Yep, probably for the best to ignore it, flag it as spam, and block the address.
A good rule of thumb for e-mails like this is to avoid them unless they give you specifics (i.e. your name, the name of your book, characters, etc.), and even then be wary. If it doesn't give you information like that, it's very likely not legit. Think of it as an evolution of the old Nigerian Prince scheme.
I think I got that same email last week. Totally deleted it too :P
I get a lot of these. I either ignore/spam it or reply with a testy lecture about Amazon's TOS and tell them not to contact me again.
Yeah I used to get them a lot. Not much anymore. Maybe because I ignored them and they can't tell if they reached me or if they had the wrong email. :P
I received one as well. Promptly deleted it. I found it completely suspect.
Hey all, yeah, I received one from Alex and deleted it, too. Also, I got a reader question this morning from a Goodreads member named Doug (who operates under the screen name Only Pure Books). "Doug" asked me to send him an e-file of my book for review. However, since his profile was marked private, and I couldn't find his blog or website online, I assumed he was trying to obtain a copy of my book for nefarious purposes. Has anyone else been approached by him?
Got Doug today. Reported his little pink backside and blocked him
Not Doug, specifically, but I've had this request a few times. I usually flag it.
I got something like that a while ago. Reported him. I don't remember the name but it was the same. A name supposedly reviewing for a website blah blah. IF you're going to ask for free books to review at least make your profile visible and show that you are actually reviewing anything. It would be a start at least.
I will definitely keep an eye out for Doug and promptly delete him too. Err his email that is.
Paul wrote: "Hey all, yeah, I received one from Alex and deleted it, too. Also, I got a reader question this morning from a Goodreads member named Doug (who operates under the screen name Only Pure Books). "Dou..."Yes, I received one from Doug today as well. I'm glad I read this post before responding. I will delete it. Thanks so much for sharing. Lynn
If I have I hadn't noticed, meaning I haven't paid close attention, because I tend to delete anything that's not familiar to me or it automatically goes to my spam folder, which in that case it wouldn't be seen by me anyway, in my email. So most likely it got deleted anyway. Thanks for the heads up, though.
Today Alex popped up. Sadly for him he got into my significant other's spam box. What was threatened is probably physically impossible but it made me laugh
Mod
Dwayne wrote: "I keep looking and looking. Nothing. Alex doesn't love me."Never mind Dwayne, me and Dog loves you
Mod
Never mind Dwayne, me and Dog loves you"
And you're way better than Alex any day.
I got emails from both of these people. Doug sent me a message on Goodreads to review my book. I sent the copy but never got a response. I wish I would've seen this before I did it.
I got an email from Alex and asked for more details. This is what I got back.. I've removed the websites he provided, but this is what he response with if you ask. -----[response]--------------------------------
Hi,
I have created a "Starter Package" of 112 USD under which you get the following services:
a) 5 HONEST book reviews on Amazon (Guaranteed, or your money back for the number of reviews you don’t get). I will make the reviews "VERIFIED" FREE of cost if your book costs 99 cents on Amazon
b) 1 UNIQUE review on Goodreads (Guaranteed, or your money back)
Please note: This is NOT a paid review service; the payment you make is not for reviews (the reviewers don’t paid get a dime) but an administrative cost toward arranging, tracking and reporting for the same. Therefore, my review service is 100% compliant with Amazon’s terms of service.
If you do not want to take advantage of the above "Starter" package and prefer purchasing my services on a la carte basis, please visit:
==WEBSITE== (that is where you would find my other services as well)
If you are interested only in reviews then please also take a look at:
==WEBSITE==
To order, just let me know what you are interested in and your paypal address. I will send you an invoice. If you wish to pay by any other methods let me know as well.
Blaque wrote: "I got emails from both of these people. Doug sent me a message on Goodreads to review my book. I sent the copy but never got a response. I wish I would've seen this before I did it."Don't feel bad, I sent Doug a copy too. After all, I'm actively looking for reviews, and I thought that he saw one of my posts in the actively-looking-for-reviews forum. I suspect nothing will ever come of it.
I got Doug and Alex. Doug got an ARC from me but I must admit it didn't feel right. Alex got deleted immediately. He went to my website and sent an email with me as an undisclosed recipient.
I've gotten emails that come through Goodreads to send my ebook for review. The five profiles in the same name were faceless and had1 friend. In a million way this screamed scam to me. Beware anyone who approaches you.
Yes, BOTH are charlatans. I've received messages from both people. Reported Doug (from Tastybooks???) to Goodreads as a SCAM, deleted Alex immediately. I only send mobis or hard copies to legit reviewers I contact, who have sites that prove they are real. (See thread: Author Chat > DANGER !!! Fake Amazon email). Personally, I think Goodreads needs a THREAT BOARD to inform all users of suspicious messages, so no one has to be caught unaware.
I got an email from him just as i posted my newest book on goodreads. He was offering to help me promote that book...I asked him what he was about and he replied from a different email. I ignored him after that.
I've had similar emails, but ignored them. They seemed spammy.
I have received a couple of these suspicious emails from different people to the ones above (one male one female) and also a request from TastyBooks to send a pdf copy of my book. I try to go by the saying if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!
Oh yes, him. I've marked him spam a couple of times. And the Tasty Book scam too.
Lea wrote: "Hi, I received an email earlier today from one Alex Pavlenko offering reviews, promotion of book on social media and that I could get as many as 200 downloads/purchases....
It seems a little off..."
I received exactly the same email today as well.
DANGER***DANGER***DANGERAlex Pavlenko and "Doug" from Tastybooks have been reported as a SCAM
I receive a similar email about two weeks ago. Since I had no idea who he is I simply deleted it.
I received emails from both. I thought "Doug" seemed legitimate, so I sent him a pdf version of my book 'to review'. What should I do?
Leopold wrote: "I got Doug and Alex. Doug got an ARC from me but I must admit it didn't feel right. Alex got deleted immediately. He went to my website and sent an email with me as an undisclosed recipient."Same here. Now I feel like a complete fool. What can we do? Is there anything we can do to prevent "Doug" from stealing our stories?
Andria wrote: "I have sent the message below to various Group Moderators and the Goodreads HELP Desk. I apologize in advance if anyone thinks I've overstepped my bounds. Nevertheless, I'll be interested to see wh..."All groups are separate and moderators cannot do anything about emails (we are users like you, not Goodreads employees). You will need to contact Goodreads directly to report abuse. Understand, however, that as these accounts get deleted, new ones spring up. The only thing you can do is not send your manuscript out to a solicitation. As has been mentioned in this and other threads countless times, reviewers are not likely to solicit. Typically they have authors clamoring for their attention.
I had an email from someone called Rupert, offering all kinds of stuff to get my book out there. Of course, I'm not going to do anything with it, as I'm not that stupid. If I want reviews, i'll go through review groups, and I am quite capable of promoting my own work...time permitting, of course.
BOLO (Be On The Lookout) (18 Aug 2017)I just got an email from: RUPERT
I didn't open it, but shot it immediately into the SPAM file.
Rupert: bookauthors676@gmail.com
"Your latest book. Hello, I just checked out your latest book. If you are…"
Yeah got an email from both Rupert and Alex, deleted it.
I received an email earlier today from one Alex Pavlenko offering reviews, promotion of book on social media and that I could get as many as 200 downloads/purchases....
It seems a little off to me. Has anyone else been contacted or know about this guy?
PS. I didn't know if I was allowed to post the actual email so I erred on the side of caution.