Scammers are using lookalike domains to pose as real literary agencies
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R. S. Breed Founder
The Authors Guild put out an alert on 20 August about impersonation scams that are getting harder to spot. One of its examples: an email posing as a real literary agent, sent from a web domain that looks like the agency's but isn't.
https://authorsguild.org/news/scam-alert-increasingly-believable-impersonation-scams/
That's a step up from the Gmail addresses a lot of these scams still use, which are easier to catch. A lookalike domain can be one swapped letter, an extra hyphen, a different ending (.co instead of .com, or a country code tacked on). On a phone, in a busy inbox, you won't notice unless you're looking for it.
What I'd do if an "agent" contacts you out of the blue:
- Don't reply to that email. Type the agency's web address in yourself (from a search you did, not a link they sent) and check the agent is actually listed there.
- Contact them through the address on the agency's own site and ask if they sent it. Real agents won't mind.
- Compare the domains character by character. Copy both into a text editor if you have to.
- Remember how agents work. Legitimate agents are paid a commission when they sell your book. If money is flowing from you to them, for editing, a "submission package", marketing, anything, it's not an agent.
Unsolicited contact from an agent isn't impossible, but for most indie authors it's rare enough that the default response should be suspicion, not excitement. The excitement is what they're counting on.
If you get one, report it to Writer Beware, and to ic3.gov or Scamwatch depending on where you are.