PSA: Scam aimed at authors
Got an extremely good scam email today. Here it is in all its glory:
From Patricia Luca lucapatricia682@gmail.com
Subject: Invitation to Feature Shutout in Our 2026 Reading Challenge
Date: Monday, April 06, 2026 9:06 PM
Size:17 KB
Hello Brendan Halpin,
I hope you are doing well. It is a pleasure to connect with you.
My name is Luca Patricia, and I’m reaching out from the Blooming Books Reading for Growth community, an active reading challenge and book club with over 3000 engaged readers.
We are currently hosting our 2026 Reading Challenge running from January 1 to December 31 2026. This initiative highlights books that spark meaningful engagement, emotional connection, and immersive storytelling across many genres.
Here is my website for more information about the challenge: https://www.the52book.club/2026-reading-challenge/
Participating authors benefit from ongoing visibility through reader discussions, reviews, and sustained community interaction throughout the year.
At the end of the challenge, our readers will identify the most discussed books, with selected authors receiving special recognition including an official award presentation on January 2 2027. In addition, the first group of authors whose books generate strong engagement will receive early spotlight features within the community.
I recently came across your book Shutout and was immediately drawn to its heartfelt and relatable coming of age sports narrative. The story captures the emotional intensity of friendship and competition through Lena and Amanda, whose bond is tested when soccer begins to change the balance between them.
The shift from being an inseparable team to facing uncertainty after team selection creates a strong emotional core, especially as Amanda struggles with feelings of loss, comparison, and change while Lena moves forward in a new environment.
The themes of friendship, identity, and growing up make Shutout a meaningful and engaging read for audiences who enjoy realistic fiction with emotional depth and strong character relationships.
We believe your book would resonate strongly with our audience and would be a compelling addition to our reading challenge.
Would you be interested in having Shutout featured in this year-long reading experience and introduced to our engaged community?
I would be happy to share more details if this opportunity interests you.
Warm regards, Luca Patricia
*see below for note about the image
Something about Luca, or possibly Patricia’s email didn’t feel completely right. I sent the following response:
This is an excellent scam, and I commend you for the work that obviously went into it. The AI summary of my book is integrated perfectly, and playing to the vanity of writers is a pretty solid business strategy.
I assume if I went for it, you'd tell me about the fee you're charging for participation. I'm guessing you prefer payment in crypto?
Unfortunately, the link you sent leads to a book challenge, but not the one you introduced. In fact, the only Blooming Books Reading for Growth community seems to be a group of adults who read business books.
Oh yeah, also, you do not appear to exist or to be clear on whether your name is Patricia Luca or Luca Patricia. Anyway, I wish you the worst of luck in your scamming endeavors.
They quickly replied:
Same to you
I then poked around The 52 Book Club and found this page in which they alert authors to the scam. It looks like this has caused Luca, or possibly Patricia, to change tactics and claim they represent a different organization.
So if you’ve written a book and Luca or Patricia or anybody else sends you this email, don’t let ‘em getcha!
*Alt text: a middle-aged white woman with glasses on a chain with orange beads, an orange silk flower in her hair, and an orange cardigan over a black shirt.
I haven’t done the whole Catfish reverse image thing, but I assume this image is stolen from some innocent librarian’s facebook page or something. Or maybe they just fed “librarian” to an AI image generator and it kicked this out. So I don’t think this is a real picture of the scammer. I’m including it here because WOW does this look EXACTLY like someone who would run a book challenge, so they may attach the photo to a different name because it lends their scam credibility.