Amazon sues Scammers who Prey on Authors

Amazon takes legal action against scammers falsely claiming ties to Amazon Publishing, safeguarding authors from fraudulent schemes on fake clone websites

on Nov 10, 2023

Amazon sues Scammers who Prey on Authors | Frontlist

Amazon revealed this week that it has launched a lawsuit in the Northern District of California against 20 persons who are attempting to defraud authors by fraudulently claiming association with Amazon Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing. According to the lawsuit, the scammers operate bogus Amazon clone websites meant to entice would-be authors into paying a fee to publish, only to provide subpar or no service at all.

"Defendants use the Amazon Marks in their domain names and on their websites to divert victims from Amazon's genuine websites to Defendants' websites that purport to offer services to help authors create, edit, and publish their works through [Amazon Publishing or Kindle Direct Publishing]," according to the suit, adding that "to further the ruse of affiliation with Amazon," the websites frequently have chat boxes or advertise phone numbers to call that provide "false and misleading information."

The lawsuit includes information about anonymous authors who were duped by the scams, including one who thought she was using Amazon's legal self-publishing services when she visited one of the defendant sites. They "corresponded with Defendants or their agents, who not only claimed to be Amazon representatives, but sent documents making further uses of the Amazon Marks," according to the complaint. "Believing she was working with Amazon, [the author] paid Defendants $4,000.00 for purported editorial and publication services." After the service did not materialise, the woman realised she had been duped.

"We have a consistent track record of working to stop bad actors from taking advantage of our customers, and this lawsuit against publishing scammers continues that work on behalf of authors," said David Naggar, Amazon's vice president of Books and Kindle Content, in a statement issued on October 30. Amazon vows in the statement to continue "protecting authors from fraudsters who attempt to take advantage of them" and to ensure that "no authors or publishers are further harmed by their actions."

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, as well as damages, to shut down the bogus websites.