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Fraudster impersonates HarperCollins editorial director and offers book contracts
A fraudster has been impersonating a HarperCollins editorial director and sending out messages offering book contracts.
Phoebe Morgan, editorial director at HarperFiction, revealed on Twitter that someone has been using a fake HarperCollins account and claiming to be her. She said the impersonator has been using her photo and background information, but could be identified as a fraud by the email address, which replaced the two "l’ letters in HarperCollins with the number "1".
Been made aware that someone is impersonating me using a fake HarperCollins account - this isn’t me! If someone says they’re a crime editor wanting to offer a contract please flag as suspicious. HC would never contact you in that way. 😡
She tweeted: “If someone says they’re a crime editor wanting to offer a contract please flag as suspicious. HC would never contact you in that way”.
The tactic is similar to the one said to be used by Filippo Bernardini, a former rights assistant at S&S UK who was arrested and charged by the FBI with allegedly stealing hundreds of book manuscripts over several years.
The indictment claimed Bernardini created fake email accounts that were designed to impersonate real people employed in the publishing industry, which were "confusingly similar to the real entities that they were impersonating, including only minor typographical errors that would be difficult for the average recipient to identity during a cursory review". An example cited by the Department of Justice was replacing the lower-case letter "m" with the lower-case letters "r" and "n", which, when placed together as "rn", resemble an "m". This caused issues for PRH email addresses.
A spokesperson for HarperCollins confirmed the publisher was aware of the Morgan impersonation. They said in a statement: "Phishing is an unfortunate reality in today’s world and something that affects all industries. Scammers are numerous and relentless and target potential victims in many different ways and through multiple channels and scenarios.
"We communicate regularly with our teams to make them aware of the risks and complete regular training to keep us up to date with security protocols and procedures. When we become aware of specific scams we work with our security teams and IT to close down any domains that are being used for illicit activity. We actively update our websites and social media feeds to include guidance; we do not ask authors for money to be published or considered for publication with HarperCollins, and ask that anyone who is unsure of the legitimacy of an approach to inform HarperCollins and contact the authorities."
