Ann Stolinsky of Celestial Echo Press brought this to my attention today on Facebook (thanks Ann):
According to (the legitimate) Victoria Strauss of SFWA’s Writer Beware advocacy group, someone is sending out emails impersonating Victoria and Writer Beware.
The ONLY legitimate email address that anyone would receive notices or communications from Writer Beware from is
BEWARE@SFWA.ORG
Spammers and scammers are pretty good at coming up with fake look-a-likes, such as appending “.USA” instead of “.ORG”. Or adding a letter that most people would miss in a casual viewing, such as Bewaree.
Impersonating the well-respected Writer Beware (and Victoria) both undercuts the organizations efforts by confusing the issue and is used by the scammers to create false legitimacy and confidence on the part of the mark.
In her coverage, Victoria lays out a scam that at least one author has fallen for. (Sadly, someone who is once taken is often targeted by others as they have already proved that they are an easy mark.)
Remember – check the originating email address thoroughly and, when it doubt, query the correct email address above.
