I Got Scammed: Let's Talk About It
Humanity hits a new low: Me.
Welcome to Cheaper Than Therapy, a newsletter by Shani Silver.
Scammers and con artists are nothing new, but AI is. Instead of cruelty taking time and effort, now you can do it at scale. It’s happening across countless industries, anyone currently applying for jobs can attest to that. Last night, it happened to me, because for some reason scammers are currently fixated on stealing from people who create writing, art, and original intellectual property of any kind, because it’s the one thing AI can’t fake: something real.
Last night I got an email I’ve been waiting a decade for. A Senior Commissioning Editor from Macmillan, a major publisher, reached out having read my most recent book, and thoroughly dove into why they were drawn to my voice and perspective. They wanted to connect with my agent (or me) regarding any new work I have in process. After a literal lifetime of wanting to be an author published by a major publisher, I cannot understate my excitement and relief.
I’ve seen nearly every person I’ve interviewed for my podcast get a book deal. I’ve seen nearly every other singlehood/dating content creator in my orbit get a book deal. I’ve seen literal dogs on social media get book deals. I have been wholly rejected and ignored by the publishing industry. I cannot tell you what it felt like to contemplate for even a moment that it might be my turn. It is, ironically, not unlike how it feels to witness everyone around you find a partner, while you never do.
I looked the editor up on Macmillan’s website to confirm she really worked for them, but I didn’t think to check her LinkedIn. One of my best friends did (thank you Conor for always protecting someone who never feels protected), and he told me she’d recently posted about people impersonating her, to warn others. I looked at the email again, and indeed it came from a gmail account instead of a Macmillan account. It was a scam.
To my understanding, the goal of the scam is to get authors (and artists, etc) to send the scammer completed original work, that is then stolen. A component of these scams also involves requesting bank information, but that is such a red flag these days it seems they’re finding more creative ways to steal. Having worked in the book space since 2021, it seems like a lot of effort for something that doesn’t net much money, and further, if you are the scamming sort, why not just get AI to write you a book?
They can’t. Because when AI writes a book, people can tell. It’s soulless, valueless, cold, and inhuman. So they need to steal real work from writers to then scam other people into buying what they stole. It’s a vile and abhorrent way to make money, but more than that it’s a level of cruelty I haven’t experienced before. Giving people false hope is a unique kind of evil. Making someone who has been locked out of her goals think she might actually be able to accomplish them is a level of malice I can’t fathom having the stomach for. In this economy, in the world we’re currently living in and all of the stressors associated with it, how dare someone fabricate a false positive?
I talked to a couple friends this morning which really helped me calm down (thanks y’all), and one of them who consistently offers help and comfort to others asked if I wanted to hang out, grab a glass of wine, etc. Typically I am one for little treats when I’m feeling blue, off, upset, etc. Today I told her I was only craving one thing: Revenge.
So in that spirit, here is my response email to the sun-scortched pile of excrement who tried to scam me out of a manuscript, and scammed me out of my hope instead. If you hate that this happened to me too, the very best thing you can do is share this newsletter with others. Restack it, forward the email to a friend, share it on social media, take what happened to me farther than I can take it on my own, so that we might prevent it from crushing someone else.
Hi “Kate,”
So nice to hear from you. Tell me, should I just send you a full manuscript now, or do you like to drag the scam on a little longer to make sure the struggling authors you’re stealing from endure a bit more false hope before you destroy their sense of safety and self worth? I’m just wondering if you take pleasure in delaying the big reveal or if we should just go ahead and get it over with?
Is this really what you’ve chosen to do with your one life on earth? Is siphoning resources and stealing work from writers really netting out enough cash to make it worth it? As someone who does publish work myself I find it hard to believe it even covers your grocery bills. Or maybe you do it for personal gratification. Maybe humiliating and demolishing a human being is motivation enough? I’m not sure. I can’t fathom being the kind of person who spends their days overtly and intentionally causing other people pain.
Perhaps it’s jealousy. Maybe you can’t write. Maybe you see what people with talent and passion are able to do and you realize that you’re an entire human being who was born without skill, purpose, or ideas. What’s it like to live ungifted? I can’t imagine.
It’s getting tough to make the rent, heaven knows authors understand that. I can see why you’ve resorted to becoming a human barnacle in order to keep a roof over your head. What’s it like to have literally nothing to offer the world of value? What’s it like to fall so far in human worth that your only occupational option is anonymous theft? You don’t even have the bravery to steal from people as yourself, how embarrassing.
We have souls, you know that don’t you? You’re polluting yours. You’re ensuring that even when you don’t exist anymore, your soul will still have so much to answer for that rest will never be an option for you in any lifetime. That’s me being kind. I can only imagine the theme park of pain that awaits the kind of person who gives desperate people false hope. I hope I’m there to watch.
What you’ve just done to me is a level of cruelty I’ve never experienced, and I’ve dated men, so it’s actually impressive when you think about it. To actively pursue the distribution of pain to people who are already in pain from watching their life’s work dwindle before them as an economy crashes, people who don’t know if they’ll make rent next month, people who have worked their entire careers toward a goal you dangled in front of them with no intention or ability to deliver; may it rob you of control over your own life, your own body, and your own future. May it imprison you in a world of nothingness. Many of us already live in a world of nothingness, where nothing good ever happens, where all effort is unrewarded, where all attempts at improving our lives are laughed at by the universe itself. You found one of us and gave her false hope. I pity the future that awaits you. I also pity your present. You earn a living as a scammer? Yikes.
I’m going to get back to my real life now, the one that has meaning. I’m going to keep being a light for people in dark places, instead of someone who makes the darkness expand. Thank you for reminding me how lucky I am that I’m not you.
Sorry if this was a little verbose, what can I say? I’m a writer.
xo
Shani