When the Fan Mail is a Phish

My dance with a fake book club scammer—and why reporting her was the only logical final chapter

**I don’t normally send newsletters on the weekend. And I do understand that many full-time travelers may not be interested in this book club scam I encountered. But I do hope that as AI gets more sophisticated in its ability to phish, you’ll find information in this article that will keep you from getting scammed.**

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I admit. The scammer knew exactly how to hit me up. I mean, what author wouldn’t want to be asked to a book club to discuss her latest novel?

Below I share the majority of my emails between me and my scammer so that you can see how these phishing scams show up. AI is getting much smarter.

I highlight the yellow and red flags.

Here’s the email I got from “Ava Edwards.”

Dear Chris,

I hope this message finds you well.I’m writing on behalf of the Coffee and Classics Book Club. Your novel, recently caught the attention of several of our members, and it sparked a great deal of enthusiasm as a potential book club selection.

Although the recommendation generated genuine interest, it unfortunately never progressed to our official reading schedule. Even so, many of our members remain eager to explore your work and discuss it together.

We wanted to reach out to see if there have been any recent updates related to or if there might be an opportunity for us to revisit it as a future selection. We’d be delighted to hear any thoughts or information you’d be willing to share.

Thank you for your time and for the work you do. We appreciate your consideration and hope to hear from you when it’s convenient.

Wow, I thought. This would be cool. My new novel, Kindling, was showing up as a serial here on Substack. After 3-4 releases of its chapters, a book club was interested!

There were just two problems with the email. Both were yellow flags immediately.

1. The email came to my personal gmail account. It should have come to my business account. But I gave the benefit of the doubt—my digital footprint is big, and I could forgive a book club secretary for emailing me at my personal account.

2. Ava wasn’t clear about which book she was interested in reviewing. Again, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I have six non-fiction books published and only one novel. So maybe in her defense, when she said novel, she meant novel.

So I wrote her back, seeking clarity with the hopes of turning the yellow flags green. Here is my response.

Hi Eva,

It’s nice to hear from you.

I’d love to discuss your book club’s needs. While I have authored several books, which one is your club interested in?

Chris

And she replied.

I’m so sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and I truly apologize for keeping you waiting.Our community has quite a large number of books and recommendations to go through, so things have been a little busy on our end, which unfortunately caused the delay in my response.

Thank you so much for your patience and for being willing to discuss your books with us. I really appreciate it.I’ll make sure to get back to you with the specific book our members were interested in so we can continue the conversation.

Thank you again for your understanding, Chris. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

I thought it was odd that she was apologizing for a 2-day delay, and I found that someone who writes to authors was having a spacing problem in her email. It seems to me that when writing to authors, typos should be eliminated. But again, yellow flags—things I could overlook. I wrote back.

No problem, thank you for the update. I’m excited your group has an interest. I am wondering if it’s my Two Carry-Ons and a Plan, The Nomad Life, Wanderlust Wisdom, 50 Hikes 50 States, or my brand new novel out in serialization at the moment called Kindling?

I look forward to hearing back from you.

And she replied a few days later:

Thank you for sharing those titles with me. After looking through the options, I believe Kindling would be the most interesting choice for our group, especially since it is your brand-new novel currently being released in serialization.

The fact that it is a new work makes it particularly exciting for our members, and we would love the opportunity to explore it together and discuss it as a group.Thank you again for your patience and for giving us the different options. We’re looking forward to learning more about Kindling and hopefully having it as part of one of our upcoming discussions.

This seemed fair. One yellow flagged. Since she didn’t ask for action, I followed up with a call to action.

Fantastic. What questions can I answer?

And she wrote back:

Thank you! We’re really excited to learn more about Kindling.

I’d love to hear a little about what inspired you to write the novel, the themes or ideas you’re exploring through the story, and what you hope readers will take away from it. It would also be wonderful to know what makes Kindling different from your previous books.

Since we’ll be sharing the information with our book club members as we consider it for an upcoming discussion, any additional details you’d like us to know about the novel would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for being so open to answering our questions. We’re looking forward to hearing more about Kindling.

Excellent, I thought. No yellow or red flags, per se. Things seem to be moving along, so I answered her questions. I noticed I received a phone call over night from an area code in Colorado (where my area code is from) that went to spam. I ask her about it.

HI Ava

Oh how lucky for me!

My novel Kindling is based on an actual event that happened to me; I left my Kindle behind in Bucharest. It was impossible for the hotel owner to mail it to me (borders, timing, tariffs, etc) so I decided to use the power of my Facebook group full of nomads and full-time travelers to mule it back to me.

Kindling takes the nut of this story, adds in a set of 9 characters, and the relay launches! All the characters ….. (I continued for many paragraphs)

Readers of Kindling have described it as: …

Perfect for: …

Themes: …

Takeaway for readers: My hope is that the reader will feel love, hope, joy, and friendship through a group of mismatched seniors adventuring through Europe and that they, too, will find the inspiration to travel the world.

This is my first novel; my other 7 books are non-fiction about full-time travel and hiking. Currently Kindling is publishing as a serial on Substack and will be available in paperback/ebook/audio on Amazon in 1st quarter 2027.

I’m thrilled your book club has an interest in the book. I’d love to speak to the club upon adoption of the book.

If you have any other questions, I’m very happy to answer. Below is the back copy of the book in case that’s helpful.

Chris

P.S. I saw that you rang me last night?? I’m in Sweden currently, so I missed the call. Glad to chat (303 xxx xxxx)

Back copy …

And she replied. The red flags started to pop up:

Thank you again for sharing all the wonderful details about Kindling. We’re really excited about the possibility of having it as one of our upcoming book club discussions.I also wanted to clarify how our book club works. There is no fee or charge for an author’s book to be selected and discussed by our community. Our members choose books based on their interest in the work and the discussion it can inspire.

When an author is interested in supporting the discussion, we do welcome support toward refreshments and small arrangements for the members during the session. This is completely separate from the book selection itself and is simply a way for authors who wish to participate to help make the discussion more enjoyable for the group.

We would also be delighted to have you speak with the club if Kindling is adopted, as you mentioned. I think our members would really enjoy hearing directly from you about the inspiration behind the novel and the characters.

Thank you again for your openness and enthusiasm. We look forward to continuing the conversation.

While I wouldn’t have a problem donating a few bucks towards refreshments, I started to wonder what was up. And how big the group was? And what type of money we were talking about? So I replied, intentionally misspelling her name to see if she’d call it out.

Thanks Eva. Can you tell me more about your club? And where are you?

Her info started getting repetitive. She gives me a little info about her group, but it’s vague. I googled the name of her book club and found a similar name on Facebook. The club is in Riverside, CA.

Of course, and thank you for asking.Coffee and Classics Book Club is a community of readers who come together to discover books, share different perspectives, and have thoughtful conversations with one another. We enjoy discussing a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, and we’re always interested in discovering new authors and works that can give our members something meaningful to talk about.

Our discussions are organized around selected books, and when possible, we also enjoy having authors connect with the group and share more about their writing, inspiration, and experiences.

We’re based in Riverside USA and our members participate through our community discussions and reading activities.

I’d be happy to tell you more about our group and how our book selections and discussions work.

Before I replied, Ava reached out again. Her tone changed. Clearly, I’ve been passed on to the closer. She’s repetitive again.

She writes:

I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to follow up on our conversation about Kindling and see if you had a chance to consider what I shared about Coffee and Classics Book Club.We’re still very interested in the possibility of featuring Kindling in one of our upcoming discussions. If you’re open to it, I’d be happy to share the next steps, including how our discussion is organized and what we would need from you as the author.

Would you be available to continue the conversation this week? Just let me know what day works best for you.

I’m now completely convinced, more so from the change of tone than anything, that this is a phishing scam generated by AI. In the meantime, I am now getting several calls each night from the same Colorado area code, but a different number each time. They go to spam. I decide to play along. I respond:

Yes, I would be interested. I am in Sweden and available Wednesday- Friday.

And she replies on repeat:

That’s wonderful to hear, and thank you for your interest! We’d be happy to continue with the next steps for Kindling.Since you’re interested in having the book featured with our community, I also wanted to clarify one part of how we work. Our book discussions themselves are free for authors, but authors who choose to participate are also invited to support the community by contributing toward refreshments and small arrangements for the members during the discussion. This support helps us create a welcoming experience for everyone involved.

Of course, the book selection is based on the members’ genuine interest in the work, and we appreciate your willingness to support the community.Since you’re available Wednesday through Friday, please let me know which day works best for you, and we can arrange the next step.

Looking forward to speaking with you and discussing Kindling further.

She can’t seem to pick a day even though I told her between Wednesday and Friday. I misspell her name again, ask for more group details, and I ask for a time and date.

Thanks Eva. Contributing to refreshments seems reasonable, but I’d like to know how large the group is.

I’m available Thursday after 7 pm Swedish time.

She responds. The conversation has moved completely off the selection process and the needs of the book club to the amount I’ll contribute. I find it out how the spacing typo continues to repeat, almost as a pattern.

Thank you again. Thursday after 7:00 PM Swedish time works well.Regarding the refreshments and community support, I wanted to ask what amount you would be comfortable contributing toward the session. That will help us plan the refreshments and arrangements accordingly.

There’s no fixed amount, so please feel free to let me know what you would be comfortable with.

Looking forward to speaking with you on Thursday and discussing Kindling further!

I respond. I want to get some numbers from her, as of course, she wants some numbers from me.

Could you please andwer a few questions for me? How many attend your meetings, where are you, and how would you like to chat? phone, Zoom, whatsapp?

She responds, still not answering my question about where she is. She offers a Zoom link.

Absolutely. We typically have around 20–35 readers attending our meetings, depending on the book and the session. We’re based in RIVERSIDE, USA.

For communication and meetings, we use Zoom. I’d be happy to arrange a Zoom conversation with you and answer any further questions you may have.

I respond:

Thank you for your reply.

Great. please send a link for Thursday. What time works for you?

She replies and goes in for an ask.

Thank you! 7:00 PM Swedish time works perfectly for me on Thursday. I’ll send you the meeting link and confirm the exact time with you shortly.Also, regarding the community support for refreshments, could you please let me know which payment method you would prefer to use? That way, I can provide you with the appropriate payment details and make sure everything is arranged smoothly.

Looking forward to speaking with you on Thursday and discussing Kindling further!

I reply:

Hi Eva

I’ll be glad to discuss payment options and amounts on the Zoom.

Can you tell me which month my book will be the selection?

And she concedes. I clearly have moved from the little ol nice lady at the book club to the professional closer:

Thank you for asking. The book will be featured as part of the Coffee and Classics Book Club selection, and we’re currently arranging the schedule for the upcoming discussions. I’ll confirm the specific month with you during our Zoom conversation.

Regarding the community support, we normally ask for 50% of the agreed support amount upfront so that we can begin making the necessary arrangements for the event, including refreshments and other preparations. The remaining balance can then be discussed and settled afterward.

We can go over the exact amount and payment options together during our Zoom call, as you suggested.Looking forward to speaking with you on Thursday at 7:00 PM Swedish time.

We go back and forth three times with me asking for a Zoom link and her promising the link. An hour before our 7 pm call, I haven’t received a link. I email asking for one.

At 6:45, I receive an email asking if I’m available. I say yes and to send a Zoom link.

At 8:30, I receive an email from Eva:

Here is the link to the event http://meet.google.com/jha-topj-kte

I ran the google meet info through AI and discovered that although it looked like an official meet link, it was fake and a phish. I respond that I will not do a Google Meet, I will do Zoom only.

My response:

I'm sorry, I can't do Google Meet. I thought we were meeting an hour ago? Please send a Zoom. Thank you, Eva. What time zone are you in? Who else will be in the call? Can I get your phone number?

She replies and does not answer my questions and states that although she offered Zoom earlier, her Book Club uses Google Meet. Clearly one hand is not talking to the other at the Book Club:

Thank you for clarifying. I’m sorry for the confusion.We actually don’t use Zoom for our book club discussions. Our community normally conducts these conversations through Google Meet, as that is the platform we use for our events and author discussions.

If Google Meet is not convenient for you, please let me know and we can discuss another option that works for both of us.Thank you for your understanding, Chris. We’re looking forward to speaking with you about Kindling.

I reply with some tone and annoyance:

That's too bad, especially since I mentioned Zoom several times in the past. Funny how all of a sudden you can't meet per my request. Please give me your phone number and your time zone and I'll call you.

She replies:

I understand, and I apologize for the confusion. You’re right that you had mentioned Zoom previously, and I should have clarified our meeting platform earlier rather than letting there be any misunderstanding.

You can reach me at +447412815239.

I appreciate your willingness to call, and I’m happy to speak with you directly about Kindling, the book club, and the upcoming discussion.Thank you for your patience, Chris. I look forward to speaking with you.

We still don’t have a time, a time zone, a location for “Riverside.” I decide to block my number and call her at the English number she gives. Of course, the phone answers, but there’s no one there. I say nothing. I hang up.

The Facebook group is in Riverside, CA. An easily found detail, but not something Ava seems to understand or that she can share:

Thank you for your understanding.

What time zone are you in? Why do you have a UK phone number? You said you're in Riverside. What state? What country?

And she replies:

Thank you for your questions, and I’m happy to clarify. The phone number I shared is a number I use for communication, which is why it has a UK country code.

Regarding Riverside, I apologize if there was any confusion. I should have explained my location more clearly earlier.Thank you for your patience and understanding. I’m looking forward to speaking with you and continuing our conversation about Kindling.

By this time, I’m certain (if you aren’t already!) that is is a scam. There’s no concrete information provided about her location, time zone, group details. She doesn’t answer her phone, or show up on time. Her tone changes, and she continues to oddly and overly use my name and book title.

I report the entire conversation as a phishing scam to Google.

Did I do the right thing? What red flags did you see?