Fraud Alert

Fraud Alert

Please be aware that scammers continue to target authors using an array of tactics to solicit money and personal information. We have learned that some of these schemes have involved the fraudulent use of Hachette Book Group’s company and imprint names:  

Scammers have sent messages posing as Hachette Book Group (HBG) representatives to trick people into believing they are interviewing and hiring job candidates or contracting freelance work on HBG’s behalf. These emails, which sometimes use HBG’s logo or include fake employment letters, are often sent from email addresses that closely resemble HBG’s.

Scammers purporting to be literary agents have contacted authors to make fraudulent contract offers under HBG’s name. They often promise a large advance, falsely claim that HBG has expressed interest in publishing the author’s manuscript, pretend to be working with HBG editors or other employees, and create fake publishing agreements or letters of interest they claim to be negotiating with HBG.  

Scammers have even impersonated HBG employees on the phone to deceive victims into thinking that HBG will enter a publishing agreement with them as soon as a fee is paid. 

Tips

• We do not solicit author manuscripts or job candidates in this way. If you are approached out of the blue with an offer that sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. 
• HBG will not ask for payment of a fee to review a manuscript or to enter into a publishing agreement with an author. Remember, the publisher pays the advance to the author in a publishing agreement, not the other way around.   
• Pay close attention to the sender’s email address in any message that purports to be from HBG. Scammers often use misspellings or other variations of our domain name and email address in their solicitations. 
•  If the email appears to be from a HBG employee, confirm that such person exists and actually works for the company. 

Resources

• If you have been a victim of a scam, we encourage you to report it to the FTC – https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
• You may also want to report the scam to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center – https://ic3.gov/
• For other tips on avoiding publishing scams – https://authorsguild.org/resource/avoiding-publishing-scams/
• If you’re not sure if it’s a scam, you may want to reach out to the Authors Guild or send an email to us at Customer.Service@hbgusa.com with the subject heading “Scam Report”]