Avoiding Fake Agents
A new, but growing issue is fake agents contacting authors online. These fake agents will use the names of real agents to appear legitimate. But they are NOT!
How to spot these crooks?
The biggest red-flag is that they will ask you for money. A real agent never asks for money. NEVER! and for NO REASON!
If an agent ever asks you for money, it is a scam. Don't give it to them. It's as simple as that.
Even if they say you'll make it back later, don't do it.
But before you even get to the asking-for-money stage, there are ways to spot fake agents.
The number one warning sign is that they reached out to you first.
1. If the "agent" contacted you through a social networking site, you should be highly suspicious. It is very rare for real agents to do this, so you should spend some time verifying them.
2. If the agent sent you an unsolicited email, take caution and verify.
3. If it is a reply to a query you sent via email, your actual query letter should be included below their message. If it is not, be very suspicious.
4. If the agent calls or texts you out of the blue, it is highly likely a scam. Yes, they are finding phone numbers and reaching out that way.
How to spot a fake email address.
These fake agents are creating very authentic-looking email addresses. But if you look close, you can tell they are fake. They'll create email addresses with names that closely, but not quite exactly, match real agent's email addresses.
Here's an example: Let's say a scammer has been impersonating an agent at Acme Literary Agency.
This agent's real email address is jessica@AcmeLiterary.com
And the fake address being used is jessica@AcmeLiteraryAgency.com. See the difference?
Some of the really lazy scammers will be using gmail, hotmail, or some other public email service. So check that. Make sure the email address ends with the agent's actual website domain. So an agent named Paula at Acme Literary Agency should have an email address something like Paula@AcmeLiterary.com. Yet there are some legitimate agents using gmail, so be careful and verify.
To verify an email address:
1. Verify the agent's email address by checking it against their QueryTracker listing. But not all agents use email for queries, so this may not always be available.
2. Copy everything after the @ symbol, and paste it into the address bar of your browser. It should take you to that agent's real website. If it doesn't, there's a problem.
3. Check the age of the domain. When someone registers a domain name, such as AcmeLiteraryAgency.com, records are publicly available, and you can look them up to see how long ago the name was registered. For real agents, those names have probably been around for years. For the fakes, they will be very new. Often only a few weeks or months old.
To look up a domain name, go to lookup.icann.org, enter the name in the presented field and click the "Lookup" button. In the results, you'll see a field for the date the domain was created.