Colussi’s experience is increasingly common, thanks to a new wave of AI-generated scam emails targeting authors internationally, offering publishing or promotional opportunities in exchange for money. Email scams targeting authors have existed almost as long as email itself, but they have been turbocharged by AI. Veteran author and academic Dennis Altman has written about receiving effusive, detailed emails about his books from individuals purporting to be acclaimed authors Annie Ernaux and Patrick Süskind; Walter Marsh described being “flooded” by emails offering paid reviews and promotion after the publication of his second novel (ironically, a novel about theft and fraud) late last year; and Jane Sullivan detailed a “highly convincing” email ostensibly from the (real) Melbourne-based…