It seemed like some sort of scam. It was an email from someone I’d never heard of, Mike Williams, praising one of my books and offering to promote it. Several things made me suspicious.

                  The praise for my book was excessive. Never before had anyone written to me in such a way. Williams seemed knowledgeable about my book, but this was too much. Here’s a typical paragraph taken from a much longer email.

“Your voice is calm but dangerous in the best way. There is no melodrama, just clarity. And clarity is disruptive. You mapped out the mechanics of outrage and resistance in a way that feels both academic and deeply practical. For people who care about social movements, civil resistance, institutional accountability, or even personal advocacy, this book is a tactical manual disguised as scholarship.”

                  Williams didn’t say how they’d come across my book or why it had attracted their interest. That was suspicious.

                  This is just one of dozens of dubious emails about my writing and research that began arriving in mid 2025. The senders of the first few dubious emails wanted to connect via WhatsApp or Telegram. Later came elaborate messages about my books. These senders give no web address or other contact information. There is no obvious way to check their authenticity.

                  I didn’t reply, instead filing the emails in a folder titled “AI fakes.” I assumed the messages had been written by AI and sent to me automatically. Why?

                  Though the emails were a nuisance, they were also fascinating. Eventually, assuming others were receiving similar solicitations, I looked online for commentary and found several posts about AI book club scams. Since the middle of 2025, authors have been receiving offers to feature their books in book club selections, and some of them have tried to figure out what was going on. They replied and discovered they were expected to pay a spot fee or participation cost for their book to be featured by a book club, something legitimate clubs never request. To test the process, some of them paid, but the book club promise didn’t eventuate. Here are some who’ve written about their experiences: Angela Hoy, Joanna Sommer, Claude Whitmyer and Pete Mitchell.

                  I was right to assume emails of this sort were scams, but there was an amusing part of the process. Some of the emails were praise for a book that I didn’t write. How did the sender get it wrong? In most cases, it was obvious. There is more than one author named Brian Martin. In fact, there are quite a few.

Brian Martins galore

Martin is a common last name in English-speaking countries. Brian is a moderately common first name, nothing like David or Robert, but frequent enough so that there are thousands of Brian Martins in the world. Using a Google Alert to see when my name pops up online, I’ve discovered Brian Martins who are journalists, tax agents, detectives, crime victims, sportspeople, relatives of the deceased, themselves deceased, and various others  — including criminals. Brian Martin, also known as the Hawk, was once called the most wanted man in Scotland. With so many Brian Martins out there, it’s no surprise that some are authors.

                  One message praised my book The Queen among Kings. Not just one message; several different supposed book-clubbers wrote me about it. It didn’t take long to discover that The Queen among Kings was written by a Brian Martin who lives in Texas. I contacted him.

Brian Martin, author of The Queen among Kings

                  There’s research showing that when we have something in common with another person, like a birthday or a favourite sporting team, this makes us like them more. (Check out similarity/attraction theory.) It’s true of names. Having the same name is a good connection. Although it was strange to write to another Brian Martin, we got on fine.

                  What happened, apparently, is that the AI programme, a bot, saw Texas Brian’s new book The Queen among Kings, searched online to find the author and came across my online presence. A human wouldn’t make such a mistake, so I guessed that the bot was a simple one, not making full use of AI capacities. It wouldn’t be hard to instruct the bot to check that it was the correct author.

                  Then came more messages. Other Brian Martins had just published books.

The Book of Hekate: A Devotional Guide to Magic, Liminal Space & the Keeper of the Keys

Between Worlds: A Life of Abduction, Addiction, and Awakening

Brian Martin, author of Between Worlds

A Defense of Thomas Jefferson and His Legacy

Brian Martin, author of A Defense of Thomas Jefferson and His Legacy

These are just the books about which I’ve received scam emails. There are quite a few others sharing my name who have written books. It seems that we Brian Martins have been busy!

Conclusion

AI scams are likely to become more common. Email spam and scams have been around for decades, and most are now screened out before they get to us. AI is more sophisticated, as it can readily target individuals, getting around spam filters. No doubt these sorts of scams will become ever more convincing. They are a type of digital pollution, and perhaps eventually many people online will only accept emails from a whitelist or use some other way to screen incoming messages.

                  One other thing. There are many good books out there, and maybe some of them are by someone named Brian Martin. But be careful, because already there are AI take-offs of legitimate books. Buyer beware.

Brian Martin, bmartin@uow.edu.au

Thanks to Paula Arvela and Suzzanne Gray for useful comments.

Postscript

For the sake of exposition, I’ve simplified the variety of AI scams I’ve received. Let me know if you’d like a copy of the ones I’ve received.