Celebrity Scams

  

I gotta give the scammers credit for originality. No more I'm (give a name and a place). They go on to say I've just had my wallet stolen, they say. Send money. 

So many friends have received these calls including the one allegedly from my pal Mary. Mary was sitting in my office with me when I got the message. Scams.

My first ALLEGED celebrity contact was from Il Divo's Urs, a Swiss like me and my favorite of the four singers. He started out saying he liked to contact fans even if his manager didn't know he did. He wanted to make sure I didn't have any press connections.When I didn't answer he went away but not before mentioning money. I'm still a fan of the group.

Because I'm a writer, I've been e-mailed or Facebooked by ALLEGED writers John Irving, Stephen King, Donna Leon and this morning by James Patterson.

John Irving - I had a relation with him in my head because I loved his writing. Same birth year, both of us lived in Exeter NH but not at the same time. My masters degree thesis was on repeated symbolism in his books. However, that would not be a reason for him to contact me so I played along for a bit and when I asked for authentication he went away.

Stephen King - I'm not a fan of his genre although I admire his style. I don't think I've ever mentioned him on the Internet. He could have found my name from my books, articles, etc. I didn't play along at all.

Donna Leon - I hoped she was real. We both live part time in Geneva, Switzerland. I imagined having a fondue at the Café du Soleil and talking about how we write our mysteries and what living internationally has done to our writing. She also knew a bit about my writing, unlike the other celebrity writers. However, as soon as I asked for verification, she disappeared. A tiny bit of me still wishes she was real.

James Patterson - His message was totally blank. Maybe I should write back and offer to check his marketing.

Each day I get one to five emails offering to publicize my books because they happened to come across them and like my style, plots, characters, etc. without ever mentioning the title. I suspect hidden in some AI data center is the same letter to send out. And yes, I check the internet to see if they are real companies. 

All in all these e-mail or Facebook interruptions are a change from my writing, reading, playing with the dog, doing things with my husband, but I do wish they would be more original. Maybe I can do a short story about a scammer.