You Can't Stop Scammers on Amazon So Get Over It

What's with those authors who seem to have nothing better to do than police Amazon all day and bitch and moan about scammers? It's happening with Vella now too. Of course people have found a way to scam Vella and now some authors are going on this crusade by emailing Amazon constantly thinking that's going to make a difference. Then they try to bully other authors into reporting people and making them feel guilty when they don't wanna get involved. What is funny is when you get down to it, it's not like these authors really care about an "even playing field" it's that they feel like the scammers are taking something away from them. But the point is, everyone knows Amazon couldn't care less about what goes on with Vella or KDP or they'd be proactive. Anyone who has been publishing on Amazon a few years or more knows it works. Amazon does NOTHING unless it takes money out of their pockets. They don't care about authors being hurt. People have been abusing the system and scamming Amazon for years and that won't change until these scams but a dent in Amazon's pockets.

I am tired of people thinking authors should clean up Amazon's messes. I refuse to. I'm not spending my time strolling through Amazon or Vella or whatever looking for things I think are suspicious and reporting people. First off, I have a life. Second, it's not my job to clean Amazon's store. Would it be good if there weren't cheaters and scammers? Sure! Do I like scammers? Heck no but WE can't change something that Amazon refuses to change themselves.

Perfect example, do you know there was a person on Amazon who published a bunch of books, pretending they were from Harlequin? But one look told you the books were not. This guy put up a bunch of books with Harlequin on the cover and "Harlequin Presents" in the subtitles, passing the books off as Harlequin publications!   Yes, the nerve. I mean this is the boldest scam I'd ever seen sitting right up there on Amazon for the world to see. So I, (yes, me) shared the info on FB and I also contacted a woman who works for Harlequin and she said she'd tell Harlequin and they would let Amazon know.  This was probably back in April or May I'll say.

Guess what?

THE BOOKS ARE STILL UP! 

Now, the "author" did take "Harlequin" off the covers and subtitles but can you believe Amazon allowed those books to stay up? Here is someone who stole titles and paraded fake books off as Harlequin books and all he has to do is take the branding off and it's fine? A person who made money by cheating readers and I thought Amazon cared so much about customers? This man or whoever should be banned from Amazon! You mean to tell me a company like Harlequin that has way more clout and power than an indie author, can't get Amazon to ban this person? I was shocked to see the books are still up and here it is almost November! I could do nothing but shake my head. 

So, I don't wanna hear anymore authors talking about petitions for Amazon to do something or authors asking other authors to write Amazon and report things. It is clear as day that Amazon doesn't give a crap. For years, they have done nothing about the foolery that goes on in their store! They only did something about those KU scammers years ago because it got big in the media but that was back in 2016 or so and guess, still got KU scammers in the store. Rebecca Hamilton is back on there now! Yeah. She was banned. So is Alexis Riley going to be allowed back? Chance Carter? Though I heard he's been back multiple times under different names. It's sickening. Yet, Amazon is accidentally banning decent authors and taking away their accounts while these scammers get chance after chance? How the hell did Rebecca Hamilton get her ban lifted? I thought she was banned for life. This woman single-handily scammed the entire Amazon store!

So, I don't get what these author crusaders are trying to accomplish. Again, I think it's more about their own best interest because they always seem to mention how this takes visibility from other authors. So? And other authors with real books take visibility from you. So do authors who advertise or who are more popular than you are. Newsflash, no matter what you do there is always going to be someone getting more attention and selling more books than you. Sure, it sucks if they are doing it the wrong way but the best thing you can do is concentrate on YOURSELF. Write good books, market well, build a brand and let the scammers get caught on their own but some authors become obsessed and act like vigilantes because they think that if they clean out every scammer on Amazon, they would be selling better or getting more attention. Ain't gonna happen.

It's also not our jobs to police Amazon. I refuse to do Amazon's job for them for free. I'm still livid that that Harlequin dude is still up.

I also wish these "scam fighters" would be honest admit they are doing this because they hope it helps them and not for the good of the "author community".   Please.

Okay, rant over. LOL! But there was some folks going crazy about Vella's scammers and saying they were gonna "hold Amazon's feet to the fire" and all I could do was roll my eyes.

Yeah, good luck with that.