AI slop exposes fraudulent publishing offer to Australian author Mary Colussi

A fraudulent publishing offer sent to Australian author Mary Colussi was exposed partly by AI-generated content that only repeated the online synopsis of her debut novel 'Touch Grass', published in June 2026. The email, purportedly from a UK publishing house representative, used an AOL address and requested money, a red flag since traditional publishers pay advances rather than ask for fees. The scam highlights how AI agents could make such frauds more convincing in the future.

AI slop exposes fraudulent publishing offer to Australian author Mary Colussi 18 August 2026 Touch Grass https://www.penguin.com.au/books/touch-grass-9781761358548 , the debut novel of Sydney based Australian author Mary Colussi https://www.marycolussi.com/ , was published in June this year. And a fraudulent publishing deal was not too far behind https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/the-email-many-authors-dream-of-getting-and-why-it-s-a-trap-20260806-p60lxo.html . In this instance though AI slop played a part in giving the scam away. An email sent to Colussi, apparently from a representative of a well-known publishing house in the UK, was full of praise for Touch Grass . Curiously though comments about the novel’s plot were limited only to what had been published online in its synopsis. This despite claims by the publishing house rep that they’d read the book. Their AOL once America Online email address was also something of a give away, to say nothing of the request for money in exchange for a publishing deal. While this wasn’t the best executed fraud attempt, as AI agents evolve their efforts will no doubt become more convincing. But asking an author to pay to be published would still arouse suspicion. Traditional publishing houses do not ask writers for money, rather they pay out in the form of an advance. The objective of these scams though is catch people — particularly newcomers to the industry — off guard, and this is where they might succeed. RELATED CONTENT artificial intelligence https://disassociated.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/ , Australian literature https://disassociated.com/tag/australian-literature/ , books https://disassociated.com/tag/books/ , novels https://disassociated.com/tag/novels/ , trends https://disassociated.com/tag/trends/