And lo, unto many in-boxes at The Stranger came this e-mail message:

Good day,

I ‘d like to make an inquiry regarding the New American Standard Bibles. Please get back to me and advice pricing as soon as possible.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

God Bless,
Michael Davis

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

7 replies on “Um. Wrong Address?”

  1. Perhaps you reviewed a book, and thus got sucked into a list that spammers sell to scammers of “bookstores.”

    I get these routinely as I run isbn.nu, a book price comparison/shopping site. The scam works in one of two ways (sometimes both). A scammer contacts a bookstore and asks to have a bunch of something (bibles, law books, etc.) shipped either to a reshipper in the United States, or to a foreign address. They provide a credit card number, which is stolen, or (in the other form of the scam) offer to send a cashier’s check for a larger amount, and then ask that the difference be wired to another party.

    If a bookstore sends the books, after the credit-card charges are reversed, they are stuck for the wholesale price of the books and shipping. If the bookstore receives a cashier’s check and wires the difference in the check and the cost of the books and shipping, it loses that amount, and may also lose the books and shipping.

    Christian bookstores are typically targeted. Some have gone out of business due to the loss. I routinely receive requests for 50 copies of Blacks Law, which is apparently a hot item in Russia, but I’m asked to ship to Nigeria (of course).

  2. I work for a religious denomination and get these emails all the time, despite the fact that we have never sold Bibles. When I reply that we don’t sell them and suggest sources for getting them, the person always insists again that they want to buy them from us and again asks for a price list. I’m assuming they’re asking The Stranger because all of the book reviews and coverage of bookstores made them decide you’re a publisher with their cursory Googling for marks. I’ve always thought that this was some sort of new scam.

    I’m just not sure how it works. Maybe they send you a check that’s far too large and ask you to cash it and send them the overage, like that rental check scam?

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