Flattery?

I receive at least a few author-trolling scams every day. They usually rely on flattery as the hook. One I received this morning caused me to think about another form of flattery they might represent - the faked sender. Some figures that have been used as aliases: Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Sarah Maas, etc. This was the start of an email from the gmail address: “Thomas Umstattd jr. <novelmarketingpodcast1…>”

Hi John,

I'm Thomas Umstattd Jr., CEO and Owner of Castle Media Group LLC, founder of Author Media, host of the Novel Marketing Podcast, publishing consultant, entrepreneur, marketing strategist, and international speaker. Through Castle Media Group and Author Media, I help authors build successful publishing careers by providing practical guidance on book marketing, author branding, publishing strategy, technology, and business development.
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Beware of the bots, my friends.