Dear colleagues,

I have received several solicitations of both kinds--purported "reading-groups" and "Wikipedia editors."  I was struck by the surprisingly nuanced account the first one gave of my work. The folks at the Univ. of Chicago Press sent me this link, which documents the former scam at some length.

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/09/19/return-of-the-nigerian-prince-redux-beware-book-club-and-book-review-scams/

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 5:04 PM huet via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
In the same vein, I have been pestered during the past year by emails whose sending addressee mascaraded as a Wikipedia official message. Telling me that my Wikipedia page is not up to my reputation, with vague threats that this violated Wikipedia standards, etc. Proposing to help fixing the situation with their assistance. I naively responded to the first one, but then quickly realized that consulting fees would be required, and took as physhing.
Then it developed into an avalanche of similar mails, showing that fixing Wikipedia pages of living individuals was a cottage industry, with fake Wikipedia editors sharks lurking. Beware !

Gérard


Le 21 août 2026 à 21:50, Lavanya Vemsani via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> a écrit :

Hello All, 
Interesting to read this scam is widespread. 
Yes, received these messages. Did not respond but checked it with AI which said it was a scam. 
I also received another type of messages asking me about advising position with cultural representation for media/movie companies. These turned out to be scam as I checked it with AI again. They were quick to send Non Disclosure Agreement when I asked for more information. Very fishy. 

Thank you. 
Lavanya 
Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 21, 2026, at 8:46 AM, David Slakter via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:


Making outlandish or easily disproven claims is an establishment trick for email scams. Scammers too only have a limited amount of time. It's much easier for they can restrict their target pool to people who believe they're dealing with the representatives of a generous Nigerian prince.

David Slakter

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 8:31 AM Jeffery Long via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
That’s a great point, Antonia! 

That said, these emails have become very transparent. As Ananya mentioned, they often claim to be from real, often prominent, people. In the case of one of the earlier emails I received of this kind, I contacted the actual person from whom it claimed to originate (a journalist from NPR) and that person’s assistant informed me that they were aware that someone was using his name in a scam. 

The most amusing of these emails that I received claimed to be from Stephen King! I would like to think that Stephen King reads about Indian philosophy, but my suspicion is that he is otherwise occupied.

Looking forward to your Latin and Greek courses,

Jeff

Dr. Jeffery D. Long
Carl W. Zeigler Professor of Religion, Philosophy, & Asian Studies
School of Arts & Humanities
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA
 
https://etown.academia.edu/JefferyLong
 
Series Editor, Explorations in Indic Traditions: Ethical, Philosophical, and Theological
Lexington Books
 
“One who makes a habit of prayer and meditation will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life.”  (Holy Mother Sarada Devi)
 
“We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” (Carl Sagan)



On Aug 20, 2026, at 6:50 PM, Antonia Ruppel <rhododaktylos@gmail.com> wrote:

Just thought I’d add my usual two Euro cents on using AI here: simply search online for scam book club Goodreads (or whatever other platform was offered to you) and you will find large numbers of actual people telling you this is actually a scam. (Also, lots of people write genuine emails with the help of AI, so that alone doesn’t tell you much.)

Your luddite truly,
     Antonia 

On Thu 20 Aug 2026 at 22:39, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:
I also received one of these, but it looked fishy to me. I ran it through ChatGPT and was told that this was most likely a scam message.

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 3:27 PM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Not dozens in my case, but also just two, specifically for Goodreads. It seemed odd to me right from the start that someone wanted to make some poor book club read my Sanskrit textbook, so I never responded. 

Antonia

On Thu 20 Aug 2026 at 22:06, Jeffery Long via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Patrick, I receive these almost daily. Like you, I took it at face value at first. But it’s a scam. I started putting these emails through an AI detector. They have all come up as 100% written by AI. I now delete them reflexively. All the best! Jeff




On Thursday, August 20, 2026, 5:51 PM, Uskokov, Aleksandar via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Patrick,

I have received these as well, though not quite a dozen, more like two. I had the same experience, an initial brief exchange until it was obvious that they want money.

Best wishes 
Aleksandar 

Get Outlook for iOS
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Patrick Olivelle via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Thursday, 20 August 2026 17:28:19
To: INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Book Club Invitations
 
Dear All:

Just wanted to alert you all to a scam that is widespread. Someone, generally with only a first name, sends an email saying he/she is leading a large book club and would like to read a book of yours. They want you to support this effort, and with the added advantage of publicity for the book. Over the past year or so I must have received at least a dozen such requests. I did respond to the first one, and with the third email there was a request for money, small amount like a couple of hundred dollars, so help with expenses — and she said this is NOT a pay to pay scan. I stopped responding. Wonder how many have received similar emails.

With warm good wishes,

Patrick

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