When a Scammer Gets Caught Red Handed

Fraudsters are everywhere, and AI is making their job easier than ever. 

Fraudsters are all around us, and AI is making their scams easier than ever.

I received a polite message from a translator expressing her admiration for one of my books and her desire to translate it into Hungarian.

Being fluent in Hungarian, I was intrigued and asked how much she charges and if she could provide a sample translation. She readily agreed and said she can translate 10K words for $500. Out of curiosity, I sent her a page from my book. In just ten minutes, she responded with the translated page.

It was obvious that the translation was done by an advanced AI program.

I wonder how many unsuspecting authors she fooled with her “translation,” and I sent her this message:

Translating English into Hungarian isn’t just about knowing words—it’s about capturing spirit, tone, and flavor.

Due to the complexity of the Hungarian language, AI translation cannot reach a level that would be enjoyable for a native speaker because Hungarian is an agglutinative language, meaning it builds words by stacking prefixes and suffixes—sometimes resulting in one word that replaces an entire phrase in English.

English uses word order to convey meaning, while Hungarian relies more on case endings and context.

Vocabulary and Expression:

Hungarian often doesn’t have a direct equivalent for English idioms or phrases, so translations require creative rephrasing rather than word-for-word swaps.

Some English words have multiple meanings, but Hungarian might need several separate words depending on the context.

Cultural Context:

Humor, sarcasm, and cultural references in English can be hard to capture in Hungarian without sounding awkward or overly literal. 

Example:

English: "I’ll get back to you."

Hungarian: "Később visszajelzek." (literally: “I’ll respond later.”) — the tone and intent have to be interpreted, not just translated.

English: “I used to be a baker, but I couldn't make enough dough.”

Dough = money + bread ingredient.

Hungarian challenge: Wordplay often doesn’t survive translation because puns rely on sound or dual meanings. Hungarian doesn’t use the same idiomatic overlap, so a translator has to either explain the joke (which kills it!) or rewrite it entirely with local humor.

It’s a bit like trying to fit puzzle pieces from two completely different sets—but when done well, the meaning, emotions, and humor are conveyed perfectly.

She blocked me and deleted our messages, so I thought I’d alert fellow authors about these so-called “translation” offers.

Have you been scammed by so-called translators, editors, book cover artists or vanity publishers? Tell us about your experience.

Erika M Szabo

https://authorerikamszabo.com

Erika loves to dance to her own tunes and follow her dreams, introducing her story-writing skills and her books that are based on creative imagination with themes such as magical realism, alternate history, urban fantasy, cozy mystery, sweet romance, and supernatural stories. Her children’s stories are informative and educational and deliver moral values in a non-preachy way.

Re-blogged by Erika M Szabo: The Warning Signs of Vanity Publishers

Wolves in sheep's clothing

Re-blogged by Erika M Szabo

I wrote this article on my website in February and I hope author and especially aspiring authors will benefit from reading about the warning signs.

Re-blogged:
"Vanity publishers contact me, and I assume they contact as many authors they can find, from time to time either on my website or on the phone (which supposedly hidden on social sites, but I guess made accessible to those who pay for the list)

​They hire great salespeople, I have to give them that!

I had a message and a pleasant female voice stated that she read my book, loved it and would like to offer a publishing contract. Not knowing where she was calling from I called her back.
"Which book did you like?" I asked.
I heard papers shuffling and keyboard clicking and then she said, "The Ancestors' Secrets trilogy."
"What did you like about the series?"
"Uhm… I really like the story and I'd like to publish it for you. It has great potentials and you will make a large profit after we publish and market your book."

It was obvious she knew nothing about my books and was trying to find a naïve and willing pigeon to make a large profit.

Lately, since self-published or first time publishing authors are more aware of the pitfalls of vanity publishers, they often pose as a traditional publisher.

When asked, they vehemently deny that they are vanity publishers.
"We don’t accept everyone who submits their manuscript." They'd say.
Yeah, right! They're hounding authors all over the net."

CONTINUE READING

Publishers and Publishing Help

You wrote a fantastic story. Now What?

There are many selling sites where you can self-publish your book.

However, it takes a long time to learn the requirements such as correct book formatting and uploading the manuscript, have an attractive book cover made, register copyright, and when the book is published, promote and market your book. Not every author has the time to learn the process.

Traditional publishing:

When a reputable publisher accepts you book, they do every step of the publishing process and they don't charge any fees. Your book is published under the publisher's name and they pay you the agreed percentage of the royalty collected from sales. Traditional publishers make sure your book is edited and they market the book because their investment return depends on the high number of sales.

Vanity publishers:

They accept any book and offer publishing packages ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 or more. They format your book, create book cover (usually don't edit) and publish your book under their name and pay you royalty. Vanity publishers are not interested in marketing and selling the book, they make their profit by selling the publishing packages to authors and the books are usually priced very high, therefore there is very little chance of getting sales.

Self-publishing services:

Publishing services provide assistance to authors who can't or don't want to learn the entire publishing process. Some services do only certain steps of the publishing process such as formatting or book cover design.

Others do the entire process. The author gives them the edited or unedited manuscript and they every step with the author's approval. they publish the book under your selling site account, under your name, and you collect 100% of the royalties earned.

When you have the manuscript ready, shop around and find the best way to publish it. Author support groups are great to get word of mouth recommendations from those who worked with the services before. Best of luck with your new books!

Golden Box Books is a Publishing Service Provider.

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