Scammer targets Icelandic authors with AI

Scammer targets Icelandic authors with AI-generated messages

The Icelandic Writers' Union is headquartered at Gunnarshús on Dyngjuvegur. mbl.is/Sigurður Bogi

A foreign scammer has made Iceland’s community of authors his latest target. Using artificial intelligence, he sends convincing messages praising authors’ work and offering to help promote their books abroad.

In a Facebook post, Icelandic author Una Margrét Jónsdóttir shared that a woman calling herself Danielle Kushner had contacted her with glowing praise for her book Silfuröld revíunnar. In the same message, Danielle claimed to work for a company specializing in promoting authors internationally and offered her services to market the book overseas.

Speaking to mbl.is, Una said she was initially pleased to receive such positive feedback but quickly became suspicious that something was not right.

Danielle first contacted Jónsdóttir about a week ago. What immediately caught Jónsdóttir’s attention was that the messages were written in fluent Icelandic, even though Silfuröld revíunnar has only been published in Icelandic.

While there could have been an innocent explanation for someone named Danielle Kushner writing such convincing Icelandic, Una found it particularly suspicious that Danielle repeatedly avoided answering questions about whether she lived in Iceland.

“It was entirely possible that she was an Icelander with a foreign name or someone living in Iceland, so I asked her about it,” Una said. “I replied politely, thanked her for the compliments, and also asked whether this promotion would cost anything, since she hadn’t mentioned that in her first message.”

“She then sent another polite email explaining that there were two promotional packages available and quoted the prices. But she once again sidestepped my question about her Icelandic.”

One package was priced at 395 euros, while the other cost 653 euros.

Jónsdóttir said she is not used to reading AI-generated text, but a family member she showed the messages to quickly recognized that they had likely been written with artificial intelligence.

She said she never intended to send anyone money and instead contacted the Icelandic Writers’ Union after becoming convinced that something was suspicious about Danielle Kushner.

It then emerged that the messages were part of an online scam targeting at least 20 Icelandic authors. The scammer has used several aliases, including Danielle Kushner, Clara Hoffman, Lydia Witten, and Lise. The messages are generated with AI and are written in a highly convincing style.

Jónsdóttir said it is important to raise awareness of scams like these. In the age of artificial intelligence, she warned, such fraud is becoming easier, cheaper, and far more convincing to carry out.