1. ToeKneeBlack

    ToeKneeBlack Banned

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    Free eBook Scam

    Discussion in 'Electronic Publishing' started by ToeKneeBlack, Mar 29, 2016.

    I recently released my second story on Amazon and various other platforms, and upon searching Google for the title, I find somebody is offering the book for free!

    Unhappy with this unauthorised distribution, I clicked on the link and found a generic looking social network with some even more generic comments and a "download link" which is nothing more than an advert. After searching for other obscure ebook titles, I find the exact same page with the exact same comments with the book title substituted each time.

    I've filled in an official request for Google to have the link to the page with my book title removed; I ask that other authors on here check https://www.google.com/fusiontables for similar links which supposedly offer their ebooks for free.

    To find yours, simply search Google for fusiontables free and the title of your book. If you find a fusiontable with a link to a page bearing your title, please report it by clicking on Help and then Report abuse/copyright. We need to send a message to these scammers that their attempts to use our titles in their ad revenue fraud schemes will not be tolerated!

    I have attached an image with my ebook title (which I have blurred out) as an example. I know Google tends to ignore stuff like this because it's all automated, but if enough of us complain they'll have to do something.
     

    Attached Files:

    GingerCoffee likes this.
  2. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I'm surprised to see it with book titles. It's very annoying when you are looking for a specific product to get search results only to find it was a bait and switch. It happens quite a bit on Google search.
     
    Mike Hill likes this.
  3. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Google will probably respond if you followed their takedown procedures. I believe that unlike just linking, fusiontables is a Google service that allows users to actually store data on Google's server (backed up in Drive). That's easier to have removed than a link to a third party site, generally speaking.
     
  4. ToeKneeBlack

    ToeKneeBlack Banned

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    It seems to have worked for me - the result no longer shows in Google search results and is instead listed as a DMCA complaint.
     
    GingerCoffee likes this.
  5. Mike Hill

    Mike Hill Natural born citizen of republic of Finland.

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    Like GingerCoffee said it's very annoying and happens quite often when you search for rare books, albums, movies etc. Hopefully older people searching for collectibles remember to be carefully. When I was younger I often downloaded some annoying stuff to my computer.
     
    matwoolf likes this.

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