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The former senior head of a Pentagon unit that studied UFOs is releasing a highly anticipated book in August of this year—and some people have already mistakenly ordered through misleading Amazon listings and received what appear to be convincing counterfeits of the book.
Before his resignation in 2017, Luis Elizondo headed the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a US government unit that dealt with UFOs.
In late May, Elizondo announced a book titled “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs,” stating that the book “underwent a nine-month security review by the U.S. government.” “Imminent” is set to be released on August 20 and has already made it to the top of Amazon's bestseller list in the military aviation history, UFOs and unsolved mysteries categories — but some who pre-ordered the book on Amazon have already received counterfeits.
An Amazon buyer who pre-ordered “Imminent” received a book last week with a cover that matched his expectations, but when he opened it, it was full of blank pages.
I asked my wife to add/preorder @LueElizondo's book to our Amazon list, I was shocked when she said it arrived two days later lol.
Needless to say, we were cheated.
Everyone read the Amazon description!!#ufotwitter #ufoX pic.twitter.com/3Bxf2LduxZ
— Joe (@shock_then_awe) May 27, 2024
A post by another X user revealed that a fake copy of the book existed on Amazon under a different author name (Didier Alarie) but with the same cover. The fake was listed at a cheaper price.
Just FYI: There is a version of Imminent on Amazon that is not by @LueElizondo Please be aware of this ?? And… maybe check the release date/author before you buy anything?
Assuming this is NOT related to you Mr. Elizondo, and I'd be happy to confirm if you have a moment – thanks!! ? https://t.co/0JmLkITr1z pic.twitter.com/2W45vbxKP1
— Kaleen (@lucyskye318) May 27, 2024
Although Elizondo has made it clear that he is the sole author of the book, the problem of fraudulent book listings on Amazon goes beyond Imminent.
“Fraudulent books have been a problem on Amazon for years,” Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, told NPR in March.
Each new book seems to spawn more that, according to Rasenberger, try to “steal sales.”
Related: How a self-published author sold 500,000 copies of her book
With ChatGPT, the problem multiplies. According to a January Wired report, AI-generated summaries disguised as e-books are currently flooding Amazon, especially ahead of major book releases.
The problem persists even though Amazon currently allows sellers to upload a maximum of three books per day.
Allegedly, copyrighted books are also used to train artificial intelligence.
Last year, author and comedian Sarah Silverman, along with authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, claiming that ChatGPT was trained using their copyrighted books.
Related topics: Authors sue OpenAI because ChatGPT is too “accurate” – this is what it means
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