Fredric P Miller, Agnes F Vandome and John McBrewster"
You aren't the only one take by this scam. I found this dated 08-08-09:
There is a known scam going about which is still drawing people in. Someone I know just paid £35 for a book on a particular subject, published by Alphascript Publishing.
Within the first few pages among copyright information was a small easily missed disclaimer 'all source material drawn from articles on wikipedia'.
These muppets are literally (badly) gathering info from Wikipedia, calling themselves 'editors' and selling the books via Amazon and other outlets for a huge price. There is actually a wikipedia article here on the exact subject. I only wonder if the conmen involved will try and sell that for the better part of £40 next.
Sufficed to say the book is going back to Amazon under their 'no quibble garantee'.
Or this from 13/08/09
Alphascript Publishing: 1900+ copy&pasted books from Wikipedia Remove Highlighting
It was raised before on the Village Pump, but I think this is so disturbing
that we ought to do something.
"Alphascript Publishing" has published over 1900 (and counting) books, all
available on Amazon. Prices range from $31 to $179. All of these books are
simple computer-generated copies from Wikipedia and (at least according to
one Amazon reviewer) couple other public domain websites. Trouble is, from
book description page there is absolutely no way of knowing that the book is
a Wikipedia mirror on paper. At least several Amazon buyers have been
fooled. What really gets my blood boiling is that Amazon user "VDM Verlag
Dr.Müller" (I think someone exposed him as 100% shareholder of the
publishing co) goes on rating these products as "five star"....
The publisher seems to observe the copyright (even includes full edit
history) so legal action seems impossible. Someone already contacted Amazon,
but they "are not responsible for the quality of books sold". In the
meantime the number of such books grew from 900 in June to almost 2000 as of
today... I think we should do something. At the very least publishing
product reviews warning that what this is....
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PrimeHunter/Alphascript_Publishing_sells_free_articles_as_expensive_bookshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)/Archive_20#The_Alphascript-Amazon-Wikipedia_book_hoaxhttp://rufftoon.livejournal.com/59337.htmlThanks,
Renata
Be aware and avoid at all costs. Thieving gits
