It has again been brought to our attention that naughty people are sending emails to our clients pretending to be from Bookswarm. As before, these sound superficially plausible and worryingly urgent, while actually being a load of nonsense – and this time, they include an email signature that includes my photo, our logo, a client testimonial and even my real phone number. They have been reported to Google so hopefully, as last time, the sending account will be shut down.
UPDATE: The email address the messages were sent from has been deactivated by Google, as at the morning of 11th May.
Here’s the nonsense they’re sending this time:
Hello [client name],
I need to bring something critical to your attention.
There has been a recent rise in website accounts being restricted or permanently disabled, and this has been directly linked to uncontrolled access and weak bot management systems.
At this moment, your website is being accessed uncontrollably by human visitors (bots) who are scanning, copying, and interacting with your content without restriction. At the same time, your internal control system (robots.txt) is not properly limiting this access.
If your website is reviewed and detects the same content appearing across multiple sites under your control, your account can be suspended. If similar content is found elsewhere and is being used without proper control or appears abusive, this can lead to permanent suspension or restrictions.
This means your website is currently open and exposed without proper control.
If this continues, it will result in:
- Continuous content copying and duplication
- Loss of control over your website access
- Slower performance due to unwanted traffic
- Increased exposure to security risks and attacks
- Your website being flagged for suspicious or abusive activity
- Platforms like WordPress, Shopify. Wix actively monitor these patterns, and once flagged, accounts can face restrictions, suspension, or permanent limitations.
This is a high-risk situation and requires immediate action.
To resolve this, I will:
- Block all unauthorized third-party access
- Set up a verification system before access is granted
- Strengthen your bot control settings (robots.txt)
- Restrict and filter all unwanted traffic
- These steps will ensure that only verified and safe users can access your website and will significantly reduce any risk moving forward.
Please respond immediately so I can secure your website without delay.
Best regards,
Simon Appleby
If you receive any messages like this, please report them as Spam, and don’t be alarmed, they really are a load of old twaddle. Definitely don’t reply to the sender. If you did engage with the sender in any way, please notify us of the full details of the exchange.