The Bizarre Bookstore Hoax Story Breaks

We were name-checked in Scott Timberg's LA Times story about the series of lame con attempts perpetrated against indie bookstores in Southern California. Somebody called us pretending to be an author who had/was about to appear at our store and asked for money to do...whatever. In neither case did the con work (In fact, our crack customer service crew called the guy out when he claimed to be Ray Bradbury. I believe the exact exchange was "This is Ray Bradbury." "No, it isn't."). It's an interesting little con, but in the end, not terribly effective. When you think about it, it's pretty easy to verify somebody's identity over the phone. This isn't exactly the Spanish Prisoner (or even the Spanish Prisoner's weak sister, the Nigerian email scam). The key mistake is trying this on indie bookstores. Clearly, we're too savvy for that. Take that weak sh*t to Barnes & Noble.