Scams, fraud and lies - by Elizabeth Kay

 

The 11-year-old girl who inspired the book concerned

I am no stranger to scams. There are two I would like to mention, both telephone calls. The first was in the 1980s by a man who wanted to know what underwear I was wearing. I hung up, but he was persistent. This was a landline, and I was waiting for a phone call, so I couldn’t just leave the phone off the hook. I tried everything, blowing a whistle down the phone, saying nothing for as long as I felt I could before I hung up. I think it was the eleventh call when I decided to take a different approach. I listened carefully to what he wanted to do to me, then I said, “I don’t think you’d like that very much. You see, I have this disease…” and I went on to describe some imaginary condition which had every disgusting visual manifestation and smell I could think of. He hung upon me, and never rang back. The object was to destroy the picture he had in his head, and it was very successful. I wrote and article about it, and had it published in The Guardian.

 

The second call was years later, and on a mobile. The caller pretended to be my bank, doing a security check, but said she’d never ask for personal details on the phone. When I said I would ring my bank directly to check, she said she would get her manager to speak to me. A man came onto the line, very understanding, and said he’d send a text to verify his identity. I pointed out that he would be using the same number for a text that he had to ring me in the first place, and I hung up. A couple of minutes later I had another call, from a different voice, and this was so threatening that I called the police and reported it. He said he knew where I lived and would come round, rape me, kill my husband and trash my house. I was offered victim support but I didn’t need it, as I never believed for a moment he would follow any of this up, and so it proved.

 

Since then I have had many requests to appear on people’s podcasts, question and answer sessions with readers, always with a tiny caveat at the end to ask for a small contribution towards the cost of the Zoom meeting. What cost? I ignore these. But the email I received from what looked like a genuine person was different. Very different. This was how it all started:

 

Dear Elizabeth Kay,

Your book stayed with me. Max has everything rich parents, expensive things, a life of comfort and convenience. But they've packed him off to a brat camp in the middle of the Gobi Desert, hoping the wilderness will teach him something his privileged life never could… I kept thinking about what you've built. You've taken the classic adventure story and filled it with something deeper, a meditation on privilege, perspective, and the things we carry that money can't buy…. That's not just an adventure story. That's a story about the distance between what we have and what we truly need — and the people who help us bridge that gap. I'd love to know if the film/TV rights are still available. No pitch. No pressure. Just deep respect for what you've made.

I have shortened the sometimes lengthy emails I’m quoting. This one was sent to me by a what appeared to be a very well-known film producer and philanthropist who I’ll call Sheldon, via an authentic-looking email complete with photograph. Wikipedia confirmed all the details. He didn’t ask for any money to support the project; there was nothing overtly suspicious. The book, rather strangely, was a reluctant reader published by Barrington Stoke, so I rang them and established that the rights really had reverted to me. They said yes, and told me to be careful. Sheldon and I corresponded for a bit, I even sent him a picture of the kid who had inspired the book. And then he said:

If you happen to have a film adaptation or screenplay, I'd love for you to share it with me. And if you don't, not to worry in the slightest I'd be absolutely delighted to help you through the process and work with you to create a thoughtful, intelligent adaptation that stays true to the heart of your story. 

The Flaming Cliffs, in the Gobi Desert

Still no request for money. I admitted that although I’d had radio plays broadcast I’d never written a screenplay, and his suggestion sounded great.

I was also delighted to learn about your background in radio drama. Having five plays broadcast by BBC Radio 4 is a wonderful achievement, and it speaks volumes about your storytelling experience. Since this would be your first screenplay, I completely understand that it's a different style of writing. With that in mind, would you like me to connect you with a highly experienced, intelligent, and professional screenplay expert who can help us prepare the documents we need?

And of course I said yes please. I was given the email of someone I’ll call Bernie, so I contacted her, sending the relevant book files,  and this was part of her reply.

Thank you for sending over the manuscript files. I've already had the opportunity to go through some of the pages, and I can already see a great deal of potential It has a compelling premise, engaging storytelling, and several elements that could translate beautifully to film with the right adaptation… To accommodate different levels of support, I offer three screenplay development packages. You can choose whichever best suits your goals and budget.

These ranged from $1000- $2500. I smelt a rat immediately and realised that she was using AI, but I decided to play along for a bit to see what happened. The pressure increased to commit to something, and in the end I told Bernie that I needed some evidence of her expertise. After a lot of waffle respecting my candour she eventually conceded by sending me her ‘CV’. In the meantime ‘Sheldon’ was hoping I’d got together with Bernie and was disappointed to learn I wasn’t going to. Unfortunately he slipped up badly, by clearly using an email he’d sent to someone else, and forgetting to change the title of the book.

Over the years, I have worked with authors who wished to write their own screenplays, and while I always respect that ambition, we often encountered challenges during development. For that reason, I usually recommend working with an experienced screenwriter whose expertise is adapting books for the screen while preserving the heart of the original story. Their role is to strengthen the project and prepare it for producers, directors, and investors. With a suspenseful story like Driven the screenplay needs to be carefully crafted to maintain its tension, pacing, and cinematic impact. If you're not comfortable working with Bernie, I completely respect that. If you would prefer, I can introduce you to another experienced screenplay development expert. 

My book was not called Driven. By this point I’d decided enough was enough, and time to have a bit of fun. This was part of my final email to Bernie.

 I'm afraid that's the most unimpressive CV I have ever read. Suggesting I needed time to go through it would only be necessary if I had a reading age in single figures. You haven't mentioned anything specific, people you have worked with, or any project on which you had a credit. Unfortunately your university appears to have had a computer glitch, as you're not listed as ever having been there. Please feel free to appreciate my candour again. After all, I have had a story adapted for Ridley Scott productions with virtually no alterations.   All the best, Elizabeth

And this is my final email to ‘Sheldon’.

I am afraid you have not filled me with confidence by re-using an email you clearly sent to someone else and forgetting to change the title of the project concerned. I don't think I mentioned that I have been optioned twice in the past; one was dropped after two years but the other one was made, under my pseudonym Lyn Wood. That was with Ridley and Tony Scott, part of the cult series The Hunger. Both times I was paid before anything further was discussed. They changed the ending slightly to fit in with the theme of the series and the location to Canada instead of the UK, but otherwise they used my settings and my dialogue without changing a word of it. If you want to buy the option and use your own writers that's fine by me, but I have never been asked to pay for any editing in my life and I am not going to start now.

I have enjoyed our interactions although I am by no means sure you are who you say you are, and I am quite certain that Bernie isn't! 

 Nevertheless, wishing you all the best, it's been fun, Elizabeth 

Needless to say I haven’t heard anything back from either of them. The moment the penny dropped and I realised everything was being done with AI I enlisted husband Bob to do some ferreting for me. He was an IT professional before he retired. His findings are very interesting, and may help other people detect the very clever means AI has found to fool us. He will be publishing them here on Monday the 20^th. Author, beware!

 

The Gobi Desert is a very inhospitable place