In February 2025, Amazon secured a legal victory against a group of nearly 20 individuals and associated companies who falsely claimed affiliation with Amazon services, including Amazon Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). The scammers’ websites were designed to lure authors into paying a fee to publish, and then delivered substandard services or no services at all. The Northern District of California court granted a motion for default judgment against the defendants and awarded $36.4 million in damages.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision to grant our motion for default judgment,” said David Naggar, vice president of books and Kindle content at Amazon. “The successful resolution sends a clear signal to bad actors that there are consequences for their actions and demonstrates the lengths Amazon will go to protect the author and publisher community.”
Amazon remains focused on supporting authors and publishers, providing them with the opportunities to share their work with a global audience, as well as evolving its tools to deliver the best services for writers pursuing their passion. It is free for authors to enroll in KDP and Amazon will never require upfront fees to get started. Authors and publishers should report any suspicious communications or sites, as these reports provide valuable information that helps Amazon teams more effectively identify bad actors for all varieties of impersonation scams.