Unfortunately, Danielle and Jacinta have been made aware of a phishing-email scam that has used Danielle’s name to pose as a literary agent, enquiring about the status of a manuscript, and possibility of representation.

These emails seem to be targeting North American emerging writers specifically, and as far as we can tell so far. And we’ve had confirmation that the dummy email being used is mail.daniellebinks@gmail.com - please block this email and report it for spam if you come across it.

Please know this scam is not in any way connected to Danielle, or our agency. It is sadly part of ongoing and AI-generated phishing/fake emails that everyone in publishing has been subjected to lately, and at an increasingly infuriating volume and scary sophistication.

Danielle has even written about this explosion of fakery on her personal Substack – see the below link.

Danielle and Jacinta both have JdM server-emails; and while Danielle does have a personal email account, she rarely uses it for agenting work (when she does; she has a unique and specific enough signature with personal details included, to know it’s her.)

Danielle and Jacinta were open for submissions in April of this year, but only seeking to represent Australian/Aotearoa-New Zealand creators – many of whom we’ve been in ongoing email correspondence with. We would not email an emerging writer out of the blue, and we are currently only interested in representing creatives who have Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand citizenship. For further legitimacy; if discussions about potentially signing a client to our agency progress, we’re also likely to ask for a phone or video-conferencing call.

Also please know that no accredited literary agent would demand a reading or editorial fee from prospective clients. If you are ever in doubt about the questionable behaviour of a self-proclaimed “literary agent,” please refer to the Australian Literary Agents’ Association and their Code of Practice: https://www.austlitagentsassoc.com/code-of-practice

This is deeply frustrating and unfair, but we are aware that many Australian literary agents and publishers have been used in similar and ongoing scams. Please be vigilant; do not send money – and only progress with sharing your manuscript once you’ve done thorough checks into the legitimacy of queries and agents/publishers, especially if they’re emailed you out of the blue.