J.K. Rowling Warns Fans About Fake Ebooks

Posted on February 2, 2005

Author J.K. Rowling is warning fans not to download any Harry Potter ebooks off the Web. Apparently, a scam site called www.harrybooks.info was offering downloads of Rowling's upcoming book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic). But there are no authorized Harry Potter ebooks to date and the site simply gave users a computer virus.

Rowling says on her website: "I would bet the original manuscript of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince itself that this will not be the last attempt to con HP fans before the publication of book six on 16th July. Please, please protect yourselves, your computers and your credit cards and do not fall for these scams. The only genuine copies of Harry Potter remain the authorised traditional book or audio tapes/cassettes/CDs distributed through my publishers. Similarly, the only sources of release news you should trust are this website or official spokespeople such as representatives of my publishers or agent (details in "Links" section). CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Ok, now we're feeling a bit paranoid. We shall maintain constant vigilance, as if He Who Shall Not Be Named is lurking around every corner, just waiting to infect us with a nasty computer virus.