Fake Books Are a Real Problem, but a Solution May Be Near

Counterfeiting occurs when a party poses as a book's real publisher to sell fake versions of books. Sometimes a bad actor may pose as a legitimate publisher as part of a scam, taking orders and payments but never delivering the goods. But more often these days, counterfeiters are delivering fake versions of books. Sometimes these versions are obviously fake - bad scans of a book are not uncommon. Sometimes the fakes are actual EPUBs that the counterfeiter duplicated and are thus hard to differentiate from the real thing. And because they are usually cheaper, counterfeit editions often appear high up in online recommendation engines.