AI-generated counterfeit e-books impersonate Japanese bestselling authors on Amazon Kindle
Counterfeit AI-generated e-books impersonating bestselling Japanese authors including Haruki Murakami and Yoshimoto Banana were sold on Amazon Kindle. Amazon removed the fake titles after the authors publicly denied writing them and announced legal action.
What happened
Multiple AI-generated counterfeit e-books appeared on Amazon Kindle impersonating bestselling Japanese authors including Yoshimoto Banana, Haruki Murakami, Keigo Higashino, Kyogoku Natsuhiko, Ayatsugu Ayanoji, and Kotaro Isaka.
The fake books included titles such as 'A World Without Time' attributed to Yoshimoto Banana (listed February 22 at 596 yen), 'Reincarnated in the 1970s as the Gentle Wife of a Military King' attributed to Haruki Murakami, and 'The Only Survivor from Apollo X Spaceship' attributed to Keigo Higashino. The books featured AI-generated covers and content summaries with unnatural Japanese text.
Reported impact
Yoshimoto Banana stated on X (formerly Twitter) on February 25 that she did not write the book attributed to her and called on readers not to purchase it mistakenly. She announced plans to take legal action.
Amazon removed the counterfeit books from Kindle and apologized to Yoshimoto Banana after the incident was revealed.
Index analysis
The fake books were published through Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) service, which allows authors to self-publish by simply registering, creating a vulnerability that counterfeiters exploited. The counterfeits contained covers and content synopses that appeared to be entirely AI-generated with visibly unnatural Japanese language.
Governance controls
Amazon's KDP service lacked sufficient verification mechanisms to prevent impersonation of established authors. The platform appeared to have no effective pre-publication review to catch fraudulent author claims or AI-generated content.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.