Amazon sold fake "leaked" copy of hyped new UFO memoir

Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs is an upcoming non-fiction book by Luis Elizondo, who allegedly served as the director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, the US government's dedicated department for the study of unidentified aerial phenomenon, and later worked with Blink-182's Tom Delonge and renowned parapsychological crackpot Hal Puthoff at the To The Stars Academy. Elizondo is sort of a figurehead in the UAP/UFO world, appearing on numerous TV shows and news interviews. Imminent is supposed to be his sort of tell-all book about whatever truth may or may not be out there. Here's the official blurb from HarperCollins:

The former head of the Pentagon program responsible for the investigation of UFOs—now known as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)—reveals long-hidden truths with profound implications for not only national security but our understanding of the universe.

Luis "Lue" Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official and special agent who was recruited into a strange and highly sensitive US Government program to investigate UAP incursions into sensitive military installations and air space. To accomplish his mission, Elizondo had to rely on decades of experience gained working some of America's most sensitive and classified programs. Even then, he was not prepared for what he would learn, and the truth about the government's long shadowy involvement in UAP investigations, and the lengths officials would take to keep them a secret.

The stakes could not be higher. Imminent is a first-hand, revelatory account inside the Pentagon's most closely guarded secret and a call to action to confront humanity's greatest existential questions.

Though the book is not due out until August 20, 2024, some eager amateur UFOlogists noticed some early release listings on Amazon.com, and jumped at the chance to get their hands on the truth. Or, well…maybe not.

As 404Media reports:

Upon closer inspection there are some subtle hints that the books are not authentic. On Reddit, one user posted a picture of the fake version of Imminent they bought from Amazon. While the fake version's cover is almost identical to the real book, the real title of the book is Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs. The title of the fake book is Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Chase; for UFO. The cover of the book, which features the now famous black and white infrared image of the "tic tac" UFO taken with a US Navy fighter jet camera, includes the name of another author in the top right corner in a font that makes it seem like it's part of the fighter jet's camera head-up display: Didier Alarie. 

404media also shared an excerpt from the fake version of the book, which has that uncanny valley-esque syntax that almost certainly suggests it was written by AI. Because of course the robots are scamming humans by writing fake books about UFOs.

Anyhow. Pay closer attention to your listings (especially if you're already primed to get excited about aliens).

Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs [Luis Elizondo / HarperCollins]

Amazon Sold Fake Copies of Hotly Anticipated UFO Book [Emanuel Maiberg / 404media]