A federal indictment in San Diego alleges that PageTurner Press & Media, a company based in Chula Vista, California, defrauded over 800 authors out of more than $44 million. The company, run by Gemma Traya Austin, allegedly used scam artists posing as literary agents to lure authors with promises of best-selling books or Hollywood deals. Victims were asked to pay advance fees for services that were never delivered.
The phone calls and emails from the supposed literary agents came in cold and usually targeted elderly, self-published authors, with promises of turning a book into a best-seller or optioning the story to become a Hollywood blockbuster or streaming series.
All told, the FBI identified more than 800 alleged fraud victims who collectively lost more than $44 million to PageTurner dating back to at least 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego. FBI agents arrested Sordilla and Tarosa, both citizens of the Philippines, last month while they were visiting Austin at her Chula Vista home. The agents arrested Austin three days later and have seized the PageTurner website.
“She was presented with a situation from her nephew, who had become exceedingly rich, that put her in the position where she would be starting these businesses in her name and working under his direction,” Blair said. “… She wasn’t sophisticated enough to see the red flags.”
SCAM FRAUD BOOK PUBLISHING LITERARY AGENTS INTERNET FRAUD
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