Federal prosecutors have indicted three executives of PageTurner Press and Media in what authorities describe as a sophisticated fraud scheme that fleeced authors out of millions between 2017 and 2024.
According to the federal indictment filed December 20 in the Southern District of California, Gemma Traya Austin, Michael Cris Traya Sordilla, and Bryan Navales Tarosa operated "a book publishing scam targeting elderly victims throughout the United States." Austin served as PageTurner's U.S.-based organizer, while Sordilla and Tarosa ran operations from the Philippines through a company called Innocentrix.
"PageTurner operates as a type of pig butchering scam, where victims are tricked into handing over their assets via escalating demands for money," explains Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware. While most victims lost thousands, she notes one author was "convinced to purchase a screenplay, treatment, PR campaign, and more, all for eye-popping amounts of money. All told, this author lost in excess of $600,000."
The indictment details how the conspirators "impersonated literary agents and executives from major publishers, motion picture studios, and popular video streaming services" to convince victims to send payments for fraudulent pre-publication fees and services. Federal authorities have seized over $5.8 million from multiple bank accounts, including $3.5 million from PageTurner's business account and nearly $905,000 from Austin's personal account.
WritersWeekly.com publisher Angela Hoy had warned authors about PageTurner's tactics: "They're going to try to get you to let them 'republish' or 'reprint' your book, which you do not need to do," she noted. "I strongly suspect they are using the 'Barnes and Noble' name to lure in authors."
The defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, along with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Previously:
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• PSA: Digital scammers will try to scam you
• Father of 2 young boys loses $5 million after falling for terrifying new Google scam
• CEO who sells fake faces gets his own stolen for crypto scam [UPDATED]
• YouTube accused of refusing to remove scam ads featuring deepfaked Elon Musk: 'We found that the ad doesn't go against Google's policies'
