Cheated, Swindled, or Scammed: What’s a Writer to Do?

Originally published at Writer Unboxed

You’ve chosen a publishing service, engaged a marketing company, entered a writing contest, hired an editor, inked a representation agreement, or contracted with a publisher, hybrid or traditional.

You’re aware that there are no guarantees: your book won’t necessarily become a bestseller. Your story may not win the contest prize. Your agent may not find a home for your manuscript. But your expectation is that the person or company will keep their promises, adhere to timelines, deliver acceptable quality, and generally honor whatever contract or agreement you both have signed.

What if they don’t, though? What if, after paying out a lot of money and/or waiting in vain for a service to be completed and/or receiving a product too shoddy to use, you realize you’ve been conned? What are your options? What can you do?

This is one of the most frequent questions I receive at Writer Beware. It’s one of the hardest to answer, because the difficult truth is that there often is little recourse, especially if a lot of time has passed or the perpetrator is operating from a different country.

But it’s definitely not hopeless. There are actions you can take to get your money back, report the scammer, and/or seek legal advice. Below are some suggestions and resources.

GETTING YOUR MONEY BACK

Scammers generally don’t do refunds (never mind the money-back guarantees that many promise). You can certainly ask: it’s a reasonable starting point. Just be prepared to be refused, or promised a refund that somehow never arrives.

A more direct method, if you paid with a credit or debit card or via PayPal, is to dispute the charges. This doesn’t always succeed: if some degree of service was delivered, even incomplete and/or of poor quality, the decision may go against you.  However, I’ve heard from many writers who’ve been able to get some or all of their money back this way.

You do need to be prompt. There’s a limited window to file disputes–which rules out situations where the scam only becomes apparent over a longer period of time (although, from personal experience, credit card companies will sometimes honor disputes beyond their deadlines if you can make a strong enough case).

• PayPal allows disputes to be filed up to 180 calendar days from purchase.
• Credit card companies’ policies vary. In the USA, credit card companies are required by law to give consumers up 60 days from the time they receive their bill to dispute a charge, though many companies allow for a longer 120-day period. In Canada, most companies have a 30-60-day deadline, though some allow up to 90 days. Check your cardholder agreement for the exact policy. You can also check with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which maintains a database of credit card company agreements.
• For a debit card dispute, you’ll need to contact the issuing bank.

Wire transfers, unfortunately, generally can’t be reversed: they are treated like cash transactions (which is why they’re popular with scammers). Payments via apps like Zelle or Venmo are also difficult or impossible to reverse. If you paid a scammer using these methods, contact your bank and ask them to place a fraud watch on your account.

If you used a credit or debit card, you should also consider contacting any one of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—and asking them to place a fraud alert on your credit report. Over the years, I’ve gotten only a handful of reports of fraudulent credit card transactions by literary scammers, who mostly are content with the money writers give them voluntarily. But it’s best to be safe.

MAKING A REPORT

It’s a depressing fact of life that scammers and other bad actors often get away with it. This is especially true of literary scams, which, as niche crimes that don’t threaten the general public, tend to run below the radar of law enforcement and the official agencies that track and take action against fraud. These days, too, many of the most active and deceptive scams are based in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, which helps to shield them from consequences in the English-speaking countries they mostly target.

Even so, I always encourage fraud victims to report their experience to as many sources as possible. It may seem like you’re just a drop in a bucket–but even if single complaints don’t spur any action, a volume of them may…and you never know how many others may have made similar reports.

And reporting does bring results. For example, a flood of author and creditor reports to the Oklahoma Attorney General shut down fraudulent vanity publisher Tate Publishing. Reaching farther back in time, complaints to the FBI led to jail time for griftmeister Martha Ivery, who ran a vanity publisher, a fee-charging literary agency, and several other cons under a variety of names.

For US writers, there are a number of places to report.

• The Better Business Bureau. The BBB has no regulatory or disciplinary power; it can only try to mediate disputes, and if the business refuses to participate or doesn’t respond, there’s nothing it can do other than adjust its rating. However, the BBB posts complaints and company responses on its website–and even if you don’t want to make a formal complaint, you can leave a review. Consumers do check the BBB, and sharing your experience there could make the next potential fraud victim think twice.
• State Attorneys General. You can file a complaint with the Consumer Fraud division of the office of your state’s Attorney General, and also in the state where the scammer is located.
• The Federal Trade Commission. Any kind of fraud or scam can be reported to the FTC. Their fraud reporting tool is here (you’ll need to click the “Something else” option).
• The Internet Crime Complaint Center. The ICCC is a project of the FBI, and accepts reports of online scams, email hoaxes and other internet-enabled crimes. Its complaint forms are here. If you’re a senior citizen, or a caregiver for one, be sure to note that you’re reporting elder fraud.
• Fraud.org. A project of the National Consumers League, Fraud.org provides fraud alerts as well as help and advice to fraud victims. Their complaint form is here.
• US Postal Inspection Service. Report here if you received anything associated with the scam by snail mail (contracts, brochures, etc.).

For Canadian writers:

• The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre accepts reports of fraud and cybercrime. Its report form is here.
• Consumer complaints can be filed with federal and local Consumer Affairs offices. Here is a list.
• You can initiate a complaint and/or leave a review on the website of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

For writers in other countries and/or international scams (such as the many publishing scams from Pakistan and the Philippines):

• Econsumer.gov is a project of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), a consortium of consumer protection authorities from multiple countries around the world. You can make a report here.

Don’t forget local law enforcement (local to the scammer, that is). Reports of schemes and scams being perpetrated in their jurisdiction may motivate police to investigate. In one of the weirdest cases Writer Beware has ever dealt with, complaints to the Banff detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police led to the arrest of a fake literary agent who absconded with the proceeds of a writing conference (and later turned out to have faked her death in the USA to cover up a similar con).

You can also choose to go public with an account of your experience. Two places to do that are QueryTracker (if the scammer is listed there as a publisher or agent, you can leave a comment) and the Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Check forum at the Absolute Write Water Cooler. Just be careful how you word what you post; keep it strictly factual, and avoid defamatory allegations and language.

Last but definitely not least…email me at Writer Beware! Even if I can’t post a warning about the scam on social media, or feature it in a blog post (I need multiple documented complaints in order to do that), I can keep the information on file and pass it on if I receive questions or more complaints about the person or company. Writer Beware promises confidentiality: your name and contact information will not be shared or publicly posted without your permission.

LOOKING TO THE LAW

Legal action isn’t something to be entered into lightly. It can be stressful, time-consuming, and extremely costly.

Depending on your situation, though, you may decide it’s necessary—whether you plan to file a lawsuit, send a cease-and-desist, or just seek advice to figure out what your options are. Although limited, there are resources to help, and some of them are specifically geared to people in the arts.

• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts is a network of organizations that offer free and low-cost legal, and in some cases accounting, services to people in the arts. VLA programs exist in multiple states and cities across the USA (you can find a directory here). Different organizations have different procedures and different requirements (for example, there may be income qualification requirements).
• For Canadian writers, there’s a variety of similar arts law services. The Writers’ Union of Canada maintains a listing.
• Professional writers’ groups may offer legal services and/or advice to members. For example, the Authors Guild provides contract advice and dispute intervention, and the National Writers Union partners with VLA New York to provide pro bono legal services.
• The American Bar Association’s FindLegalHelp.org provides a list of bar directories and lawyer finder/referral services to help you locate the right lawyer. If your situation is publisher- or agent-related, be sure that the lawyer you choose has copyright and/or intellectual property expertise. Publishing is a specialized (not to say arcane) industry, with conventions and contract terms not found elsewhere. Especially if your situation involves a contract dispute, someone without the necessary expertise may not be able to adequately represent you.

Something else to consider: small claims court. Small claims courts impose a dollar cap on claims, and your case needs to qualify and possibly be within a time limit (different states and provinces have different rules—here’s a helpful overview for the USA). But you don’t have to hire a lawyer, and it’s a much cheaper and less formal way to try to resolve a dispute. The one disadvantage: you must file in the state or province where the person or company does business—which, if that’s not the same as your state or province, can make things more complicated and expensive.

In the USA, there is also a small claims court specifically for copyright disputes: the Copyright Claims Board. Similar to regular small claims court, there are dollar caps and time limits, but the filing and adjudication process is streamlined and efficient. For malfeasance involving copyright issues—unauthorized publication, for example, or continued publication after rights reversion—the CCB is an option. (For more information on the CCB, see my blog post.)

ONE LAST THING

Talk about it.

Even if you don’t want to name names, going public with your experience could help other writers avoid similar situations. And it could motivate other victims to come forward.

One place where writers speak out: the Bewares, Recommendations, & Background Check forum of the Absolute Write Water Cooler. This extremely active discussion group has a lot of haters (in part because of BR&BC) but it is a treasure trove of information. Whatever scam or scheme you’ve encountered, you may find that others are already discussing it.

I hear daily from writers who’ve been scammed or cheated in one way or another. It’s an incredibly tough situation to be in. Financial loss is just one aspect; there’s nearly always a huge emotional burden as well, thanks to scammers’ ruthless exploitation of writers’ hopes, dreams, and egos.

Writers in these situations often feel ashamed, exhausted, and hopeless. But taking action—even the small action of reporting your experience—can be empowering. I hope the information above helps. And if there are any resources I’ve overlooked, please let me know.