The vast bulk of the publishing/marketing/fake literary agency/impersonation scams on which I’ve expended so many words are based in the Philippines (though they do their best to make themselves look local to their preferred American and Canadian victims by maintaining fake business addresses and phone numbers).
Many operate in their home country as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, innocuously claiming to be third-party vendors that provide business-related services (such as staffing, call center operation, customer support, and the like) to companies that don’t want to perform those services themselves or want to save money by employing lower-priced workers overseas. This is just a facade, however. The real business is running writing and publishing scams in the USA and Canada, under one or more entirely different names.
Example: Innocentrix Philippines, which operates or has operated more than 20 publishing, marketing, fake literary agency, and fake movie company scams (you can look them all up here). It’s an insanely lucrative business.
I’ve heard from hundreds and hundreds of writers who’ve lost money to such scams–from relatively small three-figure amounts to truly eye-popping sums (the largest: over $500,000, with the bulk of that being for a completely fake movie deal). Apart from disputing credit card charges, there’s not much authors can do to get redress. Thanks to the diffuse nature of the scams–hundreds of different business names, operating in every US state and Canada, and to a much lesser extent the UK–they tend to fly below the radar of local and national law enforcement, and pursuing them in their home country is complicated and expensive, especially since it isn’t always easy to trace the scam back to its parent.
Which is why I was so interested in the news item described in the header image: a fake BPO that ran a fake literary agency, and was shut down by Philippine authorities thanks to reports from employees. It’s the first time I’ve heard about any official action of this type.
The article about the bust is here. Unfortunately it doesn’t name either the BPO or the fake agency, but the M.O. described below is typical.
The firm, operating in Barangays Poblacion and Pusok, reportedly posed as independent literary agents to scam authors and aspiring writers, said Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan during the press conference on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.
City authorities issued the cease and desist order on Thursday, Sept. 26, after receiving complaints from three of the firm’s employees, who reported the company’s fraudulent activities to the local government.
The employee claimed that the company lured authors into paying for packaging and preparation services for their books, promising to submit the works for publishing.
Once the payment was made, the scammers allegedly cut off communication or blocked the victims entirely.
CIDG Lapu-Lapu chief Richard John Macachor said the scam targeted individuals seeking assistance with book publishing, a service typically provided by legitimate literary agencies.
Victims would pay for the services, only to find themselves unable to contact the firm afterward, leaving them without the promised support and with their funds lost.
“The City received complaints that they were running a publishing scam, where once the victims invested, the company would cut off all communication,” Macachor said.
The scam had two offices and as many as 60 employees, and authorities were able to shut it down thanks to its failure to renew its business permit. Unfortunately, the shutdown may not be permanent: according to the article, “while the operation was successful in stopping the company temporarily, it would not be sustained unless criminal charges were filed in court.”
In addition to the deluge of emails from authors who’ve been solicited or ripped off, I hear every now and then from employees of the scams whose consciences have gotten the better of them, or who realized only after starting work that they were helping to run a fraud. In many cases they’ve provided me with valuable information and documentation.
I know that this blog is widely read in the overseas scam community (it’s no accident that my second highest traffic source is the Philippines). If you work for a BPO that preys on writers, and feel uneasy about what you’re doing, I am publishing this post for YOU. Please, consider following the example of the three employees whose complaints shut down this one BPO and its fraudulent activities. Take action. Report to the authorities. Help bring accountability to a vast class of scams that currently operate with almost total impunity.
Thank you.
Has anyone had any contact with Cohen media group wanting to make your book into a movie? Or the literary agent John Jardin. They are trying to get me to pay at $8000 so they can make my book into a movie. Anybody knows anything about this please let me know
I’ve gotten one other report of contact by Cohen Media Group (the “agent” name associated with it was Jeremy Thomas, not John Jardin). While John Jardin is a real agent with Folio Literary Management, both he and Cohen Media Group are being impersonated here. No reputable production company requires authors to pay anything or buy anything as part the process of making a movie from a book.
Owners Michael Cris Traya Sordilla and Bryan Navales Tarosa are currently in Jail and is facing trial at the Southern District of California. This is the only information I can get: 3:24-cr-02712-WQH If you can provide more, it will really be helpful! Thank you. This is now a huge reason to celebrate! User’s recommendation: INFORMATION
Check this link:
https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/calendars.aspx/Judges/huie/_assets/pdf/judges/Judges/pettit/calendar/Judges/houston/calendar/houston_121324.pdf
I’ve written a post about the Sordilla/Tarosa arrest: Karma’s a Bitch: The Law Catches Up With PageTurner Press and Media.
I had a very disappointing experience with Mike Sordilla and his handling of the Hiyas ng Pilipinas pageant. As the owner, it appears he had excessive control over critical aspects of the competition, including the judges’ scores and voting results. Innocentrix Philippines, the company responsible for tabulation and voting scores, is also owned by him, which raises serious concerns about transparency and fairness.
For the 2024 Hiyas ng Pilipinas pageant, it seemed like three out of the top five winners were allegedly able to secure their positions through financial means rather than merit. This undermines the integrity of the competition and disrespects the hard work of the other contestants.
I hope future events will prioritize fairness, transparency, and accountability to restore trust in the pageant community.
Mike Sordilla owner of Innoventrix in is US now and facing legal charges for the Scam company
Anonymous, would you please contact me directly to tell me more? Anything you share with me is confidential. beware@sfwa.org
If Innocentrix is a scam company, then why are they still operating? Does that mean the government can’t close the company because it’s legitimate? Not all the companies on the list are scams. Please provide us with evidence so that we can truly believe.
The publisher pays the writer, not the other way around. I avoid all scams because I will not pay to publish.
I’ve had these calls, I ask where they are located, they give me an address and while they are spewing their sales pitch, I look up the address on google earth, I have had a street corner, a candy store, then I tell them to email me something to look at before I decide, it usually is a five minute window, once it arrives I email them back “no thanks, you’re a scammer” and block their email, I just like messing them up a bit! I do the same thing with ALL the phone calls, but now, it has become two or three a week, that I just call them scammers and tell them not to call back. If they call you, it’s a scam!
Even Americans participate in such fraud. I was defrauded by 2Nimble operated by Doug Arroyo and Marc Histand with address in California. But I must add that Ingram Spark is conniving at such fraud because they conceal information that could enable the defrauded to seek redress.