Scammer Word Stratum / wordstratum.co / wordstratum.co.uk Tries to Hookwink Angela, and Gets Smacked HARD For Doing So!

I guess this scammer missed attorney James M. Walsh’s article, Do NOT Complain to People Who Have Honestly Exposed Your Illegal Activities Online.

The scammer’s websites:

wordstratum.co
wordstratum.co.uk – This one still has fake book covers under the word “portfolio” as well as fake testimonials, etc. And, Google shows the address as being either a patch of woods with no home, or an apartment. We found fake “photos” of their “UK office” online as well! Don’t miss the big UPDATE under the post below!

The easiest way for us to do this is to simply share the email exchange. ENJOY! 🙂

——– Forwarded Message ——–
Subject: Re: WRITERSWEEKLY QUESTION – Sam K Wajih
Date: Tue, 6 May 2025 13:11:33 -0400
From: Angela @ WritersWeekly
To: notabot@wordstratum.co <notabot@wordstratum.co>

Hi Scam (I mean Sam),

I’m copying attorney James M. Walsh on this email.

This is what appears on our list of scammers:
Word Stratum / WordStratum / wordstratum.co
Trademark infringement. They have logos for two traditional publishers on their website. The book covers on their website don’t have author names. Classic error by scammers. They are FAKE books! Facebook says they’re in PAKISTAN. They have “testimonials” but the authors’ last names are missing and one is literally named John Doe. There are no book titles under the “testimonials.” It says they’ve published 13K books yet searching for their name as a publisher on Amazon shows NO RESULTS. The address on their website is missing the city, state, and zip code…because it’s FAKE. Googling their phone number brings up nothing. They’ve only been on Facebook since Oct. 2024. They have the CreateSpace logo on their website yet Amazon hasn’t used that name in years.

My responses are by the **’s below.
_____________________________________________

–——- Forwarded Message ——–
Subject: WRITERSWEEKLY QUESTION – Sam K Wajih
Date: Tue, 6 May 2025 12:00:10 -0400
From: WritersWeekly.com
Reply-To: notabot@wordstratum.co <notabot@wordstratum.co>

Dear Angela,

I hope this message finds you well.

My name is Sam, and I am the founder of Word Stratum. I recently came across your article concerning my business, and while I appreciate your interest in holding companies accountable, I believe there are several misunderstandings that I’d like to address directly and transparently.

Firstly, I want to assure you that I’m building this business with genuine intent and a long-term vision. I have never scammed anyone, nor do I support the kind of unethical behavior that unfortunately plagues this industry. In fact, I’ve been a victim of such scams myself, and I’m working hard to offer authors an honest and supportive alternative.

Allow me to respond to the points raised in your article:

1. Use of Traditional Publisher Logos:
I do not use logos of traditional publishers on my website because it would be misleading and inappropriate unless there is a direct affiliation. I believe in maintaining clear and honest representation.

**Nice try. I have proof you were doing that to defraud authors into thinking you were doing business with those companies. See the screenshots.

Before you got caught, you had logos for Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, CreateSpace (again, see the screenshot), and the New York Times. You haven’t done business with any of those. Again, FRAUD!

2. Book Covers Without Author Names:
The covers displayed are concept samples used to showcase our creative process. They don’t carry author names intentionally, as they are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the design rationale.

**The covers make it appear you designed those covers, and published those books. There is nothing on your website saying those are samples. In fact, your website specifically said to check out your books FOR SALE with those covers next to the statement. (See the right side of the screenshot above.)

3. Facebook Pages Location:
Our Facebook pages indicate a Pakistan location because our marketing team operates from there. This decision is driven by practicality and
cost-effectiveness. I personally live in Germany, and hiring marketing talent locally or in the U.S. is not financially viable at this stage.

**Your previous address on your site said St. Petersburg, Florida (see the screenshot). Now you say you’re in Elmont, NY. You’re in neither of those places. Pretending to be located in the U.S. when you are not is fraud. You’re trying to trick U.S. authors into thinking you are located here.

4. False Claims & Attacks by Competitors:
My business has been targeted by competitors in unethical ways—site hacks, false claims, and even attempts to poach clients. For clarity, I have never claimed to have published 13,000 books, and there is no CreateSpace logo on my website. We simply list platforms we assist our clients with, like Amazon, Apple Books, and others.

**You’re a LIAR! Look at the first screenshot above and the one below!

5. Business Addresses and Legitimacy:
The addresses listed on my website are valid. I operate remotely, with legal LLC and INC registrations in the U.S., a remote team in Pakistan, and a business partner in the U.S. This global setup is not uncommon in today’s digital business landscape, especially in industries affected by
low-cost, scam-driven competition.

See my response under #3 above. Again, what you’re doing is FRAUD. You’re trying to trick authors into thinking YOU are located in the U.S. Otherwise, why simply tell them you are NOT?

6. Company Age and Page Creation Dates:
Our social media pages were created in October because that is when the company was launched. I’ve never claimed otherwise.

**Again, see the screenshots. You claimed to have published 183 books (a total lie) and that you had 165 clients (also a lie).

See the other screenshot above as well. On another page, you boasted 13K+ books published, 5K+ happy clients, etc. What a crock of BULL!

If I were running a scam, I wouldn’t be reaching out to you like this. I take pride in my work and want to build a sustainable, trustworthy
business. I also understand that skepticism is warranted in this space, but I hope you can see the difference between someone trying to con others and someone trying to grow an honest venture despite the odds.

**You have committed fraud and deception. You likely thought reaching out to me this way might give you the opportunity to hoodwink me. You’re hilarious! You got caught RED HANDED! Not only were you caught and exposed but, since you wasted my time (and yours!) today, I’m going to give you even more coverage on WritersWeekly.com and on our social media pages!

I respect your voice as a writer and your role in advocating for integrity in publishing. If you have suggestions for how we can further improve our transparency or practices, I am open to hearing them. That said, I kindly ask that you reconsider the article currently published on your site. It contains inaccuracies that are harmful to the reputation I’ve worked hard to build, and I believe addressing those concerns, as I’ve done here, warrants a fair review.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d be happy to speak further if you have any questions or need clarification on anything mentioned.

Warm regards,
Sam K Wajih
Founder, Word Stratum

– Sam K Wajih ( notabot@wordstratum.co )

**Oh, we gave you a fair review alright!!

You ARE a scammer!

Angela Hoy, Publisher
WritersWeekly.com

UPDATE! The scammer immediately responded with cockamamie excuses we’ve heard before, like that those were all “mistakes” on an earlier version of their website. Here’s the hilarious part. He said he created the business in October and that the things we caught him doing above were “placeholder content.” He said they then fixed the problems. We didn’t get our screenshots until the last week of December! So, from October to at least December (when we added his crappy website to our scam list!), he was scamming people with the items described above. KNOW WHAT’S EVEN BETTER! He has a site in the UK that has many of the same fraudulent things on it and he apparently forgot to “fix” that before contacting us! What a MORON!! (Yes, we have screenshots of that one, too!!!)

Here is my response:

Hi Sam,

In your first email, you wrote:

1. Use of Traditional Publisher Logos:
I do not use logos of traditional publishers on my website because it would be misleading and inappropriate unless there is a direct affiliation. I believe in maintaining clear and honest representation.

Now, you’re saying you DID do that and that is was a “mistake.” And, now you’re trying to mislead ME. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. That is a classic response we hear from scammers after they GOT CAUGHT.

Everything about your website was an attempt to trick people into thinking you had affiliations with traditional publishers, that you’d published those books, that those were real author testimonials, that you were located in the U.S., etc., etc. You’re backtracking now because you were exposed. There were no “mistakes.” It was intent to deceive, which is illegal.

I have already reported you to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations.

Angela Hoy, Publisher

WritersWeekly.com

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