It really was a confidence scheme.
One day I received a call from “The Last Bookstore” in Los Angeles offering to pay me $15 for each of my recently self-published books, and the first order would be for 1,000 copies. (But, I would need to use their printer.) Of course, it sounded too good to be true, so I said no.
But, they called back to clarify that this was not a consignment, and that I would receive a check for $15,000 if I sent them the copies. I did a reverse lookup on the phone number, and it was assigned to “The Last Bookstore.” The email domain did connect to a good website, so everything looked legit. I even looked at Google Maps to find a commercial entity near the bookstore—and found one. Not being from Los Angeles, I Googled the address for the “The Last Bookstore” in LA and found a barber shop across the street. I called and asked if there was a bookstore next door to them and the person who answered said there was!
I checked with my publisher, who congratulated me and said the bookstore was legitimate. So, I ordered 1,000 copies from “The Last Bookstore’s” printer to be printed and sent to LA. I paid them $9,000 via Zelle (at a gmail.com address) and waited for things to happen.
My book was about to get a big boost, adding a little insight into the literary world, and I would make a little money.
The person who I sent the money to sent me a rather amateurish-looking invoice, but no tracking info. I looked up the printing company’s website and tried contacting them via phone, text, and email. I Never received a response. The printer’s website looked good and legitimate, but the email was different than the one I sent Zelle money to, and the phone was never answered. Instead, the calls were immediately terminated (like the number was set up for text only).
Of course, I was started to get nervous.
In due time, the “The Last Bookstore” stated that it had received the 1,000 copies of my book, but would not cut a check until they distributed them to all their branches and after the audits were complete. That would take several weeks.
I thought I was being scammed, but could not figure the scheme out. “The Last Bookstore” was not getting any money. They just had 1,000 copies of my book. Would they sell them on the black market? Unlikely. Most likely, the “printer” never printed the books, even though they said they did. There was no way to prove that the books were not printed. They assured me they were sent to the correct address.
I finally got a good phone number for the real Last Bookstore in LA. As it turns out, the scammer used the same name as the store manager, Joe. He told me “We’ve never received one copy from the “publishers” of the scammed authors at any of our stores. We’ve also heard that many publishing companies have been hit by these (or similar) scammers, including Penguin Random House!”
I made a pathetic attempt to recover my money by asking Zelle for a refund. The account quickly rejected the request. I asked my bank to help recover the money but was unsuccessful. It turns out that Zelle cancelled the account I sent money to, probably because they received other complaints from scam victims.
Lessons learned: If it sounds too good to be true, it is (classic advice I should have taken myself). If you decide to send money to a publisher or printer, even one you did business with before, use a credit card (which offers the potential to get your money back if the service is not delivered). Never send money through a third-party payment service to a gmail email address. Almost all of the foreign scammers use gmail!
It is the wild, wild, West, East, North and South that we authors are living in!
RELATED