© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Scams targeting writers cheat them out of millions

In January, the Justice Department charged three people behind a company called PageTurner with cheating 800 authors out of $44 million. The company falsely promised publishing deals, marketing and advertising services, and TV and movie deals, while demanding high fees in return. Self-published authors are especially vulnerable to scams like this.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks to Brent Crane, an investigative reporter who wrote about these scams for Bloomberg Businessweek.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.