Mystery Bookstores Solve Scam
by Kevin Howell, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly,03/29/2007
When the owner of the Seattle Mystery Bookshop was recently scammed by a vanity publishing house, he set out to solve the fraud himself.
J.B. Dickey recently took a phone order for The Shortcut: 20 Stories to Get You from Here to There (Author Identity Press, $17.95 978-14243-2797-3 ). He took the customer's name and credit card information before placing an order through Ingram. Both turned out to be phony—something Dickey didn't find out until after the two non-returnable copies arrived.
"Our normal procedure is that we feel a credit card is a failsafe," said Dickey. "We don't charge the sale until it's ready to send out. Except this time we found out all the information we were given was fraudulent."
Dickey swallowed the feeling of being duped and launched a warning on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association listserv, saying, "I hate like hell committing my buffoonery to the world-at-large, but if it stops someone else from making my mistake, good. If it can expose the mean-spirited jackasses behind this scam, all the better."
The posting got some comments from other booksellers in several different states who'd gotten stuck with the same book. In fact, the customer ordering the book had used the same fake name, Michael Evers.
Evers, it turns out, is the name of the main character in a suspense novel called The Palace of Wisdom: A Rock and Roll Fable by Kevin A. Fabiano, printed by another in-demand publisher, PublishAmerica. Fabiano, whose Web site http://kevinfabiano.com says he's a New York lawyer, is also one of the contributing authors to The Shortcut.
Back in November 2006, Victoria Strauss investigated complaints about Author Identity Press on her Writer Beware blog. She devoted an entire entry on November 20, 2006, questioning the vanity press's credibility and attempted to track down just who was behind this vanity press, whose own Web site http://authoridentity.com offers writers no names and no way to reach the potential publisher other than via e-mail.
"I hope this warning reaches other bookstores," said Dickey. "Anyone being contacted about ordering this book should *69 the call to get their real phone number and let them know we're onto them."
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| Submitted by: | Liz Dorman (liz@stjohnsbooks.com) 4/4/2007 7:18:43 PM PT |
| Location: | Portland, Oregon |
| Occupation: | co-owner |
We got hit in February but didn't make the connection until the Ingram email warning came thru today!
We got one copy delivered back in March, kept calling Mr Evans to tell him we'd gotten one copy and the other had backordered, but could never seem to connect with him. No biggie, we have lots of customers who work odd hours, but it was annoying that he didn't also give us an email address or some other way to contact him. Then the second, backordered copy finally came in, so we tried a little harder to connect.
We keep a separate stack of 'to be called' books on hold, and Mike's stuff kept going to the bottom of the stack. We'd pick up the books at odd hours, dial the 503 number, and listen to it ring away. The stack would always empty down to just his books.
You know the rest of the story.
| Submitted by: | Pat Fowler, Village Square Booksellers 4/2/2007 6:46:33 AM PT |
| Location: | Bellows Falls, Vermont |
| Occupation: | independent bookstore owner |
We also received an order last week for The Shortcut from Mike Evers, using a local phone number.
This person needs to be prosecuted. Booksellers and/or distributors are stuck with the cost of the books, shipping costs, etc. Plus several booksellers have received fraudulent credit card numbers. Since books are shipped to us across state lines, plus booksellers all over the country are involved, these are federal offenses.
Other "authors" are going to pull the same scam if this "author" is allowed to get away with it.
Of course, no one has managed to catch perpetrators of the various Bible, medical books, or My Life order scams.
Maybe we should get NBC's Dateline involved to investigate this- To catch a con man....
| Submitted by: | Robin Burcell (rburcell67@yahoo.com) 3/30/2007 11:24:21 AM PT |
| Location: | California |
| Occupation: | Retired cop, current mystery novelist |
Have any of you called the police on this? Providing fraudulent credit card numbers is illegal. Additionally, since this person has done this at multiple stores, multiple states, my guess is that there are some federal laws broken (not being a fed, I can't say for sure). Getting him prosecuted for the fraudlent order will probably put a stop to others trying this same stupid trick.
When/if you call the police, you need to let them know that A) you are out money. (for those of you who were charged. There has to be a monetary loss before raising interest. The attempt, however, is still a crime if he provided a fraudulent card number.) B) that this person has done the same for multiple stores in multiple states. (From experience, I can tell you the cops aren't going to be real worried over the initial charges, because that is a misdemeanor. But once they add the stuff together from the other states, you're talking a different ballgame.)
I'd be curious to know how many stores total, and what the total loss is. This would make a good print story in that nitwit's hometown.
But do call the police, even if it's a phone report only. Get it documented.
| Submitted by: | Anita Zager, Northern Lights Books, Duluth, MN (norlight@norlights.com) 3/30/2007 8:18:25 AM PT |
| Location: | Duluth MN |
| Occupation: | Owner |
It happened to us also. A local phone number was used as well. Ingram / BT should put the publisher on hold for a bit until they accept returns.
| Submitted by: | The Vermont Book Shop (becky@vermontbookshop.com) 3/30/2007 7:34:13 AM PT |
| Location: | Middlebury VT |
We had the same order, though I think I've stopped it and been spared being stuck. In our case Mike Evers provided a local phone number, seemingly randomly chosen.
| Submitted by: | Donna Maher (info@pageandturnerscarletonplace.com) 3/30/2007 7:13:21 AM PT |
| Location: | Carleton Place, ON |
| Occupation: | independent bookstore |
Thank goodness for the Canadian Booksellers Assocation is right! I was able to cancel my order with Ingram as they were on backorder and explained the situation to the customer service rep. It is disturbing the lengths some people will go to and how easily they take advantage of honest booksellers. It is tough enough never mind having to deal with this.
| Submitted by: | chris Bowe 3/30/2007 5:42:25 AM PT |
| Location: | portland maine |
| Occupation: | co-owner |
Mike Evers is a busy man. We got hit for a fake order of 2 copies and surprise, surprise, the customer's name is Mike Evers.
| Submitted by: | Peter (peternm22@hotmail.com) 3/29/2007 8:02:49 PM PT |
| Location: | BC, Canada |
| Occupation: | Bookstore Clerk |
We received an e-mail from the CBA about this today, and I decided to look the book up in our system just to see what is it was. Turns out we''ve already been hit, we have 2 copies on order from Ingram. Order is under a local phone number.
Called Ingram to see if we could cancel them, but they have already been shipped. I told the customer service rep at Ingram about the scam and she was very apologetic and said she would take it to her supervisor. Hopefully Ingram stops dealing with these people.
| Submitted by: | Pat Skow 3/29/2007 4:41:42 PM PT |
| Location: | Airdrie Alberta Canada |
| Occupation: | independant bookseller |
"Michael Evers" has been very busy today, he placed an order with me this morning and this afternoon I received a blanket e-mail from the Canadian Bookseller Association with a warning informing me that he had contacted booksellers in Ontario as well. Can this person be anyone other than a contributing author to the book or work with Author Identity Press, attempting to drive up sales and stick the small booksellers with the bills?? The book apparently made it to #2 at Amazon .com, perhaps because of the same methods?? Thank goodness for the C.B.A.
| Submitted by: | Sean Dees 3/29/2007 4:32:21 PM PT |
| Location: | Canada |
| Occupation: | Bookstore Owner |
He has started calling small bookstores in Canada. We got hit yesterday, luckily we say the article today, before we placed the order. I called Ingram Books to complain and suggest they stop carrying his books. I would suggest you do the same.
Sean
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