Scamming wanna-be writers: Know the character names

Mitch Lipka
Updated

One tactic used by scammers to avoid losing business and keep from being detected is to constantly change names. That is intended to keep any of the purported companies from collecting too many complaints that would draw attention to what's really going on. These outfits also have a small group of participants adopt a variety of names for similar reasons and to create the illusion of a larger staff.


According to the Florida Attorney General's office here are some of the names and company names used in this alleged scam, whereupon one man, his girlfriend, several accomplices, and a handful of ever-changing business operations scammed hundreds of would-be authors out of their money ... and dreams of being published.

  • Robert M. Fletcher of Boca Raton, Fla.; aka Robert West, Robert Williams, Bill Williams, Beth Stormes, Georgina Orr, Mary Bluestone and Hil Mallory:

  • Leslie Mroz Williams of Boca Raton, Fla;.aka Leslie W. Mroz

  • Mark Bredt of Clearlake Park, Calif.

  • Lynn Eddy of Durham, Conn.

  • Agency Strategic Book Publishing, Stylus Literary Agency, Strategic Publishing Group and Agency Strategic Book Publishing, The Literary Agency Group, Writer's Literary & Publishing Services, The New York Literary Agency, The Children's Literary Agency, Poets Literary Agency, the Christian Literary Agency, Writer's Literary Screenplay Agency, Rapid Publishing - Screenwriter911, Rapid Publishing, The Global Book Agency, American Enterprises Group, AEG Publishing Group, Eloquent Books, Strategic Book Publishing, Strategic Book Marketing, The Global Book 2 Agency, Group AEG and S T Literary Agency.

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