SCAMMED… One Writer’s Story

Getting scammed. It happens to the best of us… but what really happens isn’t just getting bamboozled, it’s getting the special opportunity to feel stupid and inadequate. Yep, we writers really need a good dose of that, don’t we?

Living the writer’s journey is so many things. It’s all about learning and failing, pushing and hoping, succeeding and starting all over again. Unfortunately, we thrive on this kind of thing, trembling at the thought of querying our newest work yet terrified to open responses to that query. The heart pounding joy when a full or partial request comes, the deep bellyache as we wait forever for the verdict. Our work becomes our skin, bones, and every live nerve. The reality of a writer’s life holds enough trauma without adding scammers to the mix.

Now, to the scam. Writers beware, pay attention, be careful, and do not kick yourself too hard over something like this.

I think I suspected the scam from the first moment. I was approached on Twitter(X) by a literary agent/headhunter, (twitter handle is @Active365w. This person goes by several different names, too) asking if I’d be interested in writing for a television production company. It paid $75,000 year and they are interested in my stories. I wondered but thought, what the hell, I’ve never written screenplays before and would really love to. So I said I’d be interested.

I had to start an account on a messaging program called Telegram, (turns out lots of scammers use Telegram.) I did that, after all, it was free. Over the next few days, I was interviewed three times and they send me an offering letter. All documents were attached and sent through Telegram. There was even an acceptance letter to sign, complete with the address of HAYU TV in London.

I was very clear that I didn’t know how to write a screenplay, and they told me I’d be given the software and a tutor to help me with that. First, they wanted to know about my stories.

The company I’d be working for is HAYU TV. I did research, HAYU TV not only exists but only produces and streams reality TV, so I asked about that during one of our Telegraph discussions. I was told that HAYU TV was starting a new scripted television production department. Okay, HAYU TV was real, so I plowed ahead.

I would be paid quarterly. That would be $18,000 every three months, paid direct deposit to my bank. Okay, cool. I basically was a remote contractor, so that made sense. My first assignment was to turn Book One of one of my already published series into 10 episodes. I did that in two weeks, a massive undertaking, but I met the deadline. These were 25-page synopses of the episodes, since I didn’t know how to write a screenplay yet. They contacted me soon after that submission and told me the program was being considered.

Next, they told me to write a 10-episode thriller program. I started that. We had scheduled meetings every two weeks when I’d submit my episode and chat with my “boss” who told me he was working from Haiti. Odd. But I kept going.

Often, “boss” would contact me between scheduled meetings to tell me what was happening with the first project. He said that investors had jumped onboard. Yes, I got excited. He said I’d be starting my training soon. Again thrilled. I kept writing the thriller program and submitted episodes… and getting updates.

Then things got hairy. My “boss” told me to get a charge card from my bank and give all the information to him so that the investors could put money into the card, so they’d see that I was paying the coach and screenwriting software.

Um.

I asked why they couldn’t just pay for that themselves. “Boss” always had a twisted explanation. When he realized I wasn’t going to do this with my own bank account, he told me to open an account at a credit union, then do the same thing.

Um.

Then earlier this week “boss” contacted me and explained that there was a new investor that would only work with my personal bank account. That they were excited to get started and would load the card right away. He asked for my bank card password and user name.

Um, hell no.

My real problems were many. First, HAYU TV actually exists, but I could find no way to contact them by phone or email to confirm this job was real. Second, there was no way to connect with my “boss” under the HAYU TV account on telegram, except through Telegram messaging, which was totally unsatisfactory.

I jumped into a place I seldom go. Total distrust. I had to search hard for information on the HAYU TV scam because these scammers keep changing the name of the company. From Acorn TV, to Minno TV, to HAYU TV.

I promptly got onto Telegraph and informed my “boss” that “this is a scam and we are finished.” I blocked them on Telegraph and did the same with the literary agent on Twitter. Within three hours the name of the Telegram account changed from HAYU TV to BAD HABIT PRODUCTIONS.

Um. Interesting.

So, what happened? I got scammed, but little, if any damage was done. I reported it all to Victoria Stauss at Writer Beware, and now I’m reporting it to you all.

I seldom, if ever, dwell on this kind of thing. Something good comes out of everything. I’m not a young woman, I am a really good writer, and I have so many irons in the fire, it all works out fine.

My current WIP, a speculative thriller, has been returned from my developmental editor and I have a lot to do on that. I teach Creative Brilliance in writing and marketing, so it’s not like I’m sitting here with nothing to do. I love to write, and I love talking and working with other writers.

And I got some really good things out of this. Screenwriting software is available for free to several hundred dollars. There are lots of online screenwriting workshops out there. There’s no reason I can’t do that! I already have two 10-episode projects waiting for correct formatting. It’s an entire avenue of writing I thought might be fun, and I can’t wait to jump in.

Yes, I will miss the $75,000/year salary, but it wasn’t real anyway. There are lots of real opportunities all around, just not on Twitter(X) and Telegram, LOL!

Have you ever suffered a writing scam? How did it go for you?

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