332-352-7304

I received a call from a supposed literary agent, James McGowan. He claimed to work for the Bookends Literary agency. I am author and James offered to have the rights of my book, The Day that changed Long Island, sold & acquired by a traditional publisher. I signed an agreement with James that he would be entitled to 10% of the proceeds if he succeeded in getting my book rights sold to a traditional publisher. He then introduced me to Jeff Weber, telephone # 332-352-7304 who introduced himself as an acquisition agent for Penguin Random House. After several interviews, Jeff said that Penguin Random House would purchase the rights of my book for $470,000. This excessive amount immediately made me suspicious. I called Penguin Random House and asked if they had an employee named Jeff Weber. The customer service rep transferred me to someone who said that they had no such employee. She added that almost daily they receive calls from authors who were being scammed. When I spoke to James about this fraud, he sent me a phony page from the publisher's website showing Jeff's picture. When I went to Penguin Random's House webpage, that phony page did not appear. Again, they were trying to scam me. While I did not lose any money, I am concerned about the agreement that I signed with James McGowan. Please advise. Thank you. .css-1w6dufj [BBB Scam Type: Phishing] [Business: Bookends Literacy Agency] [Location: NY, USA - 11772]