Thread by @swankmotron, So... I got a card in the mail today that was pretty [...]

So... I got a card in the mail today that was pretty clearly a scam.

It was an “exclusive invitation” to make my “writing dreams come true.”

I subscribe to enough writerly things that I’m sure my address got sold on a mailing list.

This thing is next level bad. And it’s... it feels gross.

I want to tweet about it just in case we can spread the word enough that no one gets roped in.

I open the card, and there’s @StephenKing to greet me. I’m 99.9% sure Stephen King has nothing to do with these folks, but this heavily implies he does. And it gets even worse.

Then you open it, and there’s an envelope to send money in with a very sternly stamped date. I HAVE to act quick!

The key to living your dream as a writer, apparently, is to co-write a book with a #1 New York Times Bestseller!

It’s a little known secret apparently...

So, here’s the catch... If you want to learn the identity of this secret New York Times Bestseller, you need to send in $10 and sign an NDA before they can reveal this fabulous secret... but there’s an implication that it’s really @StephenKing himself!

The card has some compelling stock photo testimonials. Which... if these two did this and wrote with a New York Times Bestseller, shouldn’t they, you know, exist?

I mean, I& #39;d murder to write a book with @StephenKing. Sometimes I wonder if @Ssnyder1835 had to. So I go to the website listed on the kit... and there& #39;s a video. And it& #39;s very weird.

More testimonials! This is Beth Howell... She employed this secret, write with an NYTimes Bestseller strategy, and can write on the beach now!

And also, apparently, moonlights as a Shutterstock model.

There& #39;s a video on the site, too.
And the author of this secret writing strategy book, Monica S. Main, pitches that she has access to one New York Times Bestseller who has been #1 on the charts for the last 40 years in copy that mimics the byline of @StephenKing on the postcard.

Apparently, this author has ONE! slot for a book to co-write with them at the end of this year. JUST ONE! And you need to send her your money to buy her book NOW! to get into this very competitive slot.

There& #39;s even a timer on the site in a subliminal cue to try to imply that you have to act within in these few minutes. This is how quickly this potential spot is going.

I put the address the card came from in Google Maps... and all I got was this dodgy UHaul lot behind a Burger King in Florida.

I& #39;m not 100% sure it& #39;s the same person, but googling Monica S. Main brought up some interesting stuff. There& #39;s a Monica Schiera Main who pulled a scam similar to this. She defrauded people out of money in a trading scam and had done time for it previously. https://www.dailynews.com/2007/05/10/couple-ordered-to-pay-for-fraud/">https://www.dailynews.com/2007/05/1...

Couple ordered to pay for fraud

VALENCIA – She called herself a millionaire who could help customers make a mint trading commodity futures, but Monica Schiera Main kept it a secret that she was a convicted felon who had gon…

https://www.dailynews.com/2007/05/10/couple-ordered-to-pay-for-fraud/

I think the thing that was most offensive about all of this, I mean, aside from the fraud and the implication that @StephenKing was somehow involved, was her description of what it& #39;s like being a successful bestseller.

"There& #39;s a lot of aspiring writers out there who would just love the opportunity to catapult themselves quickly into success, into seeing their name in lights and the fame and fortune and all the stuff that comes along with becoming the #1 New York Times Bestseller."

She follows that up with: "they would love this opportunity so if you& #39;re one of these people that& #39;s going to drag your feet, you& #39;ll miss out, so I strongly advise you to click on the button now."

It& #39;s such a gross sales tactic.

She& #39;s selling a dream of being a successful writer that doesn& #39;t exist for most writers that have hit the New York Times Bestseller list.

And the sort of person who would fall for this is NEVER even going to SEE the bestseller list.

But only having one slot available means she can keep them on the hook. "Competition was fierce, but there& #39;s always next year."

She& #39;s selling the "chance." And that is just gross.

Further exploration goes to show that she& #39;s also involved in a real estate investment scam. And that was hit by a lawsuit and injunction in late 2020. But her website for that fraud is still up.

Her office for the real estate venture, per Google Maps, is this random, Californian industrial park.

I& #39;m, uh, gonna call the number on the postcard...

Holy shit.

They ask you to leave your name, number, address, AND CREDIT CARD INFO on this random ass voice mail line. https://youtu.be/JRnrwPRQkg0 ">https://youtu.be/JRnrwPRQk...

The best part is when they namecheck the free Ernest Hemingway bookmark...

"Making as much money as you want! GUARANTEED!"

Ugh. This is so gross.

More testimonials! This is Tina Ho. She wants to be a "lucrative writer."

And she, too, moonlights as a stock photo model.

Roger Warren made $400,000 writing a book he wrote in 11 days, but still has to double as a stock-photo model.

I wonder how much she paid for these testimonials.

This video has 3 views, so I don& #39;t think it& #39;s been terribly effective so far, but talking to a bunch of writer friends, we all only got the postcardtoday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWuglqXHxl4">https://www.youtube.com/watch...

It feels like Ed Wood directed this testimonial. https://youtu.be/T_2N3Yp0cCA ">https://youtu.be/T_2N3Yp0c...

I put in a bunch of dummy information into the form to see what the credit card intake looked like. It& #39;s totally unsecured. But there& #39;s this little checkbox that has in the fine print that an extra CD will run your card for an extra $97.

And this is despite the fact that the previous page said this $97 value would be free. So, this is another straight up lie in the marketing.

Do these scams make money? Is it worth the fines and potential jail time?

The use of quotation marks here feels like it& #39;s telling. "Tricks."

Like committing a mail and credit fraud scam.

Apparently, Monica is represented by an agency that looks also like a scam. One where they "represent you" and then self-publish your book in-house.

But this line in her bio on the agency website is slaying me.

"In 1987, Monica discovered a powerful technique that combined visualization with vibrational quantum physics, which changed her entire life."

According to google maps, this agency is located in this townhome on the left.

This whole thing is just super infuriating to me.

If making a living at this were this easy, then literally everyone would be doing it.

And she& #39;s preying on folks who don& #39;t know better and won& #39;t read the fine print.

I found the real Roger Warren: https://twitter.com/swankmotron/status/1382156760400601089?s=20">https://twitter.com/swankmotr...

https://twitter.com/swankmotron/status/1382156760400601089?s=20

I filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission& #39;s Fraud department this morning. We& #39;ll see how it goes. I& #39;ll document any updates here.

The rabbit hole on this company gets deeper though. I found the lawfirm that created the shell company used to funnel all this scammed money to: https://www.amerilawyer.com/ ">https://www.amerilawyer.com/">...

And looking up registries across all the states they& #39;ve worked in, it looks like they& #39;ve set up hundreds of corporations and many of them sound just as dodgy as "Living the Writer& #39;s Dream, International"

I found four different phone numbers for this scam and other associated scams yesterday and called them all. They all get routed to a call center ready to take my order.

I did a bunch of digging and found literally dozens of business names she& #39;s started and killed. This is just her most recent one.

There& #39;s a really dodgy law firm involved in all of them. And it seems their entire bread and butter is helping people establish fly-by-night businesses like this.

I& #39;m genuinely curious where she got the leads to send the postcards out. Did she buy them?

Or did she steal the Glengarry leads from the office with Levine?

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