Three individuals, two of them Filipinos based in Cebu, have been arrested and charged for allegedly defrauding over 800 authors, mostly senior citizens, of nearly $44 million in exchange for the adaptation or publication of books they have written.

Charged by the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California were Michael Cris Traya, reportedly the founder and CEO of Innocentrix Philippines and chair of the Hiyas ng Pilipinas beauty pageant and Bryan Navales Tarosa, vice president of Innocentrix.

Innocentrix is a business process outsourcing firm reportedly based in Cebu.

Also charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy was Gemma Traya Austin, organizer of Page Turner Press and Media LLC.

Traya and Tarosa, who are both based in Cebu, were arrested in San Diego, California on December 9 while Austin was nabbed in Chula Vista, also in California three days later.

The US Attorney’s Office said all three were found to have orchestrated a fraudulent scheme that earned them over $44 million given by the victims who are mostly elderly citizens who are aspiring authors.

According to the prosecutors the three misled their victims into believing that the books they have written were to be considered for publication by major publishers or by Hollywood producers.

Victims were made to pay for taxes and transaction fees for the “services” rendered by the three accused who represented Page Turner.

Information released by the prosecutors indicated that the scam started way back 2017 when Innocentrix Philippines employees were made to contact writers via unsolicited calls and emails.

The call center agents introduced themselves as representatives of PageTurner.

The information claims that the three accused identified PageTurner as a publishing company that has strong connections with literary agents, movie studios and streaming platforms.

“What started with the promise of a Hollywood dream turned into a devastating nightmare for the victims,” said San Diego US Attorney Tara McGrath.

She stated: “Authors should stay vigilant , do their research and think twice before giving money to anyone promising a blockbuster deal.”