Scam by Emma Mitchell

Hopefully you've all seen my Facebook post but in short....

I have an ongoing issue with a well-known editor, Emma Mitchell, used by some of my author friends, and because of them and for my own sake I feel I must speak out. I need to warn people about her because I can't, in all good conscience, allow this woman to cause financial problems for anyone else.

In short, Emma asked for a volunteer to use their PayPal account to allow a client to pay her fee into. I offered as I had 2 accounts and couldn't see any harm. The transaction was processed and as far as I was aware at the time all was fine. That was until I started receiving letters from debt collectors saying I owe PayPal just over £1000. It seems the client was unhappy with the services provided by Emma and raised a dispute which was upheld by PayPal and the money returned to him. This left me with my account over £1000 in debt. Emma had to have been aware of this dispute, yet she did nothing about it and couldn’t even be bothered to let me know.

Since just after Christmas I have tried, in numerous different ways, and on multiple occasions to get in contact with Emma, essentially to get her to own it and to offer a suitable way forward so that I am not out of pocket having done her a big favour. Despite knowing that I have been left with such a large debt, she has ignored every single attempt to put matters right.

Shaming people over social media absolutely isn't my style, but I have exhausted every means to deal with this privately and I feel I've been pushed into a corner. But this post is more than just about the financial problems Emma has caused me. It’s about trying to prevent other people from falling into a similar trap. I have subsequently been made aware of other authors having issues – including financial – with Emma, and had I known beforehand I would never have entered into this agreement with her. But I trusted her, and she has thrown that trust back in my face.

I'm not a person who asks for help - ever, but so many people have offered.