News 12 first learned about an alleged publishing scam when a Long Island author Turned to Tara saying she needed help after a police investigation went nowhere.

When Tara Rosenblum began a monthlong investigation, it turned out that this was not an isolated incident - and that the author wasn't the only person who seemed to be scammed out thousands of dollars.

Documents obtained by the Turn to Tara team revealed dozens of other alleged victims from across the nation.

Jessica Mack, a mother from Merrick, NY, says after she became sick with myeloproliferative neoplasm, she created vegetarian recipes that grew so popular online that she authored a cookbook.

"I love that it actually gave me purpose again," she says.

Mack says she agreed to pay $8,500 to the East 26th Publishing Company to produce her book.

She says just a few weeks after the money was wired to owner Krista Huber, the situation "started to sour."

She says Huber didn't want to meet or have any conversations recorded. Mack says Huber became combative and stopped returning any emails, texts or phone calls.

The Turn To Tara team confirmed Mack filed complaints with local and federal authorities back in 2022.

Two years later, she's still fighting for justice, so she decided to Turn To Tara.

"I felt like I just needed someone else to shine light on the this problem," she said.

She's not alone. Others shared similar stories, including Kellie Kaminskas, from Connecticut, Melinda Melo from Ontario, Emily Merrell, from Oregon and Matthew Nalywaiko, from California.

In her first interview, Kaminskas, a single mom, said she hired Huber to publish a children's book about grieving.

Kaminskas says there were characters modeled after her son that she penned following her husband’s death from a fentanyl overdose.

"Once she was paid, it kind of just turned," she says. "She never really responded to emails...the hardest thing was she knew my story and how personal it was."

Shreeda Tailor lives close by to Huber in Texas and says she was one of several authors who reportedly received an email last summer from Huber saying in part that God had placed other priorities in her lap, so she was closing.

Huber also said she would be issuing refunds, but Tailor says she is still waiting for the payment.

"I'm angry that she's getting away with it," says Tailor. "The DA said that because it's a closed business they can't really do anything about it."

News 12 got a similar response when contacting police, the FBI, the attorney general and the district attorney's office in Texas. They all told News 12 they couldn't comment on investigations or confirm if there even is one.

But police in Nassau County, NY said Mack's complaint is still an open and active case.

In the meantime, it appears Huber is beginning a new chapter in her life, offering online branding classes for entrepreneurs.

"There's no accountability on her end," says Mack.

"I just don't want anybody else to go through this," says Kaminskas.

These concerns were taken directly to Huber, who Tara Rosenblum contacted shortly before this story aired.

Huber said that life doesn't always go the way we plan, and she is "heartbroken" over the closure of her East 26th Publishing Company.

She insisted it is still the company's intention to refund every author who is owed one.