English
Scam test

Types of scams

The impersonator

Uses a real photographer's or agency's name, logo and stolen photos. The person writing to you is not the person you look up.

The most convincing variant, because everything you find online is real: the agency exists, the photographer is known, the work is published. Only the account writing to you is fake. Impersonators borrow real names to run any of the other scams with a head start on your trust.

How to recognise it

  • The account is new, has few followers, or a name that is almost, but not exactly, the real one.
  • They contact you first, out of nowhere, and move to a private channel or personal email at once.
  • The contact details they give do not match the ones on the real agency's or photographer's site.
  • Urgency and secrecy: "don't contact the agency, they are not involved yet".

What to do

  1. Contact the real agency or photographer through the phone number or email on their own website, never through the details you were given, and ask if the offer is theirs.
  2. Look at the account itself: age, followers, previous posts, spelling of the name.
  3. Report the impersonating account to the platform and tell the real professional: they will want to know.

How it sounds

Hi, this is the booking team of a well-known agency, you may know our name. We're expanding our new faces board and you caught our eye. Red flag · Nothing you can check
Thank you! I'll call the agency tomorrow to confirm. Who should I ask for?
Please don't call the office, this is a private search and they are not involved yet. Write to my personal email and we'll take it from there. Red flag · Off the platform
If it's your agency's search, the office will know about it. I'll check with them first.
You're overthinking it. Other girls have already said yes. Last chance. Red flag · Pressure
Then it's a no from me.
Verdict: scam

The agency is real; the account is not. Contact the real agency through the details on its own website, never through the ones you were given.

The other types of scams

The self-proclaimed nude "artist"

Not a photographer, but works hard to look like one. What they want is to meet you and see you undressed; the photos are beside the point.

How to recognise it

The bogus scout, agency or magazine

A company that exists only in messages. Pornography and prostitution recruitment often hide behind this front.

How to recognise it

Pay-to-play "agencies"

Fees for registration, books, courses or exclusive castings. Real agencies make money by getting you work, not by getting you to pay.

How to recognise it

The nude casting trap

A well-paid job for a great client, as long as the "casting" involves undressing for someone you know nothing about.

How to recognise it

The photo blackmailer (sextortion)

Someone who obtained intimate photos of you, or claims to have them, threatens to publish them or send them to your family, school or agencies unless you send more photos, agree to another shoot or meet them. Sometimes they ask for money too.

How to recognise it

The model scam test

Eight quick questions about the offer you received. The verdict follows the six warning signs of a model scam. Nothing is stored; nobody but you sees your answers.

  1. 1 Did they ask for photos in underwear or nude, "to see your body" or "to assess you"?

    Agencies assess new faces with polaroids: plain clothes, natural light, no make-up.

  2. 2 Did they give you details you can check yourself: the client, an agency name, a landline, an office address, a website?

    Facts you can confirm on your own, not screenshots or logos.

  3. 3 Are you being asked to pay anything before working: a registration fee, a book, a course, travel or visa costs?

    Agencies earn when you earn.

  4. 4 Are you being pressured: decide today, keep it confidential, or annoyance and bad manners the moment you ask questions?

    Real professionals expect to be checked and never mind the questions.

  5. 5 Can you bring a friend or a parent to the first meeting, in an office, a studio or a public place?

    Real castings happen in offices and studios, and nobody minds your friend in the waiting room.

  6. 6 Did they ask to move the conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram or a personal email right away?

    Off the platform, nothing can be reported.

  7. 7 Have they threatened to publish or send photos of you if you don't send more, do another shoot or meet them (or pay)?

    That is blackmail, a crime. Do not send more, keep everything, report it.

  8. 8 Have you found the agency or photographer yourself (their own website, their own phone number) and confirmed the offer with them?

    The one step that defeats almost every scam.