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Scam modelling agencies

Scam modelling agencies are agencies (or people who pretend to be agencies) that won't find modelling work for you. A few of these agencies may be operated by people who just don't understand the business, but most of them set out deliberately to defraud their victims.

How do we define 'Scam modelling agency'?
Well, some scams may be illegal, but it may be reasonable to also include the better-orgainised 'agencies' that act within the law (just) as scams if they encourage people to pay them money even though they know that they are extremely unlikely to get any modelling work through them.
Reputable agencies are very careful not to take on models who are unlikely to get work, but the scam agencies will take on literally everyone who applies - but they often claim to be very selective, saying that new models have to be approved by their Directors, selection panel etc - don't be fooled by this!

So who are these rogues?
Well, I'm going to tell you how to recognise them but I'm not going to name them.
There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly I don't know all of them and there is no point in only warning you about some of them. And secondly, I don't want to get sued!

I've recently been contacted by one very well known (notorious) scam agency. I don't accept bribes and I'm not concerned about their threats but unfortunately they have now applied pressure to a supplier who isn't prepared to stand up to them, and because of this we are not longer able to name them...

Some of the model agencies that appear to be scams do in fact cover themselves by appearing to try to find work for their models - but maybe they don't try too hard... One of our contacts got in touch with a notorious agency, saying that they wanted to hire a model for a 1-day shoot. After several email requests they eventually offered to supply a model. The model offered didn't have professional photos so almost certainly had no modelling experience and their fee was exactly double the fee charged by local modelling agencies for experienced models. Draw your own conclusions from this...

Of course, this type of 'agency' is only really interested in getting you to pay them for their so-called agency services and doesn't want the hassle of actually finding work for models - but it may help them, if they can find a gullible Judge, if they can prove that some of their models do in fact get work through them. These agencies may publish an impressive list of clients who they claim to have worked for in the past but according to information received from various sources most of the people on the list are likely to deny that they have ever dealt with them!

Here are some of the scams used by various dodgy agencies!

Money to go on their books.
Model agencies are not allowed to charge you money just to go onto their books but some of them do it anyway....

They may manage to stay just within the law by charging you a fee (sometimes a very high one) for publicity - putting your face on their website or in their brochure, their wallchart or whatever, or for a so-called contract.
The way that honest agencies usually work is that they will only charge you a percentage of your earnings (usually around 20-25%) and this is perfectly O.K. The dishonest ones aren't interested in finding you any work so there won't be any earnings for you and they won't be getting any commission - and that's why they want you to pay them up front!
How to check Don't bother to check, just make sure that you don't pay any money up front for any reason!*

Training Courses.
You don't need an expensive training course to be a model, either you've got it or you haven't!
These courses are a complete waste of your money.

Premium rate 'phone calls.
Forcing people to use a premium rate phone No. (starting with 090) is, we feel, dubious business practice (and a nice little earner) but some agencies do it - usually the calls are from the models asking why they haven't been offered any work yet, and they may be kept hanging on the phone for ages, which will bump up the cost!
You may feel that you should avoid registering with any agency that uses premium rate numbers.

We know of one so-called 'model agency' which uses all of the above scams! They charged one model we know over £100 to join them, then kept sending her 'special offers' on training courses she didn't need. Then they wrote to tell her that she had won a free model portfolio. It was only the photography that was free and her father ended up paying £500 for the prints - the photos were useless anyway and were more like glamour makeover portraits than portfolio shots. When she rang up to complain she had to use their premium rate No., and as they kept her hanging on and on.... that cost her another £45.

This particular 'agency' advertises extensively and are believed to scam many thousands of models a year!

Portfolio photos (known in the trade as 'a book'.
Agencies often do need to have photos of course, but the dishonest ones will tell you that they should be taken by their own photographer. The photos are usually overpriced and very poor quality. In addition to this they may refuse to let you have any extra prints (or they may charge you a fortune for extra prints) so that you can't take them to other agencies.

Some of the more subtle conmen will offer to take the photos 'to help you out' but say that they will be happy to accept suitable photos produced by another professional - but if you actually take them up on that and go to another photographer they will tell you the photos aren't good enough! Another, brand-new trick is to 'recommend' new models to a firm of photographers. Who owns the photography firm? You've guessed, it the scam model agency.

Model assessment
Here you pay them a fee to be 'assessed' for your suitability as a model. Charging you for this assessment is illegal, so they try to make it legal by taking a couple of snapshots and charging you for the photos instead.
How to check. Model assessment is something that all reputable agencies do as a matter of course, and they do it free! Our advice is to avoid anyone who wants to charge you for this.

Photographers who run their own agency.
There are some honest photographers who also run honest model agencies, but unfortunately some photographers start up fake model agencies just to con would-be models into have portfolios produced by them.

On the surface it seems to make sense for photographers to run model agencies but in practice most clients, who are after all professional photographers themselves, won't do business with their competitors and may be very wary about letting a model agent who is also a photographer find out about their clients and the work they are doing for them, so it makes sense to make very careful checks into any agency that claims to be a professional photographer.

The owner of one 'agency' has a string of police arrests for fraud and indecent conduct towards models, has various other criminal convictions and has owned a string of Companies which crashed owing money - but he seems to be operating almost within the law and there seems to be nothing that the authorities can do to stop him!

How to check. Genuine agencies have a list of genuine clients and will be happy to tell you who they are, so that you can check that the agency does in fact supply models to them (be sure to actually make these checks before making any decisions). The conmen will simply make excuses, usually about confidentiality, or will publish a list of clients who in reality have never dealt with them!

Advertising in different areas.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with advertising for models as such, and there's nothing wrong with advertising for models who live many miles from the agency that places the adverts - but you should consider the possibility that agencies who advertise outside of their own immediate area may be doing it because they have a bad local reputation.
We've heard of one disreputable agency that does this, simply because of the conduct of the photographer - there is less risk of angry fathers or boyfriends calling to visit if they live a long way away!
And there's another dodgy model agency that seems to advertise in every Yellow Pages in the country - except for the one in their own area.

Travelling model recruitment.
These are people who travel the country holding 'seminars' for would-be models, usually in smart hotels. They advertise in the local papers, get dozens or even hundreds of people along to their 'seminar', pitch a tale of untold fame and fortune, take your money and move on to the next town. Some of them guarantee that they'll find an agency to represent you - and they do - but of course the so-called agency will charge you a fat fee for registration and will be owned by the same people who scammed you the first time round...
And guess what? If you fall for the second scam you'll be approached by yet another scam agency, again run by the same people... We're getting quite a lot of emails about an 'agency' called Rendevous in Southampton. Be warned, the people who seem to be behind this so-called agency are also believed to trade under the names of Classic People, Open Door Promotions , B & M and Regardez. We strongly advise you to have nothing to do with any of them. You may find this video interesting
More info here

How to check. Don't bother to check, reputable agencies never recruit models this way.

Someone stops you in the street, a smart shop or whatever.
...Tells you that you should be a model and are just what they're looking for. This doesn't sound genuine but it might be - several reputable agencies and talent scouts recruit people in this way and we've done it ourselves when we can't find a model for a particular assignment and it could be genuine- but it's more likely to be someone trying to get you into their bed, or to scam you for money.
How to check. Don't rely on identification, business cards or whatever, they could be fake. Don't assume that it must be OK if the person who approaches you happens to be the same sex as you.
Rely on your common sense and on the presence of a large, male friend. Never go to a hotel room and don't accept anything to drink. Make it clear to the person that you'll be bringing your boyfriend/father with you - no reputable agent or scout will have a problem with that.

Passing off.
This is where a dishonest 'agency' pretends to be someone else. There are a few famous names in modelling - highly respectable and successful agencies known to just about everyone - and crooks have been known to use the same or a very similar name in order to deceive people. Or they may claim to be a talent scout for the real agency.
How to check. Look the famous-name agency up in the 'phone book, ring them up and ask them.

Web-based agencies and listings
This section has its own page

How do these scam agencies get away with it?
Mainly because the victims are isolated from each other and never find out that there are hundreds or even thousands of other victims. So, they pay their money and wait for the work to flood in.
And they wait and wait.
Any many of them just forget about it and do nothing. Others may ring the agency up to ask what's happening.
"Well, there's been some interest in you but no firm bookings yet. I'm sure that something will come up soon"
"But didn't you say that you were going to put my picture on your website?"
"And we will, but to keep the clients interested we rotate the models. That way everyone gets a fair chance, but your face can't be on view all the time - one thing that would help you a lot is some really great portfolio shots - you're in luck, because we've got a fantastic new photographer and we'll give you a special discount price...."

Some dogdy agencies have delevoped a new trick - a 'Premium Listing'. They offer various levels of 'membership' to new victims, and when people who've chosen to be scammed for the smallest amount of money complain they try to get them to part with even more money and become a 'Premium Member' (or similar term).

After a while, the average would-be model just assumes that she's ugly, or boring, and that the agency is doing its best. She doesn't realise that she's been scammed.

Or maybe she does, but doesn't get around to doing anything about it.

Or maybe she complains to the police, only to be told that it's nothing to do with them.

Or to the DTI (The Department of Trade and Industry, who are supposed to regulate model agencies) but she loses interest by the time their local inspector, who is probably rushed off his feet, gets in touch.

Or to Trading Standards. But here's a quote attributed toTrading Standards in Southampton "Both businesses have worked with Trading Standards over a number of years to make their terms and conditions as clear and fair as possible. Regardez has also achieved membership of our `Buy with Confidence' scheme, which means they carry our badge of approval. We are happy that they continue to meet the standards we expect from members of the scheme." Please click here to see that attributed comment in context.

How can you recognise a scam agency?
Many of them advertise for new victims. Click here for more info

How can you avoid being scammed by these fake agencies?
It's easy!

Genuine agencies make their money from commission on the work that they find for you. They don't charge registration fees or any other kind of fees, so you can be almost certain that any 'agency' that wants you to pay them money is out to scam you.
There is just one exception to this 'rule' that you shouldn't pay to join an agency - some reputable agencies for children do charge - partly to deter timewasters and partly because the cost of promoting child models can be high.
This doesn't mean that child modelling agencies that do charge are O.K. - you still need to be careful.

As from 1st April 2008, new (and in our view totally inadequate) regulations require agencies and others who act, or claim to act on behalf of models, actors etc and who have charged an upfront fee have to give the money back if asked to do so within 7 days - in other words the government has introduced a 7-day 'Cooling off period'.

Please click here for details

How do the genuine agencies operate? Click here to find out

You've been scammed - can you get your money back?
Please click here

Have we saved you money? Please click here