Scams in the Modeling Industry

Disclaimer-The picture used for this blog was gotten from shutterstock

In my experience of modeling, I have come upon various scams in modeling and also became a victim of such scams, first you may be wandering what is "scam in modeling"? I have heard the tales of aspiring models who said they were always warned of scammers involved in the modeling world in their attempts to pursue their modeling dream, I too, I have been warned about scams by my mother when I was registering for online modeling contests, why is it that people so much believe in scams in modeling? That is because there actually is scams in modeling.

What is scam in modeling?
     Scam in modeling are the various ways people/scammers use to get money out of aspiring naive desperate models with the believe they will recieve benefits which they wont (false promises).

Aspiring models who are naive and desperate for that spotlight, and fame are the ones who end up getting scammed. Because of aspiring models who do not know the proper ways of going about modeling, they tend to fall into the wrong hands of those who do and use their ignorance to their advantage to exploit money from them because of the desperation they see in their eyes that they are ready to do anything and their lact of knowlegde of how to go about becoming a model.

How the questions coming to you should be, "who are the people who scam aspiring models?" "what various ways do they use to scam models?" "what are false promises?" and "how come aspiring models end up getting scammed?"

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO SCAM ASPIRING MODELS

In my year of modeling experience, I have made observations of those who scam models, that they are of 2 categories, and they are:

1- Models (experienced models), and

2- Imposters (those who hide under modeling agencies, mostly top modeling agencies)

MODELS- are you surprised that models are actually the ones who scam other models? Dont be, but believe me, its true. The experienced models are the ones who take advantage of inexperienced aspiring models, but dont get it wrong, not all experienced models actually devise means of scamming aspiring models, as there are some aspiring models who are focused on becoming top models, so they dont waste their time plotting ways to scam others, as in my observations, top models dont or rarely think of ways to scam others.
Experienced models who are scammers tend to inform aspiring models (those who want to become models) false informations about how to become a model and the various ways to go about it knowing fully well that the aspiring models will listen to him/her because they see him/her as a guide. Lets take for example the experienced model telling an aspiring model to pay 5000 Nigerian naira for a photoshoot in which the aspiring model will also model for a fashion designer, only at the end the aspiring model pays the experienced model the 5000 Nigerian naira, models the fashion designers wears which is used by the fashion designer and the aspiring model gets nothing but just his pictures, and later on finds out that the fashion designer had already paid for the photoshoot, so the 5000 the aspiring model paid was entering the pocket of the experienced model who had to lie to get what he wants.
Another way they scam is by giving false promises, such as "you will be signed to an agency if you pay for this shoot" "if you pay this certain amount of money for this shoot you will be famous, every social media will upload it and you will be known", false promises are promises an experience model makes which he cannot forgive, the truth is one cannot give what one doeant have, if an experienced model comes to you with promises, first make sure he is at that level to help you and if he too himself doesnt need that which he promised you, also for a photoshoot, you as the model will pay the photographer for your shoot so as to add your photoshoot to your profile not that someone will tell you to pay for it and they end up using you, you can get this full details in my previous post MODELING AND PHOTOGRAPHY.

IMPOSTERS- these type of scammers use the identity of well known modeling agencies to scam others through the social media, agencies such as Beth Model Agency, Few Agency, Elite Models Look have been a victim of imposters who use their identity to scam other aspiring models because they know they will be more than willing to do what they tell them to do because of the reputation of the modeling agency they are using to scam others, most of these imposters use social media like Instagram, Twitter, and facebook to carry out ther scamming activities, that is why these innocent agencies are always on the look out for fake accounts bearing their name and inform all their followers about them being scams and also getting their accounts verified. Not only Modeling Agencies but famous top models as well, which is why top models get their accounts verifed on Instagram, Twitter and those who do not have verified account are always on the look out for fake accounts bearing their name, so this is one of the reasons why top models dont usually scam others as they themselves are on the look out to fish out scammers.

Scamming in modeling as brought a bad name to the modeling industry, all because their are desperate models/imposters who want to benefit from desperate aspiring models as soon as possible with whatever means neccessary. This as to stop as its just dragging the modeling world down with bad orentations being imprinted onnthe minds of people, especailly those who are victims of it, and if I must say, I too have been a victim of scam and yet here I am still pushing forward and fighting on because modeling is my passion.

Procedures tobtake to become a model so you dont get scammed:

1- go to reputable modeling academy, which is a school of modeling to learn all you need to know about becoming a model

2- go and apply to a modeling agency to be signed, or go for audition calls by agencies if you want to be signed under an agency

3- if you choose to be freelance, then you go through the stress of looking for model jobs yourselves.

A post on how to be a model coming soon.