How to detect a model scam and avoid being victimized
When you sign on for something, know what you are getting.
If you are paying for web presence, then that is what you can reasonably expect to get.
If you are paying for a photo session, then that is what you can reasonably expect to get.
If you end up signing with a real agency or if you get some kind of modeling contract out of it as a result, consider it a bonus.
Don't forget: A legitimate company will NOT promise employment.
There is no way an agency or a manager or anyone else can guarantee you work.
No one can not predict the future and a real agent or manager will not pretend to speak for those who will consider you for hire.
No matter how good a company is and no matter what they may do for you, you may never become a $2,000 a day model. If that is the case, it may not be the company's fault. It could be that the clients just didn't select you no matter how hard the company you signed with tried to get you work.
In many cases (quite often in fact) new models are so inflexible and have such a long list of conditions and demands - or they have such unreasonable expectations - or their appearance changes so drastically - that they make it almost impossible for themselves get signed or booked.
Just because you didn't get work, does not necessarily mean the company was a scam - whether you paid them anything or not.
If you got what you paid for, then you have no complaint. You may not have gotten the results you and possibly everyone else were hoping for, but if you got what you paid for - you were not scammed.
Anytime someone offers you a verbal or written guarantee or attempts to use high pressure tactics on you or tries to coerce you into buying something from them, get up and walk out.
Don't spend a lot of money and don't sign up for what you don't understand.
Know what you are paying for and you should be OK. It isn't all that hard to figure out.
NEVER FORGET: Never buy anything from or through a model or talent agency. Under no circumstances should an agency require you to attend a particular class, or to buy anything from them - not books, not photos, not classes, not workshops, not runway training, not tote bags, not listings on web sites or on CDs or in some "talent book," not videos, not "comp cards," not address labels, not ANYTHING.
Do not pay a modeling agency for photography services, pay the photographer.
Do not pay an agency for comp cards, pay the printing company.
