I stumbled upon this video today. It’s of a guy (who seems quite pissed off) explaining about typical online modeling scams. It’s worth watching if you have a portfolio on any website, or even if you say you’re a model on Facebook or Twitter. As they say — better safe than sorry!
A few rules to remember:
- No magazine is going to pay you a lot of money for anything. Doesn’t happen. Even for top agency models, magazine rates are very low. A typical fashion editorial rate is $150 per day. The highest rate I’ve ever heard of is $500 per day, and that is very unusual.
- Nobody will send you large amounts of money up front for a modeling job. If a miracle strikes and you do get hired for a job you have to fly to, they will make the reservations and buy tickets for you. Same for the hotel. They certainly aren’t going to send you the money and then cross their fingers and hope you show up.
- Nobody overpays up front, and then asks for a refund up front. Again, if in some Alice in Wonderland world someone were to send you money up front for a trip, they would just collect the overage when you arrived for the job, or take it out of your modeling fees after the job was over. They certainly wouldn’t ask you to send it to them before the trip ever began.
- Nobody will ask you to pay them for a service as part of getting the job. If they want you, for instance, to purchase a “modeling license” that they claim is necessary, and happen to know an attorney who can get it for you, it’s a scam.
The best way to tell if something is a scam is to take the offer to the best agency in your city and ask them. If it’s real, they’ll rep you and take 20% in exchange for making sure the offer is legit and being your backup in case something goes wrong. If it’s not a real offer, you may still get signed (who knows?), and at worst you just avoided a scam.
Tags: scams, video
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