Scam Alert™!!!
MusicBizAdvice.com wants you and your money to be safe while you pursue your music
industry career! Following are some of the scams that are making the rounds of the music
industry...
Scam Alert
Safety Alert: Sex Slave Ring Operators Posting Casting Call Ads on Online
Modeling and Talent Agency Websites
Editor’s Note:
We know this story is hard to believe, but it is true. After we saw this
report on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, we checked out the story
and verified the facts. Donny Deutsch has an excellent reputation, and
Kristin Stinar, the reporter who appeared on the show, is an award winning
investigative reporter with excellent credentials. The Donny Deutsch show
has covered other stories about the sex slave trade as well.
By Randi Reed
KSTP Investigative Reporter Kristin Stinar was on CNBC’s
The Big
Idea with Donny Deutsch last week to tell about a sex slave ring that
posted fake casting call ads on an online modeling and talent agency
website. Appearing with her on the show was an actress named Jennifer who,
thanks to Stinar’s investigation, discovered she may have foiled a potential
kidnapping attempt by bringing a male “bodyguard” with her to the “audition”
site. Here’s what happened:
The actress, who lived in the Midwest, posted
her photo and resume on a paid modeling
and talent agency website and answered what
looked like a legitimate casting ad for New Line
Cinema. She was asked to come to New York for an audition.
She flew to New York at her own expense for the audition. Feeling uneasy
about going to an audition alone in an unfamiliar city, she asked a male
employee from her hotel to accompany her to check out the site in advance.
When they arrived at the audition address, it turned out to be a “real
estate office” in an industrial area, and the two people there said they
didn’t know anything about any auditions.
KSTP reporter Kristin Stinar investigated and found out the ad was placed by
a person who posed as someone from New Line Cinema, and that the imposter
worked for a “family business” that deals in white slavery. Stinar said she
spoke to this person herself, and that the person admitted to using online
modeling and talent agencies to lure young women to an “audition” site,
where they’re kidnapped, stripped of their identification, and shipped
overseas to work in the sex slave trade.
Stinar and the actress think it’s possible that someone may have been
watching the parking lot and changed their mind about kidnapping the actress
when they saw her arrive at the “audition” site with a male companion.
Stinar also found an actress in Connecticut who says she too was lured to
New York to an audition at that same address. She too, wisely brought
someone with her to check out the site in advance.
We’re glad the actresses followed their instincts and brought along someone
to the “audition.” You should, too.
If you’ve read our previous Scam Alerts about online modeling and talent
agencies, you know the other red flags in this story. Can you find all 6?
Check out the answers here. Meanwhile,
check out more safety tips here.
Special thanks to Kristin Stinar for her fact checking assistance.
Kristin Stinar is an Emmy award winning
investigative reporter with KSTP TV and has appeared on
The Big Idea with
Donny Deutsch.
The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch can be seen weekdays on CNBC at 10:00PM
Eastern.
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