Scammer Pretends to Be Model to Lure Other Models to Daring Shoot
It’s an established fact that scammers are getting creative. There are scammers who pretend to be fellow applicants in call centers, scammers who pretend to be children taken to the emergency room, and others that pretend to be bankers asking for your information. But who knew there are also scammers in the fashion industry? And that it’s rampant?
Our friend Karen Bordador, who is a host and DJ, reported that there is a scammer pretending to be her and asking her friends to model for a daring shoot. And what’s scary is, it happens a lot.
The scam is convincing. A fake Facebook profile with Karen’s name and photos will send a message to girls, asking if they are willing to do a daring shoot. At first, the way the scammer spoke is different from the way Karen speaks, but later on, they adjusted the speaking style to match Karen’s.
According to Karen, “Cathy Frey, a known model, sent me this recently. She wanted to check if I had another account. This poser has been known to be trying to get models to do very sketchy ‘projects.’ Actually I’ve encountered many of these before.”
Lucky for the girls, they had the sense of mind to directly contact Karen to verify the offer. She said, “Some of the girls are vocal enough to ask me directly. At least I am able to confirm to them that who they’re talking to is a poser. But how about the many girls that don’t know me personally?”
The fake Karen trying to lure more girls to daring shoots
Why do we get the feeling this is a man handling the account?
What’s scary is that the fake Karen is dropping names, which we think is being used to lull the potential victim into a false sense of security. If you’re a starting model and you get an offer to model with someone as well known as Gwen Garci, you’d be more likely to trust, right? And if it’s a female model asking other girls if they want to do daring shoots, they’re more likely to agree, as compared to a male stranger.
Note how the fake Karen keeps using the term ‘sis.’ We think it’s used to establish trust.
To those still being contacted by the fake Karen, the real Karen has this to say: “First of all, I am not a modeling agent. Yes, I do help my model friends from time to time to get projects wherein they’re looking for models so I suggest gals. But my assistant is the one that contacts the models, not me.”
Karen added that “I’ve received [info] that my posers are making them do video auditions wherein they’re made to wear swimsuits or their birthday suit for their online audition… with no project to happen after. It’s very degrading for the girls. Of course they’ll offer high talent fees so auditioning for it seems worth it for the gals.”
Besides posers who pretend to be her and lure unsuspecting girls, there are also those who just use her picture. It might be one of the occupational hazards of being too beautiful, but when someone is using your photos to scam other people for money, it gets terrifying.
One of the fake profiles that use Karen’s pictures
Karen shared a story on a man who reached out to her on her official Facebook page. “I even got a message from someone I don’t recall anymore that he gave me money after talking to me several times on my account,” she said. “I guess they were having a relationship or what not. However, after he sent her the money… she disappeared. Now he searched more about me and reached out to my fan page. I had to pop his poor bubble and tell him that he has been fooled by a poser.”
Most likely a male poser.
Karen says that this happens a lot, but it doesn’t get talked about much because they are too busy. Usually, the posers name drop people from the magazine industry to get these girls to agree. But the new modus where the scammers pretend to be a fellow model is “pretty new.”
“It’s possible that they think girl-to-girl is harmless so they would go this route. Plus, I model, too, so it makes it more comfortable for them to respond?”
If you’ve been talking to Karen or “Karen,” tweet @karenbordador to confirm if it’s really her. The same goes for everyone being invited to do daring shoots over Facebook. You never know what will happen to your pictures.
Long story short: Make sure you know who you’re talking to.
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Scammer Pretends to Be Model to Lure Other Models to Daring Shoot
