The warning signs
- Money up front. Registration fees, admin fees, paid courses, or a portfolio you must buy before they will represent you. Reputable agencies earn commission on work they find you.
- Guaranteed work or earnings. Nobody can promise bookings. Clients choose, not agencies.
- Pressure to decide today. A real offer is still there after you have slept on it and shown it to someone.
- An approach you cannot verify. Scouts do message people on social media. A real one points you to the agency's own website and writes from the agency's email address. Be careful with anyone who wants to move the conversation to a private app.
- Requests for nude or explicit photos. No fashion or commercial agency needs them to consider you. Stop replying.
- A casting somewhere private. Castings happen at agency offices, studios and clients' premises. Tell someone where you are going, and if you are under 18, take an adult with you.
- Money that flows the wrong way. Being sent a payment and asked to return part of it is a well-known fraud.
The scripts scammers use
- The scouting message. A stranger says you have the look, then asks for a fee to register, to be listed or to hold your place.
- The photoshoot package. You are invited to an assessment day that turns into a hard sell for an expensive portfolio.
- The pay-to-play ambassador. A brand offers you a role, on condition that you buy its products first.
- The borrowed name. Someone claims to work for a well-known agency. Find that agency's official website and contact it directly before you reply.
How to check an agency
- Search the agency's name with the words scam and reviews.
- Look for a registered business behind the name and an email address on the agency's own domain.
- Read the privacy notice. It should say what happens to your photos and how to have them deleted.
- Ask how the agency earns its money, and ask for the answer in writing.
- Ask what happens next if they like you. A real agency can describe the steps.
What a real agency does instead
It lets you apply for free. It says no to most people, because it only earns when its models work. It puts terms in writing and gives you time to read them. Commission, commonly around 20 per cent of your fee in fashion, comes out of money you have earned. If there are costs, such as test shoots, they are explained before you agree to anything. Our guide to questions to ask before you sign goes through the detail.
For parents
If your child is under 18, be part of every step. Read every message, attend every meeting and sign every agreement yourself. A legitimate agency will insist on it. Anyone who suggests keeping a parent out of the conversation has told you what you need to know.
If something feels wrong
Stop, and do not send money or more photos. Keep the messages. Talk to someone you trust, and report the account to the platform it came from. If you have lost money, report it to the police or your country's fraud reporting service. Being targeted says nothing about you. These approaches are sent to thousands of people at a time.
Quick answers
- Do real model agencies charge a fee to join?
- Reputable agencies do not charge you to join or to be represented. They earn commission from the work they find you.
- Is it normal to pay for a portfolio?
- Not as a condition of being represented. Some agencies advance the cost of test shoots and recover it from later earnings, and that should be explained in writing before you agree.
- Does Star Model Agency charge to apply?
- No. Applying to Star is free.
