The scammers are alive and well – and now they are on facebook
Wolf | January 22nd, 2010 - 16:09A modelling scam warning
Last night I received an e-mail from Elaine in the United States that somebody calling himself Hugh Pederson was offering modelling jobs on Facebook. He claimed that he worked for me and said something about the “Marie Claire Face of the Year”.
Update July 2010: The same scam runs now with somebody claiming to look for “the Gloss Magazine face of the year”. Various names are used, the name Glen Reid has been mentioned more than once. See user submitted comments below.
I have never heard of anybody called Hugh Pederson, neither has Elaine nor the people at Marie Claire magazine, which is not surprising because it is a false name used by somebody trying to commit a crime.
Here is a warning to all (aspiring) models: Nobody works for me contacting models and I am not in the habit of offering lucrative modelling jobs on the strength of a snapshot or two. It is a scam. Don’t fall for it, however tempting it may sound.
Although I have no details of this latest scam, I have little doubt that it is a variation on the scam, which is described in detail on my website as the photographer’s rep scam.
Here is a copy of the original message, kindly sent in by Kim:
Hi there. Im Hugh from WOLFKETTLER . Im a professional scout for potential and upcoming models. I am sorry to bother you but i have something that might interest you. Im on a search for a face for our clients .. “the Mary Claire face of the year” Fortunately your profile picture has been viewed and we are interested in hiring you for this highly anticipated project. Please send your email address to hugh.wolfkettler@gmail.com. So i could contact you formally. Thanks a bunch …
The scam is an advance fee fraud. If a model falls for the scam, she is sent a cheque, asked to cash it into her own bank account and then transfer most of the money, except for her fee, to a third party. The explanation is that the money is to cover expenses for the photo shoot, studio hire, etc. Needless to say, the cheque bounces but the fraudsters hope that the transfer from the model has already been made by the time she finds out.
This current variation of the scam differs from the original one because it is written in much better English. The use of my name as part of a gmail e-mail address is clever but can be done by anyone. Still, the message just does not sound genuine and professional.
If you have been contacted with this or similar “offers” through facebook, please post details in the comments box below.
The Internet is essentially a lawless space, in which anybody can pretend to be anybody else with little fear of persecution. When I was first alerted to this scam, in which my name was used, I reported it to the police. Over a period of time, I had gathered some evidence. I had the trail of a cheque and I had an address in the UK.
The police told me that there was nothing they could do because no crime had been committed. I was convinced that there must be a crime somewhere in attempting to obtain money by deception and filed an official complaint. The complaint was looked into but not upheld. It did not help that it was the police who looked into a complaint against themselves.
As long as the police are unwilling to investigate crimes, there is very little that the rest of us can do. The scammers are safe in the knowledge that nobody goes after them.
We should not blame the police alone for not performing. Unrealistic government targets ensure that only those crimes are officially recorded, which have at least some chance of being solved. I doubt that my report and subsequent complaint ever featured in any statistics.
I got a message on facebook from Glen Reid. I thought it may be some kind of con, so I thought would look him up online, glad I did now! There was me thinking I was gonna be a cover girl, lol.
I’ve just been sent the same message TODAY through facebook from Glen Reid as well, although this time his email address is listed as something different.
This is the message:
Hi there. Im Glen Reid from WOLFKETTLER. Im a professional scout for potential and upcoming models though i work with a photography agency. I am sorry to bother you but i have something that might interest you. Im on a search for a face for our clients .. “The Gloss Magazine face of the year” Fortunately your profile picture has been viewed and we are interested in hiring you for this highly anticipated project. Please send your email address to glenreid_wolfkettler @photographer.net.
So i could contact you formally.Do have a lovely day.
I am very thankful I was able to google “wolfkettler” along with “glen reid” and came across this page!!
thanks for posting this to give others the heads up. This guy sounds like a total jackass. i just received this email:
Hugh Pederson July 16
Hi there. Im Hugh Pederson from WOLFKETTLER. Im a professional scout for potential and upcoming models though i work with a photography agency. I am sorry to bother you but i have something that might interest you. Im on a search for a face for our clients .. “The Gloss Magazine face of the year” Fortunately your profile picture has been viewed and we are interested in hiring you for this highly anticipated project. Please send your email address to hugh.wolfkettler @photographer.net.
So i could contact you formally.Do have a lovely day
i received this email as well on the 26th Jan but only saw it tonight as I’ve had my laptop in for repairs! thankfully we are becoming more cautious in falling for these scams and wholeheartedly agree that exposing this/these wanker/s (sorry if I offend anyone!!!) should be applauded ….tops, onya!! =)
Hey guys, I just got the same e-mail. Really glad this page exists, I hope all girls that get this message will research this tard’s name instead of getting exciting…
I received the exact same email as kim only the name was Glen Reid!
Dodgy right from the time i read it !also after being emailed to me at 11.45 at night!!! he attached this email address to it…glen.wolfkettler@yahoo.co.uk.
Like Debbie said too reality check.. i am no where near model material so thanks to u wolfkettler for posting on your blog all about this scam!
Hi Debbie, thank you for your comments. Just to clarify, I am not an agency, I am a photographer.
Well like Elaine, I was flattered someone thought me model material, but hey, reality check! I’m not! I had also been contacted by this ‘so called’ Scout!” Hugh! and yes i have asked for further details, but things aren’t always true, so I have emailed Mary Claire and the Model agency.
It’s a good job that the true agencies have the decency to put out blogs about scams etc. And a big thank you. I can imagine many young girls would fall for this.
So beware!
Thank you for posting this for others to read and learn about. I applaud you for taking action so quickly to warn others as I know many would have just ignored my warning email and gone about the day.
Like the saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.” As much as I wish someone would think I am model worthy, the truth is I know I am not..lol.
Be careful and keep your eyes wide open ladies.
Thank you again Mr. Kettler.
Elaine “the would-be model”