eModel.com Fraud Investigation Report

The actual modeling competition mentioned above in a press release by Franchise Solutions (fransol.com) is also worth a closer look. There were 750 contestants who competed for the "coveted title" of "Spokesmodel of the Year."

Those terms seem to imply there is some sort of prestige attached to the competition and resulting work. You might want to think they were talking about a Ford Model competition, a chance to break into a modeling career. After all the winner was going to represent a line of cosmetics.

But wait a minute. On closer inspection, it turns out the line of cosmetics is not L'Oreal, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Laura Mercier, or anything remotely established, respectable, or prestigious. The makeup line is called Models Only. Guess who owns Models Only? That's right, emodel.com.

The press release named the winners of the competition and said they won the "prestigious spokesmodel titles." Were the contestants aware the competition was for emodel, i.e., in-house, and not for a famous brand? How prestigious could they be?

In any event, the fransol.com promotion looks misleading, because there is nothing prestigious about Models Only makeup. The website was trying to help emodel.com sell franchises, getting people to pay $30,000 for a small business opportunity. (emodel.com gets $30,000 for every new franchise.)

It would be very simple and easy to hold a beauty contest to recruit models. You could say in your advertising the winner would represent a line of cosmetics. The ad campaign would probably lead to many models being recruited, paying, and becoming members of emodel.com.

A former modeling scout for emodel.com reported modelsonly.com was holding a search for a spokesmodel, and announced they were using emodel.com to help them:

On the Modelsonly.com site we see:

 

"Models Only Spokesmodel Competition.

 

In order to be selected as the Models Only spokesmodel you must go through the following process:

 

Be selected at an eModel Open Call or chosen by an eModel scout."

 

So, in order to enter the competition you had to be an emodel (which means you had to pay about $500).

 

Also on the modelsonly site...

 

"As the cosmetics company of the modeling biz, Models Only naturally turned to eModel, the biggest name in the modeling industry to assist in the search."

"Naturally turned?" Naturally turned!? Can you believe that?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | all | print