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emodel.com, Options Talent GroupDear Modeling Scams, Thank you, thank you! I had an interview scheduled for tomorrow with Options Talent Group. I found the job posting through monster.com in my quest for a real job. I wondered why they would want someone with no experience in scouting. I still shake with anger when I remember "cattle calls" at the shopping malls I would take my children to when they were younger. Then the enthusiastic "Oh, you're children are just what we're looking for...." Then the pitch to pay several hundreds of dollars to get listed, get a portfolio, etc., etc. My feeling (which has been substantiated upon further research) was that if someone wanted my children to model, they would pay for the privilege, not me. I cannot do that to someone else and be able to look at myself in the mirror with any respect. I cancelled the interview. I'm not wasting the gas money. K.K. K., Apparently emodel.com (now Options Talent) was banned from posting at monster.com because emodel had a bad reputation. However, they tried to beat the system, posting advertisements for emodel without using the name emodel in their advertising. It is not surprising to find a scam company coming up with derivative scams. Last year a usenet forum discussion about emodel (before it was called options talent) pointed out the corruption at the company:
emodel.com used the same scheme (numbers instead of letters for the internet address) in its fraudulent advertising when it tried to recruit aspiring models by showing them pictures of supermodels who were supposedly in the emodel network. The failure of emodel to use their company name in their advertising at monster.com supports the claim that emodel.com changed its name to Options Talent because it had a bad reputation for modeling scouting fraud. Two of the alleged principals of emodel.com were investigated by and charged with fraud by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They reached a settlement, but simply moved to another state (from Virginia to Florida). But the internet is so much more convenient. You don't have to move anywhere. You only need to change your internet address. That can cost as little as $15/yr. The whole change takes little time, little effort, and little expense. You could set up an office in Orlando, Florida, for example, and call yourself emodel.com. Then if you committed fraud and got a bad reputation, you could change your name to Options Talent, but you could still keep your office in Orlando, Florida. The same search string cited by the usenet poster in 2001 was checked several months later, in 2002, after emodel.com became optionstalent.com. It showed they were still doing the same thing. The exact same search yielded "many, many ads," page after page of job advertisements for Options Talent Group "model scouts," a total of 327 listings on Monster.com. The job title Options Talent gave was "Dream Job." Clicking on the "Dream Job" link would take you to a page that said: "Options Talent Group is recognized as the world's largest and most respected scouting company." Just the opposite. Options Talent Group is the least respected scouting company. Read all the complaints by people in the modeling industry (modeling agencies, models, photographers), those interested in the modeling industry (former models, aspiring models, parents of models) to see why Options Talent Group is the least respected scouting company. For example, if Options Talent Group is the "most respected scouting company," why did a leader (Bill Ford) of the most respected modeling agency (Ford Models) have such little respect for emodel.com? Bill Ford also said, "They're not reputable people." You may want to email or phone Monster.com and tell them emodel.com is now listing and in fact swamping their website with job advertisements. If they were banned before, for the integrity of their website and corporate image, Monster.com is going to ban Options Talent Group from posting any more job advertisements on their website. Explain there is absolutely no indication optionstalent.com is conducting its business any differently from how emodel.com conducted its business, it's just the same practices under a different name. You could recommend reading letters, complaints, and research on modelingscams.com for further information. One of the complaints people have about emodel.com/Options Talent using monster.com is they made it look as if they were offering real jobs. But they were actually looking for independent contractors. In their model scout ad on Monster.com, Options Talent Group said the Position Type they wanted was "Full-Time." The full text read:
There is no mention of any commission. Why? One woman (see related below) was under the impression the monster.com ad she saw was offering a job. As in 9-5. As in regular paycheck. As in salary. As in benefits. As it turned out, they started all scouts on a commission, and many people never make it to a salary, because they set the demands so high. They messed around with her, and she did not get paid. emodel.com used the same scheme to recruit modeling scouts as they used to recruit aspiring models. It is a common modeling scam. They pretended they were being selective when in fact they were accepting just about anyone and everyone. Because the emodel.com scheme had all the new modeling scouts working as "independent contractors," emodel.com had a lot of liberty and few obligations with respect to labor laws. They were in fact able to get free labor. And free recruits. A double deal. It was like, 'You worked for us for nothing but you successfully recruited women who paid us, but we are sending you home without a paycheck, so bye.' Does it remind you of the famous song, "Money for Nothing and Your Chicks for Free?" If the company called Options Talent Group operates in the same way as emodel.com did, offering independent contracts, not jobs, should monster.com continue to allow them to post job advertisements on their website? If you feel Options Talent Group (previously emodel.com) misled led you, or is abusing the Monster.com job advertisement service, phone them with your complaint: 1-800-MONSTER One person familiar with emodel.com and its use of monster.com wrote:
Changing names or hiding behind other names is consistent with the schemes of the alleged principals of emodel.com, which became Options Talent. Does Options Talent Group have bogus advertisements for bogus interviews for bogus jobs? If they offer bogus jobs you'd think they would offer bogus interviews after bogus advertising. Editor, Modeling Scams.com Related: ModelingScams.com received a letter of complaint from a woman who responded to an ad on monster.com to be a modeling scout for emodel.com (now optionstalent.com). "I was living in Jacksonville, Florida, searching for work on monster.com, when I came across a model scout position opening up in the Tampa Bay area." Related: The following public forum post was made by a woman who visited monster.com: Posted by Natalie on January 09, 2002: I want to thank everyone who took the time to write about the emodel scam. I was scheduled for an interview tomorrow at 10 a.m. (New Orleans branch), but after reading these complaints, I wouldn't step foot into that building. It seemed WAY too good to be true, and I kept wondering how they could allow amateurs to "scout" models. Not everyone has an eye to pick out models. I am an extremely skeptical person; I always try to research things before I jump head first. I went to Monster.com and saw that emodel would pay from $30,000/year, yet no one has said anything about salary. From what I can gather it is strictly a commission-based job. According to the emodel webpage, there are different levels of emodel employees, with model scouts starting at level 5. The salary listed for level 5 employees starts at $30,000. How can they post this information and not honor it? I hope one day someone will be brave enough to expose this scam. |
emodel/Options Talent Group Research Index
emodel/Options Talent Group Letters Index
