Modelling Scams in Singapore

Becoming a model is many girls' dream. Isn't it good that people are paying you because you look good? It definitely makes you stand out from the rest of the common people. Besides, you will get quite a good pay!

However, not many models can really make it to the top. Many local models are simply doing freelance photo shoot and events.

Scammers start to take advantages of the desires of young girls online. Fake social media profiles, such as Facebook accounts, are created and the scammers start hunting for their preys.



Which modelling job will require the client to touch the model?

We have no idea why scammers are doing this when they can pay for willing parties at Geylang and probably at cheaper rate that they have offered to the models online (if they are really paying). Perhaps, they find models more appealing?

We hope everyone would continue to warn model-wannabe friends of such scam. Note that this can and has probably been happening in all around the world.

Heather Chua Scam

A Facebook profile by the name of "Heather Chua" has become a sensation of the internet. The person behind the female account is a male who has been insulting many groups of people. We are quite disgusted by him for cheating photos from models by faking modelling jobs.

According to Yahoo:

Man, 22, under police probe for posting racist remarks under pseudonym ‘Heather Chua’

A 22-year-old man is under investigation by local police for a string of offensive remarks he allegedly posted under the fictitious name “Heather Chua” on Facebook.

In a statement issued on Friday, police said several members of the public have filed police reports against his posts, which angered many Internet users. The first, police said, was filed on 3 January this year.

Police said they determined the 22-year-old’s identity through “extensive investigations”. The man is now assisting police with their investigations.

Police warned also that any person found guilty of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race, and carrying out acts that undermine harmony, can be jailed for up to three years and fined.

Using the moniker “Heather Chua”, the man allegedly posted comments insulting the work of National Servicemen, ITE graduates and Malays, among a series of other things. “Chua”’s posts, which were frequently geotagged to Sentosa Cove, ignited the ire of many Facebook users, prompting the efforts of some to track down who “she” was.

In a recent post, "Chua" told a lengthy story of a friend of hers from Raffles Girls' School who got married to an ITE graduate. "She" claimed that her friend's parents disapproved of their relationship "because of his poor family background and where he came from", adding that they did not attend her wedding while saying how "extremely disappointed in her" "she" was.

Several bloggers accused him of creating fake modelling events in a bid to trick aspiring models to send their portfolio pictures to him. They also said in various posts on Facebook that the photographs of luxury cars “Chua” posts on “her” Facebook profile contain digitally altered licence plates that do not exist on Singapore’s vehicle listings.

The female images used as “Chua”’s profile pictures were also allegedly stolen from Thai actress and blogger Pimpatchara Vajrasevee. The latter also previously took to her Instagram account to call “Chua” out for stealing her pictures, but she allegedly denied doing so in comments on Vajrasevee's pictures.

According to screengrabs of “Chua”’s account, “her” birthday is 25 July 1973, and listed the University of Phoenix, National University of Singapore, Temasek Junior College and Raffles Girls’ School among her places of education.

By Wednesday, the man’s Facebook profile had been taken down.

Related post: The Real Singapore

Singapore Model Kayla Wong Impersonate Scam

Our own Singapore models have their shares of worries for impersonate issues. Young model like Kayla Wong has also been targeted by scammer who probably agrees that she has a very appealing looks. We mean scammers do not only rip Taiwan or Hong Kong girls' photos.

As usual, Tagged.com (merged with hi5.com) has allowed all scams to be made easy.



http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5989722970

Kayla knows nothing about Tagged.com nor its existence.

We are not sure of the intention (likely just for the dumb pets game) of the fake profile. However, we do know it's difficult to get these clones removed. The "report abuse" link on the profile is probably workable for the FBI.

After submitting a report, you will get the same template reply:

We will need the original owner of the pictures to contact us in order to confirm their identity. Please be aware that we can only take action if the stolen photo is of the actual person.

If you are in contact with the original owner of these photos, please forward them this message:

In order for us to take action against the user who has stolen your photos, we'll need you to contact us directly from the email address registered to your Tagged account. Please submit your report as follows and follow these verification steps:

1) Take a new photo of yourself.
2) In the photo, you must hold up a piece of paper with the current date and time written on it.
3) Attach the photo to your New support request sent via the contact us link on our Help page.
4) In your reply, please provide the link (URL) to the user's profile who has stolen your photos.

To send a link to another user's profile, please do the following:

-Click on the member's Profile Picture. In the Browser Address Bar, you will see the Link to that profile. It will look like this:

http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=********** ("****" represents a number)

We are not sure how well it will work but we have heard of users having problems replying to the email with attachment of their photos while following the instructions above. Anyway, it's just stupid to follow the steps.

Just a random sideline: Tagged doesn't even have a "remove friend" link on individual profiles so that we can easily remove fake profiles after adding and realising they are hoax.

We predict Tagged.com will eventually be shut down due to the large influx of fake accounts since they have no better way to stop them. With real users abandoning the social media website, how long can it last?

We do love the website for its ease of use and making friends, but seriously, can their team do a better job?