I got a message on OMP from a scout for Runway Artists (www.runwayartists.com) saying:

"One of our talent scouts located you via the internet. We are a Los
Angeles-based talent management firm and have recently acquired the
exclusive American submission rights for a national advertising campaign in Japan with Yoshida Advertising Enterprises

We are impressed with your look and believe you may meet the specific
requirements for the lead role in this campaign.  Compensation for the lead model in the campaign has already been negotiated and is very generous if we can find the right model to meet the client’s needs.

Though it is still under construction, please visit our website,
www.runwayartists.com for some basic information regarding our company.

If you are interested in scheduling a no-cost submission shoot with our
company, feel free to contact my assistant Heather via email -
[email protected] (we do not accept unsolicited phone calls).  Do not respond directly to this email; it was generated by my secretary from a
pre-approved batch-list.

To be considered, you must attach current and clear photos of your face and physique in .jpg format (they do not need to be professional).  Also, include a phone number at which you can be reached and what times you are available for a phone interview.

Please let us know if you may be available for a test/submission shoot
prior to our deadline of September 30, 2006.

We look forward to hearing from you about possible collaboration with our company."


I searched around the internet for a few minutes and couldn't find anything on Yoshida Advertising Enterprises. The website for runway artists looks kind of amateur, and thats the main reason I really dont know if I should believe it or not. What do you guys think?

Clues to a scam:

No contact information on webpage.
(Runway Artists does not show an address or phone number on their webpages, although does display a PO box and a phone number for their photographer)

No license information where applicable.
(depending on how Runway Artists does business, they probably would require to be licensed in at least one state.)

Illegitimate use of 'inc' or 'llc' designation.
(For some reason, most scammers like to pretend they're incorporated, when in fact they aren't.  If Runway Artists was really an LLC and located in California, their name would be displayed on the State of California Business Portal search at http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/list.html .  Runway Artist does not show up on that list).

I think I've found thw 'true motive' of Runway Artists as displayed on one of their webpages:

Runway Fartists wrote:
You will need invest a small amount of money for make-up services, minor photo development, and the reproduction of your composite cards. However, all models pay for these type of expenses in addition to usually paying for professional photography which we will cover for you.

It's most likely a photo mill, as a real management company would not be directly involved with other businesses such as a photography studio.

How it works?

They say "We'll pay MOST of the photo shoot expenses".
They'll 'value' the shoot at $2000, but they'll 'pay' $1500 of it, so all you have to pay is $500 (the supposed cost of makeup artist and associated costs).

The amount of money may vary, but I think you can see where this is going.

Ahh, I see, Yeah, I figured it was a scam just by how the website looked. Thank you very much for your help! greatly appreciated.

Those models don't look like runway models at all..

Anyone who contacts you by email as says something along the lines of ""One of our talent scouts located you via the internet" is more than likely a scam. Real  world agencies just don't do that. They refer to  a "lead model" in a national ad campaign in Japan. Is there any sort of logic in believing that sort of money would be invested in an unknown novice model found on the internet? Yes, I believe it's a scam.