Your teenaged daughter may be too old to fall for the lost puppy ruse, sick mommy ruse and offers-of-candy ruse by a pedophile.
But this doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods as far as being a potential target for a sex offender.
The “I’m a modeling scout for an agency” is a well-known ruse by sex offenders looking for teen victims. Weylin Rodriguez* was such a predator, posing as a modeling scout, even using fake business cards.
Though the modeling agency lure is becoming increasingly frequent in online social media, it still takes place person to person. Shota Mgeladze** posed as a modeling scout and convinced a teen girl to actually get into his car.
What can parents say to their teens so that their kids simply will not fall for the modeling scout ruse?
“Parents need to explain to teens that the offers they receive — luxury travel, exotic islands, free clothes, all kinds of money, fame and fortune are all too good to be true,” says Robert Siciliano, CEO of Safr.Me.com and an expert in fraud prevention and personal safety.
“Remind them that these offers are no more real than the Easter bunny or Santa Claus.”
Make sure your teenager knows the following tell-tale signs that the “modeling scout” or the “rep from a modeling agency” is actually a predator:
#1. The chance meeting with him is odd or suspicious. In the case of Rodriguez, he’d pretend to accidentally drop his business card near an attractive teen girl, banking that she’d politely retrieve it and notice the modeling agency information on it. He’d then tell her, “Oh, just keep it…” and the ruse would be well underway.
#2. The man has no business card.
#3. The man just happens to come along in his car and asks the teenager to get in, after promising her the world, or even just a simple modeling shoot.
#4. The man makes no mention of first meeting the teen’s parents before arranging any modeling shoots, and instead, right away wants to take her to his studio.
#5. Tell your daughter that the predator may be accompanied by a woman, who’s part of the ruse, and that just because the “scouts” include a female, doesn’t mean they can’t be predators.
If your teenager wants to be a model, tell her you’ll support her dream by going through the proper channels, and that means off-the-street “modeling scouts” are off-limits.
Robert Siciliano
