back to article Watchdog takes hard line on 'adult film xtras' ad

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that an advert for "adult movie xtras" was not strictly honest in offering wannabe porn studs a substantial money shot. The ad, in an unnamed men's magazine, read: "Act out your fantasies on film, Earn Big Bucks. Adult movie xtras needed now! Call 08714 XXXXXX or 08714 XXXXXX www. …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    reminds me

    Reminds me of Lock stock where they're talking about getting people to send checks in to something boring then returning with a refund check coming from a parent company of "Arse ticklers dildo emporium" or similar.

    Does sound a bit like a scam, any word on how many people have got work via the scheme? Enquiring minds want to know.

    1. Jimbo 6
      Thumb Up

      IIRC...

      ...this scam was actually pioneered by the great Frank Abagnale (as played by DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can"), he would (using suitably euphemistic terms for the era) advertise kiddy-pr0n and then send return cheques from a similarly incriminatng-sounding company. I heard him tell this story in an interview and he said it was one of his all-time favourites, as all the victims were scum who totally deserved to be burnt (literally as well as financially, I'd say)

  2. John Macintyre
    WTF?

    sounds suspicious...

    so he paid UP FRONT a large amount of dosh, and THEN complained? surely any straight-thinking person would tell them where to stick their money request and then complain? Actually, I'm not entirely sure a straight-thinking person would respond to the ad in the first place...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One simple rule...

    ...I have always lived by is that when I work I get paid, the other way around is a con.

  4. ShaggyDoggy

    HUGE

    HUGE

  5. Annihilator
    Coat

    Extra, extra

    I know someone who was an Extra in Eastenders - all she had to do was mill around in the background. Have never seen that in adult films?...

  6. McMoo
    FAIL

    Moron

    "the ad did not make clear that obtaining work through the advertisers would involve significant financial outlay"

    ... But rather than walking away like any sane individual, he decided to pay up anyway ...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    awch

    someone got shafted...

    i'll get my coat

  8. Professor Tinklepants
    Joke

    Don't tell me he's surprised......

    that he got 'stiffed' by a pr0n company!

    Honestly, an advert like that has got 'desperate loser' written all over it......hang on, what was the number again?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Should be slapped down, but still too-good-to-be-true

    What's sad is that there are people out there who are still naive and/or desparate enough to take obviously too-good-to-be-true adverts like this at face value.

    Not that I'm defending the misleading advert, but it rings about as true as those el-cheapo TV ads where women who "want men" get them to pay through the nose for some grossly overpriced text messages.

  10. Ben Rosenthal

    assume it was male on male

    cos this guy will swallow anything >.<

  11. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    "paid several thousand pounds up front"

    So just another version of a 419 scam.

    Perhaps it could be called a 69 scam...?

  12. May Contain Nuts
    FAIL

    Sorry...

    £5000 to advertise his services as a porn star? They must have seen him coming...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gullible fools.

    That is all.

  14. CareTaker
    Paris Hilton

    I wonder...

    ...what he thought he was paying for?

    Paris: well, what do you think?

  15. Ihre Papiere Bitte!!
    Joke

    Sextuple-X???

    "08714 XXXXXX"

    With a phone number like that, I'm interested - sounds like more fun than just normal XXX! Where do I send the cheque?????

  16. AlistairJ
    Stop

    We have a vacancy ...

    Is there no depths to which a "recruitment consultant" will not sink?

  17. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    I think there's also a model agency scam.

    I think there was a TV or radio feature some time last year - young would-be models, mostly young women, were being enticed to pay money to participate in a model agency that then didn't find them work, and didn't need to try very hard to do that because they were making money just on registering members. It may still be going.

    Snopes.com has covered a few times what they consider to be various fake-employment scams, including various "anonymous helpers/money mules in fraud" deals. They say you will NEVER have to pay a sincere employer to hire you. I'm not sure if that's exactly true - for some jobs you probably require protective clothing and you may have to buy your own - but it's a good reminder to stop and think about what you're getting into. And if you don't mind getting into fraud, consider that you'll probably be dealing with people who have spent more time thinking about their scheme than you have, are smarter than you, and don't mind putting their hand into your pocket without you noticing, as well. It's unlikely to be a long-term association.

    Anyway, yeah, extras... non-speaking roles, background artistes who are supposed just to not do anything attention-getting... you could be disappointed with your part.

    On the other hand, there have been ventures where people who just really want a particular film project to be made have donated money and been allowed to appear in a crowd scene, but I don't think that applies to "Swedish Dentist 6".

    1. Graham Marsden

      Re: model agency scam

      The modelling scams have been going on for many years. Mostly they involve up-front "joining" or "registration" fees, followed by "You need a portfolio, pay our in-house photographer a couple of hundred quid" etc.

      Anything like this that wants a fee up front should be ignored with prejudice.

  18. archengel46
    FAIL

    08714xxxxx

    tried it but it doesn't work...

  19. Lionel Baden
    FAIL

    hmmm

    Sounds like any normal casting agency to me ....

    hey just pay us a couple of hundred quid and 0.1% of ourlisting get picked for some shitty detergent ad

    Its just another form of income secondary to the % they take when they do actually get people gigs

  20. Citizen Kaned
    FAIL

    on a more serious note...

    what the fuck is the point in these watchdogs? a company blatantly lies and cons customers. yet no fine, really nothing happens. surely this is no incentive to not keep ripping people off? how many idiots actually gave money and have heard nothing back?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    ...as the old saying goes...

    There's a sucker born every minute.

    ...or should that be "there's a c**k sucker born every minute"?

    (Paris, just because)

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One born every minute...

    ... pretty much says it all...

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a

    to$$er. £5k would've got him all the extras he could've handled in various establishments up and down the country. Allegedly.

    Wish lacked enough moral fibre to take advantage of folk like that.

    1. Steve Roper
      Go

      Moral fibre

      Come on, it's not our moral fibre so much as a lack of ingenuity and ability that prevent most of us from scamming others. I'd rip people off in a second if I could think of a good way of doing so and getting away with it!

  24. ZenCoder
    Unhappy

    Idiots have rights too

    The fact that the victim is an idiot doesn't justify the crime.

    If your business model is 100% reliant on tricking, scamming and ripping people off you need to be put out of business.

    This scam was questionable from the start, but some have you interview multiple times in professional looking offices before demanding money upfront.

    Even if you are smart enough not to pay them, they still wasted your valuable time when you could have been out talking to real employers.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Makes a change from the 'be an escort' scams

    There are dozens and dozens of scam 'agency' sites that claim the market for non-sexual escorting or straight male escorting is so huge that they need to charge the wannabes money. As soon as they've paid, the promised bookings cancel. Odd that.

    To avoid anyone thinking otherwise, there is no market worth mentioning in non-sexual escorting, nor for straight men being paid to have sex with women. If you're prepared to be sexual with men, whatever your gender or identity, yes. If not, no.

    And it's much the same with porn. The supply of optimistic men far outstrips the demand for them, so it's not surprising that the scammers have decided to collect their money too. For those doing it, the pay is crap too.

    £5k, what a twunt.

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