Expert: Jim Boyd - 3/3/2009

Question
After posting an ad on craigslist, I was recently approached by a man who said he was a talent scout for a major adult production company. I asked him several questions but his answers seem vague, and he has yet to tell me exactly what company he works for claiming reasons of disclosure. Does this sound normal to you or not. I somehow do not feel comfortable with it.

Answer
You are 100% correct in not feeling comfortable with it. I think he is attempting to con you…if fact I’m pretty sure of it.

1: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TALENT SCOUTS FOR THE ADULT INDUSTRY ANYMORE and there hasn’t been for many years! As I have said before:

“…. because very few people are aware that the days of the so-called “talent scouts” are long over, many young women have found themselves the victim of men who PRETEND to be a “Talent Scout” for the Adult Industry. Most times these scams are simply about tricking pretty young women into having sex….but sometimes the cons lead the victim into very dangerous situations that have very ugly endings.”
Most Agencies/Producers have their own in-house people whose only job is to locate and hire new talent. No matter what you are being told by this guy, WE DO NOT rely on 3rd party “scouts” to find our talent.

If the person in question does not work directly for one of the legitimate and established Adult Talent Agencies or as an employee of an actual Adult Film Producer, then they are NOT recruiters. The best way to find out if this person in question is legit is to simply ask them who they represent, so that you can contact that company to verify. If they refuse to give you the names of those they work for or make up a bunch of excuses not to reveal that information...then you can bet your last dollar that you are being scammed.

If, on the off chance, they do give you a name of a company, inform them that after calling the company and verify his story that you will be happy to talk to him. Then ACTUALLY MAKE THE CALL TO VERIFY his status as a recruiter for that company before you speak with them further. If they are a legit recruiter, they will have no trouble with letting you verify that fact before continuing.

2: REAL INDUSTRY PEOPLE DO NOT USE CRAIGSLIST OR SIMILAR SITES FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECRUITING TALENT. For your own safety I would also STRONGLY advise you to avoid placing and/or answering ads on sites like xpeeps.com, craigslist.com and backpage.com looking for work. These, and many similar, sites are common playgrounds for all manner of predator and are honestly never used by legitimate Adult Industry Professionals as a means of hiring talent. Frankly, with the number high quality girls available to us via Talent Agencies...it’s kind of insulting to think we would lower our standard to the kind of women advertising on craigslist or similar sites.

I can't tell you not to deal with this guy...but I do think you need to actually verify his story with the company he claims to represent before proceeding and DO NOT met with him anywhere privately until you do.

Jim Boyd