Jordyn Hagan-Gaunt, 18, was tricked into stripping online. Photo / David Swift/News Corp Australia
Jordyn Hagan-Gaunt, 18, was tricked into stripping online. Photo / David Swift/News Corp Australia
Police have warned aspiring models to be wary of who they send their images to after scammers tricked several young women into posing naked online.
NSW Police said they have spoken to several young women who have fallen victim to the scammers who pose as scouts from lingerie brand Honey Birdette and then post the images on porn sites.
One victim was Jordyn Hagan Gaunt, 18, who was contacted on Instagram by a woman claiming to be a representative from the lingerie company seeking models to sign for contracts.
The woman told the Sydney teenager she would need to participate in a "sexy" casting call via Skype to be considered.
"When the instructions were typed out on the screen on Skype, they asked me to take off my underwear so they could see my body type and parade around the bedroom naked," Ms Gaunt told The Daily Telegraph.
"I had never done a modelling shoot before ... the person asked if my boyfriend was around and if we could make out on camera. I said 'no' and felt really weirded out and said I was going to switch off the call."
She said they told her she had "done brilliantly" and I was short-listed for a contract.
Days later, Gaunt's friend, a 19-year-old from Wollongong, also fell victim after being encouraged to strip naked over Skype by the fraudulent casting director.
The teenagers along with several other young women, have now been urged by police to keep an eye on porn sites for the images from their shoots.
In a statement, NSW Police told news.com.au detectives are looking into the matters but that crimes of this nature can be notoriously hard to investigate.
Police are warning others of the scam. Photo / Instagram
"It can be difficult to investigate matters where adult victims are involved who have consensually provided imagery of themselves to others. Once these images are online or in someone else's possession, it's out of the control of the person – and the imagery can be used or shared by others," a spokesman said.
"There are often difficulties in tracing possible offenders as many of the websites enable anonymous posting, and when the website is based overseas it can become problematic to have the imagery removed."
He said that if the imagery depicts a child (under the age of 18), the law is clear. It is deemed child abuse material, which is an offence to produce, possess and/or disseminate.
However, if the imagery depicts an adult, there are potential offences but the criminality generally revolves around the circumstances of how the images were obtained.
"The best advice is to think very carefully before you send/livestream pictures of yourself online. Once you hit send, you lose control over the situation," the spokesman said.
"Anyone who has had imagery of themselves posted or shared online without their consent is encouraged report it to police and, if possible, contact the site owner to have the imagery removed."
