Roving Lens Model / Talent Agency ("Lagos, Nigeria"; "London, England")
"Roving Lens" claims to be a model and talent agency based in Lagos, Nigeria with an office in London, England.
According to information provided to Easy Background Check, a foreign individual, unable to speak English well, representing himself as an agent, is soliciting online, attempting direct international booking over the internet, not through an agency, and is asking for an upfront fee to be wired to him in Nigeria.
The amount of money requested suspiciously was solicited to be wired to the individual, not "Roving Lens," so it is still not clear if the agency really is an agency, or just a person asking for money, posing as an agency.
Even if it was a registered business, it would still look like an advance-fee modeling scam. While the amount of money requested was not a huge amount by American standards, it would be worth a lot more in Nigeria, possibly months of wages.
One of the worst internet scams in the world is an advance-fee email solicitation scam from Nigeria, so the email solitication by the Roving Lens person in Nigeria is highly suspicious. The infamous Nigerian scam says that money is waiting for an individual, but first they have to provide their bank account information. (Research online or Google for Nigerian scam to learn more.)
Consumers are advised to avoid all direct booking attempts with all foreigners and to direct all solicitations to their own agent or mother agency if they have one. If they don't have representation, get it first. The lure of Roving Lens was that a huge model contract awaited them, tens of thousands of dollars from a modeling job; the catch was they had to send the money first. Big red flag.
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