On Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, a young lady taps me on the shoulder and hands me her card. 'You have the perfect look to be a model. Are you interested in being one?' After paying me more compliments and informing me she was a scout, she asks me to come to their agency nearby. When we arrive, another woman takes my measurements, then quickly flips through some 1990s-looking photos which she says are the jobs they've booked for their models.
I can be one, too, the scout says, but I have to do a few test photo shoots, and I need my hair and make-up done. I could find my own make-up artists to work with on the shoots, but the beauty salon upstairs gives them a good discount. I can get four make-up sessions for HK$2,000 if I sign up for a beauty course.
For years, this is how naive, hopeful models have been tricked into parting with money to fund their supermodel dreams. But as the public becomes smarter about the scams, the scammers also change their tactics - from renting an office in an expensive location to decking out the walls with photos from professional-looking magazine spreads.
Sha Tin district councillor Dr Elizabeth Quat, who has warned of modelling scams for several years, says I experienced a basic scam. These days agencies use more subtle methods. For example, they won't ask for money upfront any more.
'They meet with victims, ask them questions, take a few digital photos. After a few days, there is a job, but the jobs are these red wine advertisements that pay a tiny amount, usually HK$300,' says Quat.
A small one-off cheque is often all that's needed to gain the trust of victims. 'We don't know whether the first job is a real advertisement or not, but after this they are told that they will have big jobs,' Quat says. 'But they should first get some facial courses, makeovers, a nice photo profile that costs them from a few thousand to over HK$20,000.'