Fake model agency ‘exploited’ girl, 13, online

A MOTHER is warning children and parents of the dangers of social media after her 13-year-old daughter was exploited by someone claiming to be a modelling agent.

The Wrexham woman, who regularly checks her daughter’s phone, found inappropriate messages from an unknown person on the teenager’s Snapchat account.

The schoolgirl was approached on Snapchat in January by somebody using the name New Faces Models – very similar to New Face Models, a legitimate modelling service in London.

The person asked the child if she was interested in becoming a model, telling her the company “don’t deal with parents” until a potential model has been offered a job. They then offered her a “Snapchat video interview” for a “modelling position”. After asking whether she was wearing “something that somewhat shows off your body and figure”, the person said that her “body looks amazing”.

The child’s mother said: “It scared the life out of me how easily it can be done and how this person can so easily get into the mind of a child. It’s my child’s dream to become a model, and for her to be exploited like that has knocked me sick. If I hadn’t seen those messages, I believe it could have been so much worse.”

After discovering the messages, her mother added the Snapchat account under a false profile where she posed as a 12-year-old girl. The person immediately asked for five images to see whether she would qualify for a “video interview”.

The mother later reported the account to North Wales Police.

She said: “If this raises awareness for parents to check devices from time to time, I’ll be happy. I just hope this sick individual gets caught.”