trans continental talent, tc talent, options talent, emodel, convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud orlando Florida

First off, to all those who are serious about pursuing your craft (whether it be modeling, acting, etc) YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND IT IN SNEEZEFILD, OKLAHOMA!!! You have to move to either New York City or Los Angeles. New York is the model capital of the world and if you need a verification of legitimacy of a modeling agency, look NO FURTHER then on the internet by going to the SAG and AFTRA websites. On these websites they list a directory of legit modeling agencies and talent agencies to send your headshots to. As a matter of fact, if you go to the real agency, they will give you a list of legitimate agencies to pick from since scams and predators are all too rampant in that industry. Another good agency is the William Morris Agency. The real agencies operate by connections they already have in the industry, therefore, they don't need Cletus McClueless's money in order to know Steven Spielberg so as to direct you (the talent) to them. I.E., they work from assignments that you are sent out on, much like an employment agency that receives compensation from companies looking to have the employment agencies conduct the prospecting for them. And for those who are saying that not paying means that you aren't model material, to them I say that you are not much of a model in that you have to pay a talent agency to represent you. But, YOU ARE A FOOL!!! Good day and check out SAG and AFTRA! good luck!

I am one of the individuals that has been named in this report and it is absolutely false. None of the things mentioned ever happened and I am embarrassed to even be named a part of it. It is slanderous and ridiculous! I have no criminal record, have never been in court or arrested for anything. HILARIOUS!

Hi Scamcat,
Hey, no problem at all. I do know that there are some that go under assumed names. I am dealing with someone accusing me of that under another post.. I invited him to search my name on this site and see that I was posting on here long before his report was ever posted here. He won't do it because he is choosing to go with his "gut" feeling. Alas.

As far as this one... I didn't recognize this particular post... but I remembered something about a guy using company assets to set up his own business. That not only showed his ethical compass pointing off true, but would probably indicate that he would not be ethical in his dealings with customers.

I do, if I remember, ask for a bit more details because I didn't understand.

Thank you very much for your reply and I do appreciate it. See you on the boards here!

Good Luck,

Sorry, Darren, after posting I saw that you have posted elsewhere and could not be a shill. The timing seemed suspicious at the time, but I "spoke" too quickly. Apologies.

Scamcat,
I see that you questioned me about this? I looked up and down in the report and I can't seem to see where I posted anything. How did I get into this?

The only thing I can figure is that I posted a question on another report about this company. If I remember right, that one didn't specifically state what was wrong with the company and I was asking for clarification because I didn't understand the scam aspect of the report, not if it was a scam.

It happens that people read postings of someone across reports of the same issues... but I am not a shill. If you search my name you will find that I am a college student (full time) and I have never posted under any other name.

Thanks,

Yes, perhaps I am naive. But lets get this straight from the beginning. I am no dummy, I do have a Master's degree from a major American University. I worked on the telephones for Options Talent aka Transcontinental Talent aka whatever they are called these days. I worked there from about March 2002 to about October 2002. It's just like you read, I answered the advertisement on Monster.com.

The pressure to produce was fantastic. Every day before my shift (there were two shifts) we had an hour long sales meeting with the dynamic sales manager. He would always lecture about sales techniques and often would make everything sound so legitimate. I honestly thought I was helping these young people get the exposure they needed to break into the modeling or acting industry.

People were scouted by our "scouts" who were actually just anyone who answered the job advertisement. In other words, they had no experience in scouting models. After attending a meeting (you can read about them online) a telephone interview would be set up. That's where I came in, the Talent Executive. What I really was was a high pressure telephone salesperson. During my shift I would talk to approx 5-10 wanna-be models or actors. I was told to accept all of them since "who was I to keep them out of the modeling industry?" and besides, "they use models for all kinds of ads. Not every model has to be good looking. Look at Carrot Top. He advertises for AT&T. He probably is making millions doing that." This was the reasoning given to me and for a while it made sense to me.

Let me also make this perfectly clear. I'm not the kind of person who rips people off or hurts them. That is honestly the last thing I would like to do. Like I said, I truly believed I was helping people. They would show us videos of these cruises the models and agencies would attend. They would have people walking around like Lou Pearlman (of Back Street Boys & O Town fame). And all the managers continued to explain this business as legitamate. I sold aproximately $100,000 worth of modeling & acting contracts at $595 a piece.

What you read on all these websites is true. These people lie and steal money from others. You should see the houses and cars these managers live in and drive. Even people like me made a lot of money. Consistantly sucker 20-30 people a week and a talent executive would be making about $70,000 to $100,000 per year. I believe this is why so many of us stayed around. People get that kind of money flashed in front of them and they tend to keep their mouths shut. But there was no talk of this being an illigitimate operation by us. Perhaps everyone was as naive as I.

But eventually the things I was hearing started to add up and I began to have my doubts about Options Talent. As I learned more and more that this was a scam, my sales dropped. Like I said before, it's not my nature to hurt people.

What finally convinced me was something I witnessed one night in the large warehouse section of their fancy new building. You see, we got so good at ripping people off, we started taking over unused parts of this giant office building in a very upscale section of Orlando. There must have been some heat about not giving people refunds once they gave us $595 to sign them up. So a new policy was started and we would promise people up front that they could reneg withing 3 days and get a complete refund. But when they called back for their refund they were contacted by my friends in this warehouse section I mentioned earlier.

Here's how it would go when Sarah calls to get her refund. Somehow a list was generated of people wanting refunds. Options Talent would call them and say, "Hey Sarah, I was just calling you to let you know that such and such agency was trying to contact you for a job," (the agency was actually only an agency on paper, not an actual agency. In fact, it was owned by one of the managers there at Options Talent.) The idea was to play like there was work for the person who just signed up but wants their money back already. "Oh, really? I didn't know you wanted a refund. I was just calling to let you know that such & such agency wants you to work for them," is what I would here. This was the icing on the cake for me. Now I was sure that this was a scam.

So, if you read that this company is legitimate, I just wanted you to know that what you are reading is a lie. Everything I have written here is the truth.

"Darren" and "Chris":

You question what the "scam" is. Did you see the links provided just below Les's post? There are quite a few complaints on this company and its many alleged variations.

CBSnews.com has an article on one model's allegations:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/21/national/main612928.shtml

That alleged scam: Misleading winners of company-held contests with promises of "more than $100,000 in contracts" as models, actors or singers and not delivering.

And I find timing of your questions suspect, since some guy apparently associated with Lou Pearlman / Options Talent / Wilhelmina Scouting Network / Web Style Network / Trans Continental Talent / Fashion Rock /eModel / Hirebug has been posting negative material all over Internet message boards that mention RipOffReport.com (ROR), particularly since one of his nemeses, ROR Reporter Frank Torrelli, confronted him in a 7/6/04 post on http://www.senac.com/forums/13432/bin/685.html. There have been over 50 such attacks on various unrelated message boards since.

These boards, incidentally, have nothing to do with ROR; a poster or two merely mentioned ROR, ages ago even, and thus it showed up on a search engine, setting this guy on a renewed spree of posting replies to them to discredit ROR. I have noted a few pages on ROR itself related to that particular alleged scam which also seem to have been hit by the same guy (one example is http://ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff41408.htm; see the the "Chris Tracy" and "Shannon Nelson" posts).

The guy seems particularly fond of using aliases such as "Les" (the Les above who is being sued), "Frank" (Frank Torrelli, another defendant) and "Bob" (Roberto Villasenor, another defendant).

I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of these parties, including ROR. I'm a visitor. I just find it amusing that this guy is attacking ROR with exactly the same tactics he complains that ROR is using attempting to spam up search engines to defame somebody.

"Darren" and "Chris":

You question what the "scam" is. Did you see the links provided just below Les's post? There are quite a few complaints on this company and its many alleged variations.

CBSnews.com has an article on one model's allegations:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/21/national/main612928.shtml

That alleged scam: Misleading winners of company-held contests with promises of "more than $100,000 in contracts" as models, actors or singers and not delivering.

And I find timing of your questions suspect, since some guy apparently associated with Lou Pearlman / Options Talent / Wilhelmina Scouting Network / Web Style Network / Trans Continental Talent / Fashion Rock /eModel / Hirebug has been posting negative material all over Internet message boards that mention RipOffReport.com (ROR), particularly since one of his nemeses, ROR Reporter Frank Torrelli, confronted him in a 7/6/04 post on http://www.senac.com/forums/13432/bin/685.html. There have been over 50 such attacks on various unrelated message boards since.

These boards, incidentally, have nothing to do with ROR; a poster or two merely mentioned ROR, ages ago even, and thus it showed up on a search engine, setting this guy on a renewed spree of posting replies to them to discredit ROR. I have noted a few pages on ROR itself related to that particular alleged scam which also seem to have been hit by the same guy (one example is http://ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff41408.htm; see the the "Chris Tracy" and "Shannon Nelson" posts).

The guy seems particularly fond of using aliases such as "Les" (the Les above who is being sued), "Frank" (Frank Torrelli, another defendant) and "Bob" (Roberto Villasenor, another defendant).

I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of these parties, including ROR. I'm a visitor. I just find it amusing that this guy is attacking ROR with exactly the same tactics he complains that ROR is using attempting to spam up search engines to defame somebody.

"Darren" and "Chris":

You question what the "scam" is. Did you see the links provided just below Les's post? There are quite a few complaints on this company and its many alleged variations.

CBSnews.com has an article on one model's allegations:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/21/national/main612928.shtml

That alleged scam: Misleading winners of company-held contests with promises of "more than $100,000 in contracts" as models, actors or singers and not delivering.

And I find timing of your questions suspect, since some guy apparently associated with Lou Pearlman / Options Talent / Wilhelmina Scouting Network / Web Style Network / Trans Continental Talent / Fashion Rock /eModel / Hirebug has been posting negative material all over Internet message boards that mention RipOffReport.com (ROR), particularly since one of his nemeses, ROR Reporter Frank Torrelli, confronted him in a 7/6/04 post on http://www.senac.com/forums/13432/bin/685.html. There have been over 50 such attacks on various unrelated message boards since.

These boards, incidentally, have nothing to do with ROR; a poster or two merely mentioned ROR, ages ago even, and thus it showed up on a search engine, setting this guy on a renewed spree of posting replies to them to discredit ROR. I have noted a few pages on ROR itself related to that particular alleged scam which also seem to have been hit by the same guy (one example is http://ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff41408.htm; see the the "Chris Tracy" and "Shannon Nelson" posts).

The guy seems particularly fond of using aliases such as "Les" (the Les above who is being sued), "Frank" (Frank Torrelli, another defendant) and "Bob" (Roberto Villasenor, another defendant).

I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of these parties, including ROR. I'm a visitor. I just find it amusing that this guy is attacking ROR with exactly the same tactics he complains that ROR is using attempting to spam up search engines to defame somebody.

"Darren" and "Chris":

You question what the "scam" is. Did you see the links provided just below Les's post? There are quite a few complaints on this company and its many alleged variations.

CBSnews.com has an article on one model's allegations:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/21/national/main612928.shtml

That alleged scam: Misleading winners of company-held contests with promises of "more than $100,000 in contracts" as models, actors or singers and not delivering.

And I find timing of your questions suspect, since some guy apparently associated with Lou Pearlman / Options Talent / Wilhelmina Scouting Network / Web Style Network / Trans Continental Talent / Fashion Rock /eModel / Hirebug has been posting negative material all over Internet message boards that mention RipOffReport.com (ROR), particularly since one of his nemeses, ROR Reporter Frank Torrelli, confronted him in a 7/6/04 post on http://www.senac.com/forums/13432/bin/685.html. There have been over 50 such attacks on various unrelated message boards since.

These boards, incidentally, have nothing to do with ROR; a poster or two merely mentioned ROR, ages ago even, and thus it showed up on a search engine, setting this guy on a renewed spree of posting replies to them to discredit ROR. I have noted a few pages on ROR itself related to that particular alleged scam which also seem to have been hit by the same guy (one example is http://ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff41408.htm; see the the "Chris Tracy" and "Shannon Nelson" posts).

The guy seems particularly fond of using aliases such as "Les" (the Les above who is being sued), "Frank" (Frank Torrelli, another defendant) and "Bob" (Roberto Villasenor, another defendant).

I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of these parties, including ROR. I'm a visitor. I just find it amusing that this guy is attacking ROR with exactly the same tactics he complains that ROR is using attempting to spam up search engines to defame somebody.

Hey Everyone,

I hope that this rebuttal, in response to the previous one, finds you in good spirit and health.

QUESTIONS:

Why does Rip Off Report continue to post information that is not accurate such as this posting? The posting of such false information
only detracts from Rip Off Report's credibility and can only make the consumer wonder if any of the information they read on Rip Off Report
has been verified and is correct. Rip Off Report is a needed service, but until they can properly police the articles that are posted on their
site (i.e. this posting about mail fraud), people cannot consider this site a reliable source of information.

ANSWERS:

1. Gee this is an easy one. All of the reports against this company are as accurate as accurate can be. No one has come foward to prove ANY of them inaccurate thus far.

2. The scamming of so many people and your company's inability to prove a legitimate existance only detracts from TCT'S credibility.

3. No need for verification. Any company that's unwilling and or unable to prove statements or reports against them inaccurate, or false in some way, proves far beyond a reasonable doubt that the submissions are legit. This fact alone, is verification enough.

4. Policing of scam operations, is far more important and productive, then policing consumer advocacy sites, where consumers are protected by freedom of speech, better known as the TRUTH.

5. "People cannot consider this site a reliable source of information???" Are you high? What the hell have you been smoking? Have you noticed the amount of reports filed against your company? Can you even count? How many reports have been addressed and or resolved?

I'd say this website is very reliable. The fact that no one has come foward with any relevant proof, to prove ANY of the reports to the contrary, makes this website more reliable than ever, for it shows would be consumers exactly what they are dealing with. Trust me, if your friends were talking s#!t about you and you could prove them wrong, I'm sure you would.

Until next time, take care and do yourself a favor... stay off the drugs!!

He knew what was going on and still covered it up just so he could get the promotion! What a brown-nosing a*s wipe.

Talk about credibility.... why don't you tell everyone what you did to Tom Smith, Mike Braden, Jade Gummer, Chad Bates and others.

What a hypocrit!

By the way, why don't you also tell what you know about Alec Defrawy posting this main report. Well, Alec is still up to his old tricks... taking real stories and posting the names of others in them, either to discredit them or to verify false claims. I know this first hand.

I also notice that the photos of Jay Wallace, Alec, Terri Bears and Joe Gomez are not in this report. Let put them there. I am forwarding them for inclusion. These people have now started up a company called Hirebug.

Joe Gomez - CEO, HIREBUG

Confidential Source retains copyright to photo. No use allowed without specific permission from Rip-off Report
Alec Defrawi - real CEO of HireBug and Terri Bears (franchiseitnow.com) - aka Terri Nix aka Terri Hatfield-Bears aka Terri Hatfield-Nix (now trying to sell the franchises of Hirebug after selling Division Ownership)

JASON HOFFMAN aka Jay Wallace aka Jerry King aka Kyle Hart aka Zach Baumel aka Dee Snyder aka Frank Torrelli aka Modeling Scam Warning

I also got word that my company is now going into pornography and that they are going to be putting up websites for strippers called www.stripbunnies.com and Joe Gomez runs it too. Joe (and Alec) are also planning on starting a competetive company to screw all the HireBug employees so we can't make any money... www.employeegig.com AND www.employeegigs.com. Revenge will be ours.

He knew what was going on and still covered it up just so he could get the promotion! What a brown-nosing a*s wipe.

Talk about credibility.... why don't you tell everyone what you did to Tom Smith, Mike Braden, Jade Gummer, Chad Bates and others.

What a hypocrit!

By the way, why don't you also tell what you know about Alec Defrawy posting this main report. Well, Alec is still up to his old tricks... taking real stories and posting the names of others in them, either to discredit them or to verify false claims. I know this first hand.

I also notice that the photos of Jay Wallace, Alec, Terri Bears and Joe Gomez are not in this report. Let put them there. I am forwarding them for inclusion. These people have now started up a company called Hirebug.

Joe Gomez - CEO, HIREBUG

Confidential Source retains copyright to photo. No use allowed without specific permission from Rip-off Report
Alec Defrawi - real CEO of HireBug and Terri Bears (franchiseitnow.com) - aka Terri Nix aka Terri Hatfield-Bears aka Terri Hatfield-Nix (now trying to sell the franchises of Hirebug after selling Division Ownership)

JASON HOFFMAN aka Jay Wallace aka Jerry King aka Kyle Hart aka Zach Baumel aka Dee Snyder aka Frank Torrelli aka Modeling Scam Warning

I also got word that my company is now going into pornography and that they are going to be putting up websites for strippers called www.stripbunnies.com and Joe Gomez runs it too. Joe (and Alec) are also planning on starting a competetive company to screw all the HireBug employees so we can't make any money... www.employeegig.com AND www.employeegigs.com. Revenge will be ours.

He knew what was going on and still covered it up just so he could get the promotion! What a brown-nosing a*s wipe.

Talk about credibility.... why don't you tell everyone what you did to Tom Smith, Mike Braden, Jade Gummer, Chad Bates and others.

What a hypocrit!

By the way, why don't you also tell what you know about Alec Defrawy posting this main report. Well, Alec is still up to his old tricks... taking real stories and posting the names of others in them, either to discredit them or to verify false claims. I know this first hand.

I also notice that the photos of Jay Wallace, Alec, Terri Bears and Joe Gomez are not in this report. Let put them there. I am forwarding them for inclusion. These people have now started up a company called Hirebug.

Joe Gomez - CEO, HIREBUG

Confidential Source retains copyright to photo. No use allowed without specific permission from Rip-off Report
Alec Defrawi - real CEO of HireBug and Terri Bears (franchiseitnow.com) - aka Terri Nix aka Terri Hatfield-Bears aka Terri Hatfield-Nix (now trying to sell the franchises of Hirebug after selling Division Ownership)

JASON HOFFMAN aka Jay Wallace aka Jerry King aka Kyle Hart aka Zach Baumel aka Dee Snyder aka Frank Torrelli aka Modeling Scam Warning

I also got word that my company is now going into pornography and that they are going to be putting up websites for strippers called www.stripbunnies.com and Joe Gomez runs it too. Joe (and Alec) are also planning on starting a competetive company to screw all the HireBug employees so we can't make any money... www.employeegig.com AND www.employeegigs.com. Revenge will be ours.

Why does Rip Off Report continue to post information that is not accurate such as this posting? The posting of such false information
only detracts from Rip Off Report's credibility and can only make the consumer wonder if any of the information they read on Rip Off Report
has been verified and is correct. Rip Off Report is a needed service, but until they can properly police the articles that are posted on their
site (i.e. this posting about mail fraud), people cannot consider this site a reliable source of information.

Why does Rip Off Report continue to post information that is not accurate such as this posting? The posting of such false information only detracts from Rip Off Report's credibility and can only make the consumer wonder if any of the information they read on Rip Off Report has been verified and is correct. Rip Off Report is a needed service, but until they can properly police the articles that are posted on their site (i.e. this posting about mail fraud), people cannot consider this site a reliable source of information.

I see you answered my prior question. You are obviously NOT out to get TCT. You are trying to post bogus information and attack this site. I now know who you are.

For those of you who may be swayed by this individual, here is the original report that he manipulated:

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/releases/
October%202001/011031-ohanaka.html


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 31, 2001

Kesha Handy
Public Affairs Specialist
Phone: 713/567-9335
Fax: 713/718-3390
E-Mail: usatty.txs@usdoj.gov

TEN CONVICTED IN BROKERAGE ACCOUNT SCHEME

Jim Buchanan, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Phone: 713/567-9378

(HOUSTON) U. S. Attorney Gregory A. Serres announced that ten (10) individuals were convicted of conspiracy and conspiracy to launder funds following their pleas of guilty before United States District Judge David Hittner. Uchechi Ohanaka (27), Bruce Moses (32), Robert Webster (31), Lameka Sherman (21), and Tokeisha Breland (25) were convicted of conspiracy to launder funds and face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 Fine. Kevin Brock (31), Terry Gabriel (28), Donquince Trimmer (27), Paul McCann, Jr. (27), and Maliek Trimmer (23) were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and face a maximum statutory sentence of five (5) years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for January 29, 2002.

The charges against the group arose from an investigation into the theft of numerous business checks from U.S. Postal facilities in the Dallas area. The investigation revealed that UCHECHI OHANAKA obtained stolen and counterfeited checks for use in the scheme. OHANAKA also recruited the co-conspirators to open investment accounts at Fidelity Investments. A stolen or counterfeit check was mailed to Fidelity Investments for use as the initial deposit for individual brokerage accounts, however, not all of the investment accounts were successfully funded. Only the accounts in the names of OHANAKA, MOSES, WEBSTER, SHERMAN, and BRELAND were credited with funds. Once the investment account was successfully funded with the stolen or counterfeit check, the co-conspirators would direct Fidelity Investments to wire transfer the funds from the investment accounts to accounts which had been set up at local banks. When the funds were transferred, the co-conspirators would withdraw the money in amounts of less than $10,000 in order to avoid the cash transaction reporting requirements. The total amount of stolen and counterfeit checks involved in the scheme exceeded $1,000,000 but actual losses were much less due to the diligence of the Fidelity Investments Fraud Investigators and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

011031-ohanaka

~~~~~~~~~
As you can see, there are SEVERAL similarities, including the exact same ages of each individual mentioned.

Stunts like this only solidify our beliefs that this company will stop at nothing to manipulate people's minds, morals, and pocketbooks (and our posts/documents).

What a tangled web we weave...

this place is a rip off