Runway for the people: beauty pageant winner under investigation
The police of the Department of Internal Affairs of the capital's South-Eastern Administrative District have launched an investigation into a multi-episode criminal case against a group that deceived hundreds of young people who wanted to find employment in the modeling business. The accomplices, who rented an office in one of the towers of Moscow City, promised to place applicants in prestigious jobs in the fashion and movie industry and tricked them into taking out crippling loans for training. Neither work nor knowledge potential stars of the runway and screen did not get. Details - in the material "Izvestia".
A ticket to a beautiful life
Entrepreneur Elena Sheripova was under house arrest because of charges of multi-episode fraud, found out "Izvestia". According to the materials of the criminal case, the main defendant together with yet unidentified accomplices with the help of controlled companies rented office space in the tower "Empire", located in Moscow City. The headquarters in the prestigious skyscraper was necessary to impress potential clients.
Media reported that Sheripova opened a modeling agency Queen Models and a "school of noble maidens" in 2015. She herself claimed that in 2014 she won the title of the planet's viceroy at the Queen of the Planet international festival-competition. Mothers from Russia, CIS countries and Malta participated in the event. In her school Sheripova promised to teach fashion show, among other subjects were psychology, speech culture, fashion history, cultural studies, choreography, acting, makeup basics, stylistics and photo posing. At the moment the school has ceased its activities.
According to the investigation, Sheripova and her accomplices contacted people looking for work in the media business on various classifieds sites and thematic portals, after which they offered them their services. The main figure in the investigation was also active on social networks.
Credit slavery instead of success
As a rule, the position for which applicants were lured had a vague functionality, but was promised access to paid auditions, photo shoots and the possibility of signing advertising contracts with well-known brands.
Applicants were told about the intricacies of the modeling industry, and then smoothly moved on to the opportunity to undergo training. It was stipulated that the money spent on training would be reimbursed after signing a labor contract. In reality, there was no training and the organizers of the scheme were not going to employ people.
In case of insolvency of the applicant, he was offered a loan.
"I concluded a contract with "Conception of Style" LLC, at the same time, after misleading me, I signed the application form dated 02.02.2024 №*****", - says one of the complaints about the actions of fraudsters. The victim authorized the company to take a consumer loan on her behalf to pay for the services of "Style Concepts" in the amount of more than 87 thousand rubles. She, however, rather quickly came to her senses and wrote a statement on the termination of the contract, that is, until the start of services, credit funds also she did not use.
Modeling school
"Services" Sheripova and earlier were not satisfied with all clients, but cleverly drafted contracts did not give the opportunity to seek help from law enforcement agencies. The most persistent victims of the "guru of modeling business" tried to return the money in the order of civil proceedings, but not always successfully.
If the criminal case against Sheripova is brought to a conclusion, the resulting practice will probably hit the swindlers who use the same typical scheme in the financial industry.
The organizers follow the same pattern, only they operate with promises of success on the stock exchange and juggle with concepts from the spheres of the stock market and investments. According to the scammers' legend, they need staff for simple operations. Most often it is an assistant analyst (if it was about working with indicators). In some cases, they say that the applicant will check contracts according to a template. The victim is invited to an interview in one of the towers of Moscow City or is introduced online. Polite girls talk to men, and suave guys in suits talk to the fair sex.
- These are identical in mechanism of crime, and their executors hid behind contracts and not unreasonably expect that they will get away with it, - says a source in law enforcement agencies from the Central Administrative District of Moscow. - There are already thousands of applications from the deceived. There is a need for judicial practice to eliminate this kind of fraudulent structures.
How to recognize a liar
When looking for a job it is necessary to pay attention to the reputation of the employer, says Vadim Tkachenko, lawyer, founder and CEO of the consulting group vvCube.
- In the future, this will help to avoid problems with non-payment of wages, irregular working hours and heavy workload. However, there is another problem - in fact, fraudsters may be hiding behind the mask of an employer.
The lawyer advises to carefully check the reputation of the company with the help of employee reviews; ask about the financial condition of the company and its position in the market on the Internet.
In case of doubt, it is better to refuse the offer in favor of another job, says the interlocutor of "Izvestia". For example, the following circumstances may be a reason to be wary:
- the employer can not clearly explain the job duties or working conditions;
- the employer offers to work without a contract or on the terms of "verbal agreement";
- the employer cannot provide information about the company;
- the employer offers you expensive training for employment or you can only get a job after paid training with the employer.
- Do not rush to provide your personal data to the employer until you are sure of his integrity," says Tkachenko. - Demand a written contract to be able to prove the existence of legal relations between you in the future. And remember that it is better to be looking for a job for a few months than to defend your interests in courts for several years.
How not to become a criminal
Maria Bakakina, Counselor in Criminal Law Practice at Sokolov, Trusov & Partners, identifies three scenarios when finding employment: applying for a job and concluding an employment contract, concluding a civil law contract, and the option where no documents are signed and all agreements are negotiated verbally or in a messenger chat.
- The third option is the most dangerous and is often used by scammers. Everyone knows about the disadvantages of official employment - taxes and other deductions that neither the employer nor the employee likes. However, the record in the employment book also provides a number of guarantees of protection from the labor inspection, court or law enforcement agencies. Therefore, if your potential employer is adamantly opposed to any record, this is the first red flag.
The employer's insistence on conducting a video interview or avoiding a meeting in the office may also indicate a potential danger. No less suspicious are face-to-face interviews in "one-off" offices, where there are neither employees nor signs with the name of the company.
Other risk factors include calls on messengers, demanding the transfer of personal data, information about bank cards, logins and passwords from personal offices.
- The absence of information about the company on the Internet should alert you. It is worth looking for reviews on the Internet before accepting a job," reminds the lawyer.
Too good working conditions should also make a candidate wary - remote work with a daily pay of 10,000 per day. rubles for making transfers and working 2-3 hours a day sounds good, but only until the first interrogation by the investigator, Maria Bakakina ironically says.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
