I checked the site with Sucuri SiteCheck and Model Mahem has been hacked and is full of malware. The site is listed as "High Risk"

Astrid Photos

Aug 16 18 04:22 pm
Hi there,

I was wondering why my request to create a profile was denied and closed?

Thanks,
MM Admin
BrandiNettIB

Aug 16 18 04:48 pm
Hi there,

Your account was denied because you appear to have been previously removed from Model Mayhem.

Per our Site Rules and Terms of Use, previously removed members are not permitted to open or maintain any additional accounts.

Thanks,
~ Brandi

Astrid Photos

Aug 16 18 05:00 pm
Hi there,

I am still confused? I do not know how that is possible?

Thanks,

Astrid Photos

Aug 16 18 05:04 pm
Should I be filing for identity theft of sorts? Is there any advice you can give. I do live in the same house with one photographer and one former model but its my understanding she hasn't done work in years, could this be related to one of them?

Advice would be appreciated much thanks!

MM Moderator
Island Escape

Aug 17 18 07:30 am
I have reviewed all your previous accounts and there is no Identity theft relating to this account or your other accounts that we previously closed.

Your account has been closed in accordance with our Terms of Use: https://www.modelmayhem.com/education/terms-of-use

However, per the Terms of Use and our policies, once a final decision has been made to close an account, we will not elaborate further on the reasons for the account closure or entertain requests for reinstatement. Further, per the Terms of Use, once a member account has been removed by Model Mayhem, the member is no longer eligible to open additional accounts.

Correspondence regarding your account closure should be sent to:

Internet Brands, Inc. Legal Department
909 N. Sepulveda Blvd., 11th FL
El Segundo, CA *******

We regret that we are unable to address your questions or concerns.

Thank you.
MM Moderator
McGee

Aug 17 18 07:31 am
Hello

We're not seeing anything to indicate identity theft.

McGee

Astrid Photos

Aug 18 18 10:15 am
Well that is great news...

I am still confused on how this can be happening? I have already looked at competitive sites which I intend to join. But I am very alarmed as I have never had an account with you guys, I was also referred via roommate to this site.

Ill go ahead and reach out to the snail mail address you have provided if they do not have an email address in this day and age? I will also be reaching out to the BBB and whom ever else in-regards to the quick judgement and lack of investigation on your part.

Thanks for nothing,
MM Moderator
Island Escape

Aug 18 18 10:21 am
Your Welcome

Astrid Photos

Aug 18 18 09:57 pm
Yah... I feel completely and quite bothered that you folks are not as alarmed as I am. I feel like this might be identity theft at this point. And you guys are careless nor will give me the time of day to send my Id, etc to verify. How can you even conclude that this isn't identity theft? Also I will be keeping this email and sharing. Ill be sure to list this conversation on BBB, consumer complaints etc. People should be terrified at your guy's lack of CARE in regards to IDENTITY THEFT. That is criminal! Who do you think I am? I have NEVER opened an account with you people, yet you claim to already have had my information?

And I am seriously surprised you guys do not have a phone# or even an email address to go through for Internet Brands, Inc. Legal Department.

JUST PORN FAKES NOTHING REALY HONEST AND MODS (GATE KEEPERS) DONT CARE SINCE THERE ALL MODELS TO. 100S FAKE ADS--

Recently I replied to an ad listed on Model Mayhem by a company titled "Portraits International" so I followed the instructions and was polite and sent several well-taken photos from my portfolio and my contact information (I did not include my phone number because I've had creeps try to solicit "favors" from me when I responded to their ads with my phone number) and a woman named "Tricia" (who is not the photographer but claims to be a casting director at his company) wrote this to me:

Hi,

You sent us numerous emails.

All containing no information and yellow people with fake hair and fake names.

Read our ad.

Do what it says.

Do not omit sharp, crystal clear front and back photos, no side garbage. No wigs. No fake names. And you did not include your telephone number. You sound like a dude.

Plus, we do not ask for what you wrote about.

Read.

Do.

Obey.

A model who cannot read or follow directions is not eligible for the free test photoshoot.

Tricia
Casting Director
Portraits International

PS: No cell phone garbage photos please.We need to know what you look like. Front and back photos. Just read the ad and if interested, follow directions. Do not send photos to this Craigslist address, you must visit our Facebook site per the ad and Like our page. No one lazy or on drugs. No more spam, just send what we ask for and what you think will be helpful. Yellow people like in your photos are useless photos. Pink hair is weird.

You sent us nothing I could give to Ian for him to see if he'd be interested, since you ignored our company's ad
---------

I was confused to what she meant by "fake names" (my name is Aria so I don't know why that name sounds fake but yeah) and I have native american ancestry so I didn't really know what to say when she mentioned my "yellow skin" and "pink hair" (in ONE of my photos hair was clearly red but in the other photos my hair was auburn and golden brown). So I wrote this as a reply

"Wow. First off, those photos were real. And I sound like a "dude" just because I didn't include my phone number? Garbage photos? I included my side profile just so you could see my dimensions, but I realize now you didn't want those either way. Yellow people? Pink hair is weird? Look, I understand if maybe the pictures I sent weren't the type of photos you had in mind, but honestly, there's no reason to be nasty and rude about it, Ms. Tricia. All you had to say is that you weren't interested, and you didn't think Ian would be either. There are ways to turn down applicants who may not be what you are looking for without resorting to rudeness - which is unprofessional. But nonetheless, thank you for your response and take care. "

Honestly if she wasn't interested she could have responded like an adult.

Ive just read through several of the recent reviews of this site. Im really sorry I didnt do that before I signed up. Heres the tale of my bad experience with them:

About 4 months ago, I opened up a profile on MM. Nothing remarkable inside and no apparent issues or problems while the profile was up. Then, on 1/9/16 I got a message out of the blue stating that my profile had been summarily removed because it appears you have been previously removed. Since I never before had a profile on the site. I was a little confused. I wrote to the moderators and asked WTF was going on.

As a response, a tinpot Admin wrote back somewhat mockingly and said I am sorry if you find this alarming. He went on to say there had been some undefined inconsistencies with the account and it was suspected that I did not have the copyright on 3 of the images in my portfolio. We take copyright issues very seriously... He asked that I transmit the full size originals of the 3 images so as to prove they had not been lifted from somewhere on the web. I complied, sending three large files containing the original images.

About 24 hours later, I got another message from Brandi, the bimbo (paid) Internet Brands manager stating sorry to make you jump through hoops but it has just been brought to my attention you had to be previously removed. After expressing further confusion about what the issue really was, Brandi responded stating they had used the images I sent to confirm I had been previously removed.

They were gaming me. I have learned that MM keeps a database with the serial numbers of all cameras used to take posted photos. As the 3 photos were taken with a Nikon D3X camera I had bought used from a local camera store 2 years ago, I can only surmise that the previous owner of the camera was on the MM enemy list. Of course, they never bothered to ask me any questions about the dates of ownership of the camera and spurned my offer to provide such information. Nor did they ever ask a single direct question about my identity.

These people have absolutely no respect for their users. They really need to be brought up short, as by a big drop in their rate of paid memberships. Lucky me I never paid them anything!

UPDATE 1/19/16
I have learned that the modelnazi moderators have a new program of reading users' PRIVATE messages and sending automatic notices in red letters threatening (lifetime) removal from the site should the photographer user ask any "inappropriate" questions of a model. These notices are *not* prompted by any complaint from a model.

Every sane photographer planning a photo shoot with a model would have an advance discussion of the model's style and posing limits. Better not say the wrong thing or the penalty is death.

Ok lets set aside the whole "comment for comment" mentality where everyone just jerks off each others egos with literally the most generic bull$#*! they can come up with. Lets set aside the fact that the entire website is a bunch of EXTREMELY sexually frustrated perverts hiding behind a thin veneer of political correctness who all think they're too good for the world constantly paying each other to be in each others presence and NOT $#*! each others faces which is what they all really want to do deep down and it pisses them off so they lash out at each other with these ridiculous ego trips the moment anyone questions the emperors new clothes. They're simultaneously filled with a deep seated fear and hatred of each other while repressing their desires behind a facade of professionalism which is NOT why they do what they do which essentially amounts to pornography in denial. You dont take some fetish shots of some girls feet because you're a professional. And you don't go out in the woods and take a picture of a topless girl doing the splits because you have a professional interest. The woods is just the excuse. The camera is just your denial. And if anyone questions that, you have a serious problem with it. There is no professionalism. There is no money being made, it just exchanges hands, goes around and around. There was a picture i saw of two politicians each daring each other a million dollars to eat crap. After they both did it, they felt sick, neither one was any richer but they both claimed to have made 2 new jobs and boosted the economy. Thats pretty much how modelmayhem works. In the end, what are you really "portfolio building" for? So you can be the one to get paid to build others portfolios and continue the cycle of crap?

I'm not even going to focus heavily on the culture of sexual antagonism and harassment that goes on in modelmayhem. Thats not my biggest issue, but it is a HUGE issue. If there is such a thing as a rape culture, it exists on modelmayhem. Theres a whole sexist epithet, a "slur" if you will, surrounding the "GWCs" or "guys with cameras" whose sole existence is to shame a guy for having a camera and being horny. And you know what, i couldn't fault them for either, if they were actually real about it. Nothing wrong with a guy being horny or liking to take pictures, its just pretending to do so in a professional atmosphere thats wrong with it. But the rapists and perverts that run the site, THOSE are the ones behind that label, as if they accuse everyone else of being what they are and make it a bad thing no one will notice they're the biggest culprits. Its this whole victorian era bull$#*!, like "I SAY, HOW OFFENSIVE! I saw sally and thomas in the woods and they were FORNICATING! How shameful!" meanwhile behind closed doors they're filming unspeakably rapey snuff films for their spank bank, making guarded advances on women with the tritest most unoriginal and obvious of euphemisms. Its the kind of hypocrisy that everyone should be able to see through but they don't, because everyone is just as afraid of the synopticonic ochlocracy, afraid if they do speak out they'll be pounced on like a pack of wolves or (gasp!) BRIGGED! Good heavens!

But this is exactly the kind of culture that allows rapists and sociopaths to flourish, because they are the quickest to point fingers, to hurl accusations and play moral police, to run to mommy, find their sociopathic little possy and gang up on the weak like rabid dogs. And i get that fashion is cutthroat, i do, but this; this is wrong on so many levels. Modelmayhem has become just as rife with abuses as scientology, i havent shot with a model who hadn't had at least one bad experience from it, groped, touched, one girl had an old guy try to get her to sit on his lap. Its ridiculous, and meanwhile i have to put up with the fallout from the actions of the types who thrive on these sites; one girl excused her tardiness by calling me "probably a rapist", one didn't show up to the shoot at all and hours later her uncle called to accuse me of kidnapping her. I had to pose a girls foot for a shot cause she couldn't take direction and she got up and almost ran out like i just forced myself upon her. And it is literally impossible to put all that behind you and just focus on the art because there is ALWAYS that apprehension and suspicion, you are ALWAYS treated like a criminal. That doesn't die down. And the thing is i don't blame them because there are plenty of criminals on modelmayhem, they are the very people who run the site so how can expect someone you meet there to be different, but where the hell else can you go? There are no other channels, not unless you're privy to nepotism that isn't accessible to the general public. Either you're tight with agencies or you have models in your network already, or you go to the rapist pit to find them and its dangerous for everyone. And it shouldn't be. But if you question the church of modelmayhem or so much as believe speaking up could make it a better place, you get excommunicated. They hold your dreams in the balance and they do nothing good with it, but rape, troll, and froth at the mouth.

My profile got suspended because i expressed my free speech on the forums, someone took offense to it, they $#*!ed to a moderator, and i payed the price. They then found every post i'd ever made on the forums and antagonized me on each and every one. When i complained to the moderators again, they did nothing, so i confronted him about it directly but he threatened me with violence. I said name a time and a place. For that, my profile got suspended again, and once again, he got away with his catty bull$#*! without any kind of consequences. They said they could reactivate a week and i said don't $#*!ing bother. I tried onemodelplace for a bit, with no results, so i came back and made a new profile under the name of my LLC. I stayed off the forums and kept to myself. And then they suddenly banned my account again saying my profile had been previously removed and that it was for threats of violence, and that if i had any complaints i should talk to their legal department.

If there is already a class action lawsuit or something, i want to join it. Please, someone, anyone, give me a way to sue these $#*!s. Or to find them and beat the living $#*! out of them. Because i don't want to believe its something i have no control over. See i could go to the better business bureau with this but it'd get lost in the sea of complaints practically identical to mine about how the moderators all act like vituperative children and play stupid games and put people down for fun. Or i could go to the press but they're already running stories about how sexual predators basically run your site and constantly rape models and get away with it. And their only legal defense is that they're a voluntary service so if people don't like it then they don't have to voluntarily subject themselves to the kind of treatment they put them through. And they know acting like this in real life would get their $#*! kicked no matter who they were, but they do it behind a computer screen so any physical repercussions for their actions are off the table. Its a site run by trolls, for trolls, and at the deficit of everyone else. And someone needs to teach em that trolling doesn't pay. Because as hard as it is to accept, with the way they've set their site up, it totally does.

MM could benefit from firing/rehiring the entire staff and if it were possible, set the website on fire. There are better websites/apps that will one day make it irrelevant but it involves ridding the photography world of GWC and mainstream sex culture.

If you are a creative professional looking to model or photograph, stay clear of MM. Heed the warnings that lay before you. They are there for a reason.

We, as a creative community, need to stop promoting this website. Stop suggesting to new photographers that this is the place to get good models. Stop suggesting to models that this is where their careers will take off. It's simply untrue.

My experience has been that if you're willing to take off your clothes as a model or if you're willing to fork over some cash to amateurs, then MM is for you. Everyone else? Try IG or FB. If you have money and want to do professional work, go with an agency.

In the short time I was on MM, I met just 4 people I liked: 2 models who could easily be picked up by an agency representing fashion and editorial talent, and 2 awesome makeup artists. I'm grateful for them and the work we did together. But finding them is like finding a needle in the haystack. A lot of people on this website are not professional. And when I say that I mean they aren't willing to ACT like professionals: have positive and active communication, show up on time if at all, and the list goes on.

While I was reading all the bad reviews on this website, thinking "Why are the moderators so bad?" MM was in the middle of deleting my completely innocuous casting call. I'll be deleting my profile shortly after finishing this review. I'm a photographer looking for a male model and the following is verbatim from the casting call I wrote. The fact that they deleted it is laughable. Who knows. Maybe some guy who really wanted to be naked for the camera reported my call and the moderators were offended by my rejection of gratuitous and artistic nudes.

I'm in the middle of building an app that boasts a better platform for creatives to meet and work together. And there will be a better selection process for all creative professionals.

This is the casting call that got removed:
"Fall is here and it's going to be gorgeous. Looking to expand port to include men. Seeking a male model between ages 18-30 for an unpaid test/trade shoot where we create several looks for a comp card/ book. Good for anyone looking to expand portfolio with a set of consistent photos. Ideally, since I'm asking you to provide your own wardrobe, you must have a clothes that are along the lines of Express/Banana Republic/ Zara. 4 looks. I'm looking for someone specific but of no particular race. I would prefer non-commercial models and someone interested in editorial photography. ** ABSOLUTELY NO NUDES, NOT EVEN A HINT OF IT. KEEP IT LOCKED IN, PLEASE. Smile *** "

"Please message me for more details."

In response to my reason for why I was leaving the site (basically what I've written here), the moderators wrote: "Ok..." Ellipses are not professional and a clear indication that the site is run by sophomoric baffoons.

Imagine a corporate-owned social media site presided over by two unpaid "administrators" who behave like Presidential candidates. One yells "sit down and shut up!" and the other "you're fired!" Both are trained as photographers but have no background in human relations or personnel management. That would be ModelMayhem's two brownshirt administrators, Dean Johnson and Brian Diaz.

Above these geniuses on the organization chart is Brandi, the equivalent of Michelle Bachman. A complete ditz, Brandi says dumb things and has no real control over anything. She is the salaried employee of corporate owner Internet Brands.

Against this background, I'll tell you my just-ended experience with ModelMayhem.com.

I joined the site about six weeks ago. I paid $100 for a VIP membership so I could post 500 photos. Throughout my entire time on site, I purposely avoided posting any image that came close to the line of the site's image rules.

Knowing that posting entries in the photo contests is a good way to rack up image violation demerits, I posted no entries. Knowing that user contest votes are stored in the site's database for investigatory use, I did not vote.

I also avoided all rabble rousing. I noticed that two users who posted critical comments in a site-related forum mysteriously disappeared a few days thereafter. I made only one posting to a discussion forum, saying I looked forward to seeing the model roster for an upcoming photo event.

Despite my docile behavior, last Saturday 7/25/15 I received a notification out of the blue that I was removed from the site. Four minutes later, I got a second communication saying, "oops, that was a mistake, your account is restored." I replied with polite thanks for the notices.

Two days after that, Monday 7/27, another removal notification was sent. Thinking this might be another mistake, I waited several hours before reacting. When it became clear they were serious, I wrote to ask WTF was going on. I was told they had evidence I might be someone else.

Replying that I just checked in a mirror and that it was still me, I got an accusatory response from Dean Johnson. He demanded to know why I had deleted several photos and then re-posted them with EXIF metadata removed. That was the "evidence".

I had indeed done this after learning the tinpots put this information - including camera specs, serial numbers and GPS location - in their investigatory database.

In the process, Ialso learned that they keep all user-deleted images. They just make them invisible to the user. Not OK.

I had been unaware this personal data was being transmitted and retained. I also was unaware that someone else could download a posted image and obtain the same personal information. Despite obvious safety and privacy issues, the site sees doing anything to thwart MM's secret-police data gathering as highly subversive.

I would move to Russia if I wanted to be tracked and indexed like an enemy agent or treated like an offender who took off his ankle monitor.

Getting involved with ModelMayhem may prove to be more than an unpleasant experience. It may be downright dangerous. If you must use the site, by all means remove metadata from photos - this can be done easily by clicking "properties" in Windows viewer. Do not EVER enter any photo contests question the power structure,.

Better, just stay away.

Oh, and they refused to give my hundred bucks back, per SOP.

(UPDATE :) I already wrote a review back in 2014, til this day I am very firm with my complaint as I was bullied and treated very unfairly by the moderators of model mayhem. They seriously need new management.

I highly suggest everyone making complaints do so on the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website as well.

It's a little ODD to me that they have ZERO complaints on there and ZERO reviews. Even the BEST companies have some sort of complaints on BBB. So how come they don't? I wonder if they pay them to have complaints removed.

BBB complaints usually show up immediately once the company you're searching is typed into the google search engines.

Let's make the complaints everywhere search engines will show. None of these complaints deserve to be swept under a rug.

Here's the link! Submit your complaints whether you've paid a membership and got your account deleted out of nowhere, or whether you've been sexually harassed by a pervy photog (and the mods do NOTHING to help)

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/el-segundo/profile/advance-fee-modeling-agencies/model-mayhem-**************_______________________________________________________________

First off, before I go on, I'd like to mention first hand that my review is not "hating". You know how people love to just throw that word around when you disagree or dislike something.

[Here's The Good Part:]

I used to be an active member of model mayhem and I logged on daily. It was convenient as ever for the simple fact that I travel ALOT and I would do a search for models by specific looks, (which is always fun), I'd post castings for any kind of project I wanted to do, and I would in fact get a ton of replies.

Also, if I was traveling and needed to link up with a talent, such as a makeup artist, hair stylist or even a clothing designer, I would find them with absolutely no problem no matter what side of the map I was on. Now that's the good part about the site, (the networking factor.)

[The Bad, The UGLY, The UNPROFESSIONAL]

The bad side is that those clowns deleted my account for no reason at all, and when I asked them why, they claimed they received NUMEROUS complaints about threats from me. Threats? From Me? LOL I found that hilarious. I asked for proof, they provided none, but what made it even funnier is that I already KNEW who it was that reported me, it was a model that tried to blackmail me, she threatened to contact a moderator if I didn't give her more photos. And in her threat she also stated "you know how easy they delete accounts".

So when I refused to she went ahead and made sure they deleted my account. They tried to cover up for her by claiming it was "numerous" complaints, as if I didn't know that was a lie, and when I told them how unfair it was, one of the mods replied "we can delete any account, for ANY reason" Can you believe it? It was more than one mod responding to my questions and they were literally bullying me.

I was like if there was so-called "numerous complaints" what happened to a warning? What happened to a fair trial? Why not ask me what happened first? You just straight up delete my account because someone lied on me and fabricated a story when they were the ones that threatened me? - they didn't care about anything I was saying. They are jealous people and when they see you're actually good at what you do? Gives them even more of a reason to want to delete your account. Bitter, low-life, narcissistic d'ouches.

They didn't care about me asking them to hear my side of the story. They didn't care to see any proof I could have provided to prove the model lied on me because she couldnt have her way. The mods are just a bunch of washed up fauxtographers and play-models that get off on playing pretend-cop. I read on wikipedia that they don't even get paid lol which makes it worse that they're going so hard for FREE. A bunch of losers who have nothing else better to do but try and make peoples life as miserable as theirs.

I was super disappointed when they deleted my account, for the simple fact that the email I received was EXTREMELY unprofessional. "do your networking elsewhere" didn't even state WHY my account was removed.

I truly wish they do better, such as HIRE actual professionals to run the site. Like REAL professionals. Not have it run by other photographers & trash models who use their jealousy and personal vendettas against other photographers and models as more of a reason to delete their accounts. It definitely sounds absurd, and unreal but YES these so-called "adults" are running the site like children.

If nothing changes, I hope the site gets taken down for good.
It's a true rip off if you're actually a hard working professional, because they will definitely target you, delete you, and go on about their business.

The fakers and pretenders do well there...

I believe we should all come together and do a petition to have the site taken down because of how unfairly they treat people in general. All of these stories are NOT coincidences!

And trust me, any GOOD comments you see people claiming the site isn't bad at all? Are definitely either the moderators themselves going under cover OR just straight up $#*!-kissers who want to stay in good with the moderators so their account wont get deleted lol.

Not good at all