00:00:00
Wantage image models 2-day trip $2,500
00:00:03
for models Dubai Abu Dhabi Riad Doha
00:00:07
$180,000 so a 10 month day which is
00:00:09
$900,000
00:00:11
restaurant dinner and clubbing I mean
00:00:14
it's it's Bonkers this is what's known
00:00:16
as image or atmosphere modeling or
00:00:18
yachting and it's all over social media
00:00:21
how are any of you shocked by y have you
00:00:23
ever seen those Instagram models
00:00:24
consistently in Dubai they'll say oh
00:00:27
come to this poker game and uh all you
00:00:28
have to do is like serve drink but they
00:00:30
actually traffic the girls you don't
00:00:32
have to have your photo taken and you
00:00:33
don't have to walk down a catwalk it's
00:00:35
more like being paid to party every
00:00:38
model I know receives these messages but
00:00:39
nobody talks about it something feels
00:00:41
off is it modeling is it escorting or is
00:00:44
it something in between I want to know
00:00:46
how safe these girls are and who the
00:00:48
figures are behind it all so I'm going
00:00:50
undercover as an image model to find out
00:00:52
what really happens when you get paid to
00:00:55
[Music]
00:00:57
party I'm Sydney lemur I've been in for
00:01:00
a decade for high-end fashion brands and
00:01:02
I've heard rumors about this world my
00:01:03
whole career this is the story of me
00:01:06
going undercover in the world of
00:01:07
yachting or image modeling I wanted to
00:01:10
see if the rumors were true about a
00:01:12
dangerous underworld where pimps posing
00:01:14
his agents trick young models into
00:01:16
thinking they can get paid to party I've
00:01:18
been researching this for ages but with
00:01:20
the rise of that Jet Set influencer
00:01:22
lifestyle that everyone seems to want
00:01:23
it's now even more prolific if I was
00:01:26
going to find the major operators in the
00:01:28
shadow world I needed some help so I put
00:01:30
the word out on my socials and I started
00:01:32
following a few image modeling agencies
00:01:34
to see what
00:01:37
happened Sophie jinny's just followed me
00:01:39
which is an account called image Work
00:01:41
World she sent me some absolutely insane
00:01:44
offers Las Vegas hosted by an LA based
00:01:48
Hollywood producer and I've looked
00:01:49
through who she's followed by and
00:01:51
there's some quite a lot of blue ticked
00:01:53
models some of these are with like
00:01:55
London based agencies that I know okay
00:01:58
I'm going to message her
00:02:01
I've got a message complete anonymity
00:02:03
the man is a famous politician video
00:02:06
call interview when I call I need to see
00:02:08
for myself on the tattoo on the scars it
00:02:12
doesn't seem like it's just me creating
00:02:14
atmosphere at a party or a
00:02:21
dinner
00:02:24
hello your camera's off I asked without
00:02:27
clothes you asked without clothes
00:02:30
oh I just want to
00:02:32
know
00:02:34
hello it sounded like a recording that's
00:02:37
like an automated thing oh my God I just
00:02:39
got a
00:02:40
message I'm telling you I need to watch
00:02:42
you full length without close question
00:02:44
mark question
00:02:46
mark hello I just thought um I was going
00:02:49
I wanted to ask about the job
00:02:54
yeah sorry can I just know a bit more
00:02:56
about the job that you
00:02:58
mentioned H up again
00:03:00
my first call with an image modeling
00:03:02
agency quickly turned into something
00:03:04
weird and dark an automated message
00:03:06
asking me to undress it felt like a
00:03:08
glimpse into a much bigger more Sinister
00:03:10
industry How deep did it go a number of
00:03:13
models had reached out to me from my
00:03:15
Instagram post but none were willing to
00:03:16
go on camera for some reason then two
00:03:19
models Erin and tia who are both signed
00:03:21
to legitimate agencies and work for
00:03:22
high-end fashion brands messaged me to
00:03:24
say that they had heard stories and they
00:03:25
were willing to
00:03:27
talk so have you heard of image modeling
00:03:29
I have what do you know about it
00:03:32
probably about three times a day I'll
00:03:33
get a DM in my Instagram I get them like
00:03:36
almost every day can you show me this is
00:03:38
the one that I got today
00:03:41
$900 per day I've seen some DM say 15
00:03:46
grand 15 grand a day I've been offered
00:03:48
60k to go for one dinner or 120k to go
00:03:52
to Dubai for race weekend how much kind
00:03:55
of modeling work would you have to do to
00:03:56
make up for that one day's work on an
00:03:58
image modeling trip average Ecom after
00:04:01
commission it's maybe 700 or something
00:04:03
like that so you'd probably have to do
00:04:04
about 20 20 days work in a day well what
00:04:07
are you doing for 15 grand you know what
00:04:09
I mean basically there's two different
00:04:11
parts there's the image modeling you
00:04:12
literally decid to look pretty or you
00:04:14
get the extra where you're basically
00:04:16
being paid to be well I would even call
00:04:19
it an escort you're being paid to be a
00:04:20
prostitute at sex work does it go wrong
00:04:23
I've heard multiple times from different
00:04:25
people that there's some instances where
00:04:27
they will either drug the girls or
00:04:30
force them into sex work girls are
00:04:33
literally PID to stand in a circle and
00:04:36
they will throw rocks at them they will
00:04:39
on them they will on them you'd have
00:04:41
your mobile phone and your pass will
00:04:42
take it from you to go on these trips
00:04:44
which if you're on the other side of the
00:04:46
world you're not in your home country
00:04:48
you're going to feel terrified about
00:04:49
what to do and the laws in these
00:04:50
countries don't protect you so do you
00:04:52
think I'll have any luck speaking to any
00:04:54
of these girls I think you'll have a
00:04:56
very very hard time tier had explained
00:04:59
that image work was paid partying and
00:05:01
extra was sex work but were the lines
00:05:04
that clearly defined I asked them to
00:05:06
show me the messages that they were
00:05:07
getting from these agencies image
00:05:09
worldwide carer models I've had those I
00:05:13
feel like a lot of my friends have had
00:05:14
those there's this one that's like so
00:05:18
they just keep doing it every single day
00:05:20
sometimes twice a day is the image
00:05:22
worldwide yes it's image worldwide it
00:05:26
seemed that image worldwide was one of
00:05:28
the most prolific agencies in in this
00:05:29
modeling Shadow world I had my lead I
00:05:32
had to find out everything about them if
00:05:34
I wanted to get inside this world they
00:05:36
had a professionall looking website and
00:05:37
multiple verified Instagram accounts
00:05:40
with tens of thousands of followers on
00:05:42
first glance they seem fairly legit
00:05:44
they're followed by some bigname models
00:05:46
and influencers on their public
00:05:48
platforms they advertise jewelry
00:05:49
modeling jobs trips to Exotic locations
00:05:52
and party jobs they repeatedly advertise
00:05:54
the words legitimate and 100% safe which
00:05:57
feels like the first Red Flag by why
00:05:59
would you constantly be trying to
00:06:00
convince people of your legitimacy if
00:06:02
you were actually legit I started
00:06:04
following them and immediately began
00:06:06
getting DMS and invites to their
00:06:08
WhatsApp groups where they posted jobs
00:06:09
multiple times a day many of which
00:06:11
sounded uncannily like
00:06:14
escorting so there's one job here which
00:06:17
just has a guest campaign cover on it
00:06:20
casting now for a luxury lifestyle
00:06:22
magazine it seems to be a way to lure
00:06:25
women to respond to the ad like what are
00:06:27
you doing what are you modeling it's
00:06:28
clearly not g
00:06:31
I was put in touch by image worldwide
00:06:33
with a Booker named Daniel Edward I
00:06:35
asked him about the difference between
00:06:36
extra and image and he said image is
00:06:39
turning up and having a nice fun
00:06:40
platonic time with the client extra is
00:06:43
fun girlfriend Vibe which seemed like he
00:06:45
could have been describing sex work
00:06:46
Daniel admitted that image worldwide
00:06:48
takes a feed for extra work which if
00:06:50
true would be pimping which is illegal
00:06:52
in the UK and it turns out that in many
00:06:54
of the countries where image worldwide
00:06:55
were advertising jobs like Saudi Arabia
00:06:58
and the UAE sex work land you in prison
00:07:00
or worse I did some more research and
00:07:02
found out that if any of these foreign
00:07:03
trips involved sex work which they
00:07:05
appeared to and if Daniel's taking a cut
00:07:07
of the money then under the modern
00:07:09
slavery act this qualifies as
00:07:10
trafficking for sexual exploitation
00:07:12
which carries a maximum sentence of life
00:07:15
in prison but is the line between image
00:07:17
and extra always clear to aspiring
00:07:19
models or was it possible that some were
00:07:21
being Leed to perform sex work in
00:07:23
highest countries with the promise of
00:07:25
well-paid legitimate modeling work I had
00:07:27
to get on a job with this agency to find
00:07:29
find
00:07:30
out I had to look around their website
00:07:32
for leads and it wasn't long before I
00:07:35
found
00:07:37
something that's the that's wait no cuz
00:07:40
that's like sorry the photo that's just
00:07:41
come up is Esther who's a very legit
00:07:43
model agent from Lyndon
00:07:45
stab
00:07:47
what I thought I recognized her that's
00:07:50
absolutely mad so it turns out that
00:07:52
these photos are from Linden star which
00:07:55
is a model agency in London a very legit
00:07:58
model agency they've just used these
00:08:00
photos on their own website but it also
00:08:02
is an agency that's meant to be the most
00:08:04
ethical Forward Thinking in the industry
00:08:06
clearly this wasn't the real image
00:08:07
worldwide office Lyon's Star had been
00:08:09
catfished so where were their actual
00:08:11
headquarters where was Daniel they had a
00:08:14
central London address on their website
00:08:16
so I headed down there if he is there
00:08:19
we've completely blown our cover there's
00:08:22
be no way to get to him so hope he not
00:08:26
it's an absolute building site
00:08:28
completely GED w Wait wait wait hello is
00:08:31
it on the
00:08:35
6 no so it's empty empty completely
00:08:40
empty it's totally empty I don't know
00:08:44
where worldwide went to be does it even
00:08:46
exist and they weren't only lying about
00:08:49
their office Daniel has posted um a
00:08:52
company's house certificate for image
00:08:54
worldwide but the company number goes to
00:08:57
a completely different company he's
00:08:59
since posed a new certificate for image
00:09:01
worldwide limited but it says that the
00:09:03
company dissolved in 2019 was one of the
00:09:06
most prolific image modeling agencies
00:09:09
falsifying documents to make themselves
00:09:11
seem legit who were image worldwide and
00:09:14
who was Daniel Edward it didn't seem
00:09:16
like he was in the UK from his messages
00:09:18
if I could just get on a job perhaps I
00:09:20
could find out
00:09:23
more but every time I expressed interest
00:09:25
in a dinner or a party job it just so
00:09:27
happened to always end up being extra
00:09:30
and half of the time it wasn't clear
00:09:31
which was which and what the hell was
00:09:33
semi image the lines were worryingly
00:09:36
blurred he would post a modeling job
00:09:38
using a catfished image of Bella Hadid
00:09:41
to Showcase a jewelry brand that was
00:09:42
insanely well paid and then when I
00:09:44
inquired about it turns out involved
00:09:47
traveling around the world and staying
00:09:48
in the same hotel suite as the client
00:09:50
the red flags were everywhere but you
00:09:52
could see how a financially insecure and
00:09:54
naive young model could get lured in if
00:09:57
it was this ambiguous in the job adverts
00:09:59
what was it like for young models on the
00:10:00
actual jobs and what were the
00:10:03
risks my producer Katie called me saying
00:10:06
she'd found out some new information
00:10:07
about image worldwide and how they
00:10:09
operate we have just found the owner of
00:10:12
image worldwide's Facebook account yeah
00:10:14
I mean he's posting about image 12 Wi on
00:10:16
here it's got to be the same he yeah oh
00:10:19
my
00:10:20
god wow wait wait wait wait wait wait so
00:10:25
he has two other agencies one of them is
00:10:27
Cartier models and other Dem mode agency
00:10:30
both of them have messaged me and other
00:10:32
models that I've met like Erin why would
00:10:34
you be messaging on loads of different
00:10:36
accounts the same people wait is Daniel
00:10:38
like the point person for all these
00:10:40
agencies let's Google his number so one
00:10:43
of the numbers has led us to this escort
00:10:45
like rating websites models arrived but
00:10:48
they were promised that the job was only
00:10:49
for in nobody told them it was an escort
00:10:52
service and some of them one of them
00:10:54
which was very young 18 to 19 years old
00:10:57
was very nervous and started to cry
00:10:59
explaining us that the manager was
00:11:00
trying to pressure her to have intimate
00:11:02
relations with r when they were first
00:11:05
promised a modeling job we gave the lady
00:11:06
some money and book flights back home a
00:11:08
big sex trafficking scam is happening
00:11:10
behind this modeling agency coercing
00:11:12
someone to provide sexual Services is
00:11:14
illegal in the UK under the sexual
00:11:16
offenses act how common were situations
00:11:18
like this I needed to speak to some
00:11:20
models who'd actually done these sorts
00:11:21
of jobs with image modeling agencies to
00:11:23
find
00:11:24
[Music]
00:11:28
out I've spoken to about five or six
00:11:31
people who've pulled out last minute um
00:11:34
and there's obviously like a huge stigma
00:11:36
around this work but they have told me
00:11:38
stories of having their passports taken
00:11:40
off them um sexual abuse um uh being
00:11:45
underage and also a lot of stories about
00:11:48
black male in one instance has even an
00:11:50
alleged
00:11:52
murder was the societal shame around
00:11:54
this work making models scared to talk
00:11:56
it felt like the less people talked
00:11:58
about it the more dangerous it became
00:12:00
for models unaware of the risks
00:12:01
meanwhile Daniel wasn't selecting me for
00:12:03
any image jobs because at 31 I was too
00:12:06
old I decided to apply for an extra job
00:12:08
that Daniel described as a girlfriend
00:12:11
type casual sex experience at this point
00:12:14
all the image modeling jobs he's given
00:12:16
me have actually turned into extra work
00:12:19
I don't really want to have to take a
00:12:21
sex job but I feel like the only way I'm
00:12:23
going to find out who Daniel actually is
00:12:26
is if I take one of these jobs
00:12:30
[Music]
00:12:36
Daniel asked me to send a casting video
00:12:38
getting ready for some random guy to
00:12:40
approve
00:12:44
[Music]
00:12:49
me actually feel quite sick about this
00:12:52
then in the middle of the night I got a
00:12:53
call from one of the models I'd spoken
00:12:55
to she sounded scared I called my
00:12:58
producer
00:13:00
hey um I'm pretty freaked out so
00:13:04
basically just called me um like really
00:13:07
upset basically begging me to be safe
00:13:09
and to like that she
00:13:12
wouldn't that she can't do this St she's
00:13:15
basically crying and saying that that
00:13:18
I'm going to die what if I get killed I
00:13:21
regroup with my team who took steps to
00:13:23
ensure my
00:13:24
[Music]
00:13:27
safety so I've work up to a message from
00:13:31
Daniel he was not impressed with my
00:13:34
walking video he wants bikini video
00:13:36
which I probably should have
00:13:37
anticipated so now I have to do that not
00:13:41
not that happy about it but I've been
00:13:45
warned against investigating This World
00:13:47
by models who told me there could be
00:13:48
serious criminal networks involved I had
00:13:50
no idea if Daniel was a part of this yet
00:13:52
here I was applying for a job of him
00:13:55
what was I doing I had continued to try
00:13:58
to speak to model to done this sort of
00:13:59
work for these kinds of companies but
00:14:01
still no one would go on record just
00:14:04
when I was about to give up someone
00:14:05
reached out and agreed to speak on
00:14:07
camera this is a high-end fashion model
00:14:09
who's worked on campaigns for major
00:14:11
fashion magazines and luxury Brands so
00:14:13
she would only speak to us on condition
00:14:15
of complete anonymity so how did you get
00:14:18
into this world I was doing modeling in
00:14:20
Paris I started getting really broke one
00:14:22
of the girls asked me you know like I
00:14:24
have an agent for you I could put you in
00:14:26
touch with them that agent reached out
00:14:28
to me and asked we have this guy that
00:14:30
would like to see you you de paid 5,000
00:14:32
for like a 1hour meeting with him I was
00:14:34
like Wow 5,000 is a lot of money I
00:14:37
really really needed that then I got
00:14:38
offered a second job and I was with the
00:14:40
billionaire they offered me 10,000 for
00:14:42
the weekend I got shopping for like
00:14:44
15,000 I could live on that for a long
00:14:46
time who are your kind of clients I'm La
00:14:48
Royals diplomats many billionaires Bank
00:14:50
owners and lots of movie Producers how
00:14:53
common is it for models to make that
00:14:56
transition into kind of image work more
00:14:58
common L think it is that people keep it
00:15:01
very very discreet because it messes up
00:15:02
your whole reputation and your career I
00:15:05
try to say maybe I'm going to go quick
00:15:07
make money then get out but then I
00:15:09
noticed I drank more alcohol and took
00:15:11
more drugs to numb my feelings it's a
00:15:13
very scary because she don't always feel
00:15:15
protected in these gray areas one
00:15:16
girlfriend of mine got put in a closet
00:15:18
got hick and broke her ribs she thought
00:15:21
she was going to die and then there was
00:15:23
another girl there who got a finger cut
00:15:24
in front of her and have you had any
00:15:26
experience of blackmail yes I have I
00:15:29
started sending some sex pictures and
00:15:30
videos of me to my family and my friends
00:15:33
this is a thing you don't realize when
00:15:34
you start you think you can be so
00:15:36
discreet I wanted to get my model agency
00:15:38
back like I had quite a big career
00:15:40
before but my pictures were everywhere
00:15:42
do you think I could get a normal model
00:15:43
Agency for Mac no and then I was like
00:15:46
okay my life is already ruined so I may
00:15:48
as well keep doing it have you had of
00:15:50
image worldwide yes I have I have a
00:15:53
number and everything what's your
00:15:55
experience of them I did a background
00:15:56
check on them and asked some agents if
00:15:58
they know who they are I have another
00:15:59
girlfriend and she said oh they
00:16:01
contacted me I want to go for some image
00:16:03
jop and I was like none of my agents
00:16:05
know who they are so absolutely not
00:16:07
you're not going because this can be
00:16:09
dangerous If This Woman's story is
00:16:12
representative and if this is the life
00:16:14
image worldwide has getting women into
00:16:16
then it is sex work and that comes with
00:16:18
dangers sex workers are at much greater
00:16:20
risk of physical violence from clients
00:16:22
and because pimping is also illegal
00:16:24
anyone who trusts a pimp to connect them
00:16:26
to save clients is putting their lives
00:16:27
in the hands of a person who has
00:16:29
prepared to engage in criminal activity
00:16:31
so was Daniel to be trusted finally I've
00:16:34
been picked for an extra job by a man
00:16:36
apparently was a tech millionaire maybe
00:16:38
I could get some information out of him
00:16:40
or perhaps if I got the job I could get
00:16:42
Daniel on a FaceTime to find out who he
00:16:44
was so I've finally been booked on a job
00:16:47
through Daniel there's a guy in New York
00:16:50
called who has been wanting to book me
00:16:53
but aligning on times is proving very
00:16:57
difficult basically cuz 3 hours notice
00:17:00
which is a bloody nightmare there are
00:17:01
some strange time slots like 400 p.m. in
00:17:03
the afternoon or midnight how was I
00:17:06
going to find
00:17:08
Daniel Aaron who I met earlier continued
00:17:11
working for us to expose image worldwide
00:17:13
Aaron had only asked for image but
00:17:15
Daniel had tried to book her an extra
00:17:16
jobs despite thinking she was only
00:17:19
17 then image worldwide posted an image
00:17:21
job in the SE shell eron applied and was
00:17:24
shortlisted clearly she was what
00:17:25
Daniel's clients were looking for
00:17:27
prostitution is AAL in the St shells and
00:17:29
the job Daniel posted was only
00:17:31
advertised as image work Daniel
00:17:34
requested a bikini casting
00:17:38
video it seemed like the client was
00:17:40
interested in her so he made the
00:17:41
decision to call Daniel this was our
00:17:43
last chance to uncover his identity so
00:17:45
it is illegal to solicit sex in the St
00:17:48
shell and if he was to get you to go
00:17:50
from the UK over there it's obviously
00:17:52
sex
00:17:53
trafficking he thinks you only want
00:17:55
image and we have to get him to admit
00:17:57
that it's sex work
00:17:59
so that's what when you s a
00:18:06
call chat please can't pick a call ask
00:18:10
him how much money you can make 20K
00:18:12
total client will give in cash to each
00:18:14
model our agency commission would be
00:18:17
$7,000 more money you can make depend on
00:18:20
between you and client ask him what he
00:18:22
means by that good sexual connection
00:18:25
seems like it might be sex work which
00:18:26
you could get arrested for all shs ask
00:18:29
him if it's
00:18:30
safe he owns that resort property what
00:18:34
so he's really rich he's a billionaire
00:18:37
ask him if there's a limit to how much
00:18:39
you can make some girls make 50k or more
00:18:42
when on last trip may be more when girls
00:18:44
earn more they usually don't tell
00:18:46
agents some agents do blackmail and take
00:18:49
C from that so he has admitted that some
00:18:52
agents blackmail the models so he's
00:18:54
basically trying to paint himself as a
00:18:55
good guy in a dodgy kind of world the
00:18:57
savior in mid world
00:19:01
so Aon wasn't selected to go on the SE
00:19:03
Shell's job and so we don't know exactly
00:19:05
what would have happened if she had gone
00:19:06
but from what we've learned the risks
00:19:08
were huge she would have been stranded
00:19:10
with a strange man who expected to pay
00:19:12
for good sexual Connections in a country
00:19:15
where sex work is illegal not everyone
00:19:17
has bad experiences doing this sort of
00:19:19
work but for those who do choose to do
00:19:21
it your safety from abuse could depend
00:19:23
on having a trustworthy agent so is
00:19:25
Daniel just a good guy in a dodgy world
00:19:28
or is he a a pimp praying on young girls
00:19:30
modeling dreams fueling the sex
00:19:31
trafficking industry with no regulation
00:19:34
on this perhaps all we can do to protect
00:19:36
ourselves from
00:19:38
this is
00:19:40
[Music]