Fraud

It has come to my attention, that there is someone within the fashion community that has used a document from Avenue Academy, and is passing it off as hers. vanessa Knoller was given Avenue Academy information notecard about the course information and fee payment. She has changed the notecard to “*SL Model Academy*, and has changed the fee for $1500L. Although she did not change the notecard for payment to her (Rusch Raymaker, founder and CEO of Avenue is still listed on the changed notecard as who to send payment to) she is falsifying that she is lead instructor as well as handing out information that is not written or produced by her originally. She has also copied the Avenue Models blog, with the same design and information on the course listings. Please see Avenue Models blog:

http://avenuemodels.wordpress.com/

Many areas of the notecard have been changed to *SL Models Academy* but not all, and Kyptonia Paperdoll, the Lead Instructor and Vice President of Avenue, is the original owner and creator of the notecard.

There are many agencies, both solid and upstart within the SL Fashion World. But this type of fraud is prevelant, and for those aspiring models, who are unsure or are interested in learning about modeling should be aware of these type of scams.

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1. If you are interested in a modeling academy or school, do your research. Many solid and experienced training programs are available and most have websites/blogs for their agencies and schools that you can look up information on.

2. When receiving an application, find out who is in the agency/school that you can ask for a personal reference. Dont just ask for one, ask for many. Find graduates of the program or current students who can verify that they are going through legitimate training.

3. Do not pay upfront to anyone who says they will train you, without knowing who you are going to be training with. All well known training programs and classes in SL will be more than happy to share with you curriculum information, as well as have an in-world training site. If they ask you for money and drop a notecard, it’s a buyer beware situation. You may lose your money and see no training or school.

4. Ask for a list of instructors, and contact them and inquire about what they are teaching. Most instructors will be more than happy to speak with you, if they are able to. Do not be afraid to ask questions. If one instructor or management is too busy to speak with you, find another one to talk with. Drop a notecard if necessary. If no one contacts you or will speak with you and/or requests payment up front, its probably not a legitimate program and advisement would be to not throw your money away.

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As an instructor for Avenue Academy, I love teaching. I enjoy seeing new models with aspirations and excitement coming into the industry, and as a model myself, I know from first hand experience how enjoyable this world can be. I can definitely attest that this person, who has changed the notecard and is advertising for *SL Model Academy* is in no way associated with Avenue Models, Avenue Academy or has good intentions with their fraudulent modeling school.

I am founder of Runway Kidz, a model support network group, and I have given time and love, to this industry and to those who have the same aspirations as I have had, and still do. It is tragic that some people are only here to take advantage of others, for their own personal gains, but if one is smart, does their research, gets references, ask questions and talk to others within the industry for referrals and information, this type of situation doesn’t have to be one that anyone has to go through.

Thank you,

+Summer Deadlight+
Founder, Team Leadre
Runway Kidz@2008