The man seemed so genuine as he set up his camera in the Auckland motel room and smiled warmly at teenager Traci Curtis. “Right, all ready. Just pop your top off and suck the lollipop,” he told the nervous 18-year-old.
Traci hesitated when she heard his strange request. And it was at that point she realised she was involved in a shocking scam. Instead of being a top photographer, he was a con man who almost duped unsuspecting Traci into having seedy pictures taken.
“This man looked so professional and seemed to do and say all the right things,” says Traci, still reeling from her ordeal.
When the man, in his mid-thirties, approached Traci at her job at a Auckland sports store recently, he told her he was a hotshot photographer and wanted her to pose for photos.
“I don’t know what modeling agents, or fashion photographers look like, but from what I’ve seen on TV, they seem to be laid-back and friendly,” says Traci.
The man, who offered Traci a $500 fee to do the shoot, couldn’t provide her with a business card but did send her an official-looking contract. But Traci became suspicious when the man asked to meet at a motel room and not a photography studio.
“I told him that I wanted to go to a studio, but he said that he usually hires a motel room for his photo shoots because it’s cheaper. He said doing photos at a studio would cost me $300 and if we did it at a motel, I wouldn’t have to pay anything and he would cover it.”
Traci only agreed to meet him if she was allowed to bring a friend along. But he refused the friend entry to the room and she had to wait outside while Traci was being photographed. Traci was asked to bring a mixture of clothing, corporate wear, sportswear and a bikini. She says everything seemed fine, until the so-called photographer started pressuring her to do more provocative poses.
“He didn’t push anything on me at first. Then he started to ask me to take my top off, but I said no. I told him I’m not that kind of person.”
Traci become even more worried when, while fidgeting with the camera lights, he went into the kitchen area, got a knife and used it as a screwdriver.
“When he pulled out the knife, I was a little concerned,” she admits. “He kept telling me that sex sells and that I’d get more opportunities as a model if I posed the way he wanted me to. I was extremely reluctant to do what he said.”
After the creepy lollipop request, Traci, desperately trying to hide her fear, told him she had to go. “I was in there for about 20 minutes and had to make up an excuse to leave.”
Disturbed by her experience, Traci told her father, who then contacted the motel and discovered the stranger had given a fake name and business credentials. He and immediately reported the incident to the police. The contract to pay her $500 was also false and police are now investigating the scam and searching for the bogus photographer.
Traci has bravely come forward about the harrowing ordeal to make sure other women do not make the same mistake. “When he approached me, I was working in the store, so I was being friendly, talking to him like a normal customer,” she says. “I think he targeted me because I’m an outgoing person and I was nice to him.”
Traci knows some people will think she was foolish to believe the man was truly a professional photographer. “But I don’t care if they think I’m dumb,” she says. “It’s important for me to speak up and get the message out there that young women need to be really cautious.”
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