A Long Beach man claiming to be a recruiter for a record label is suspected of ripping off Instagram models by promising them modeling contracts.
Seal Beach, Calif., officials claim Ricklynn Tyler Parnell was released Friday after being arrested for writing bad checks to at least one aspiring model he reached through Instagram as part of a scam.
After taking a few photos of his alleged victim, the 24-year old reportedly asked the wannabe model to deposit two checks, worth more than $1,000 each, and bring him the maximum amount of cash that can be withdrawn from those deposits, which was $200 each. The remainder was to have been the model’s advance for future shoots. She also signed what she believed to be a modeling contract.
After being notified by a bank that the checks were bad, she went to the police. The unidentified model told detectives she “fell for the suspect’s sweet talk and promises of future modeling work.”
According to cops, the victim was in the police station filing her report when Parnell called again, asking if they could meet the Seal Beach Pier with regards to shooting a music video. Parnell had reportedly told the model video shoots pay $175 per hour.
She showed up at the pier with law enforcement agents, who arrested Parnell without incident. He is accused of six counts of identity theft, four counts of defrauding by false pretense, and seven counts of check fraud, according to the Seal Beach officials.
Investigators say they have identified several more women they believe Parnell may have have duped using a similar ploy.
