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I was approached at Walmart by a lady who claimed to be a talent scout. she gave me a flier with this number. I'm suspicious it is a scam.

My wife and children were approached in a WalMart today by a young woman claiming to be with United Group looking for auditions suggesting that Madison Pettis "might" be there. Madison did have an appearance at the Great Mall in Milpitas today, but it still doesn't feel right.

Disney has no listed affiliation with them, I could not find a legitimate business listing for them anywhere and the website "castingkidsnow.com" doesn't have the proper copyright statements to really be legit.

If anyone does attend this, please do not give any money tht day. If they were legit then they would've been areound for a while and there woul be further information on them.

It is most likely that they are running some sort of scam. They will want to have you get a photo shot of your child, say your child has great potential and enroll them in a professional program or something similar. If they need money up front to reserve one of the limited spots, then baware.

I would not want to put me child in that kind of situation of false hope. It could be devasting emotionally for life.

I was approached today at Mervyns and was also handed a flyer but the company they have listed is "The Buzz P.R. Group". I cannot find them anywhere on the internet and I found this site googleing the phone number.  Assumtion is it is a scam and thinking to call the police on the matter.

thanks for the heads up we was confrunted the other day its nice to now we could look for this on the computer
thanks again

today,June 14 2008, I was with my two little daughters in Ikea in emeryville and was confronted by a young asian girl. She said that The Buzz P.R group is currently working with entertainment companies in helping them locate potential children and teenagers. they will held this special event at "B" Studios 5900 hollis st, emeryville, ca tomorrow between 1:00 and 4:00 pm

I was approached at Sunvalley Mall by a young woman . She gave me a flyer , event is in Martinez at the senior center. Just didn't feel right . Tried googling them and no success. Just the 800#. This is scary, becareful with your kids.

We were approached at Fashion Island in Newport, Ca. by a "Talent Scout" who indicates that because of the SAG Strike not too long ago, there is a shortage of teen actors and we were invited to attend a test screen on Sunday in Costa Mesa.  Has this been verified as a scam?  My daughter is so excited, however I am extremely suspicious.

I was also approached by a lady, her name was Melissa who told me the exact same thing like everyone else. She gave me a flier to attend a special event held at a Rec Center. I personally think if this was legitimate, why hold it at a Rec Center. Be aware, I went to a similar show once and they asked me for money afterward. What a scam... Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

we were approached at san diego's north county mall and got a flyer to have our 2 kids to to b studios on Nancy Ridge drive. the web site redirects to http://www.castingkidsnow.com/

We had the samething happen to us yesterday in the Pleasonton Mall, a lady named Elaine came up to us and asked if my daughter wanted to be on TV or the movies. She said there is a casting call Sunday at Shadelands Art Center (Walnut Creek) 1 to 4 pm. This is being held by "The P.R. Group", but I googled them and nothing comes up that matches this group. I am leary about getting my daughter's hope's up. I don't think we are going either.

I know this is a scam. John Robert Powers changed their name b-cause they had such bad flack. I had a friend who worked for them and she had no experience at all, yet they put her behind the camera one day and told everyone she was a famous cinematographer for Disney shows in LA. The next day, they slapped her in an office and told people that she was a very influential casting director for Disney. Needless to say, she got tired of breaking kids hearts and quit before her shift as a famous acting coach came about...None of the people involved are acredited, shoot...if you try to look up some of their names on IMDB they won't be there. They only want to steal money from young hopefuls so beware! If you really want a shot at acting (it's not easy) go to the area casting agencies and submitt and then send out your childs pics to area agencies (after looking them up on the SAG website to make sure their licensed.) They will get denied time after time but here's why - Each agent only has room for so many white kids w/ blonde hair and so many black kids, asian, hispanic etc. They're usually full. Continue to re-submit every 3 to 6 mos. until you get an interview with the agent. Kids drop out of this stuff all the time! Your timing just has to be right. Have patience and be persistent oh...and be ready to drop and run because they don't give you a lot of advance notice to be someplace either. You better be one of those parents where your kids ARE your full time job!! I know because I have a son in the business. Then if you want to kill time in between and earn some cash, try Fit-modeling. It's great money but Looong hours. Just be smart and check into everything before you jump!! I know people who've lost thousands of dollars with this crap!

Of course, it's too good to be true!

The same thing happened to me as above...in a mall with my daughter, approached by a woman, given a flyer with a script on the back from the "P.R. Group". Same as the information listed here http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/336/RipOff0336134.htm

Thanks for the heads up!

We were approched by a young asian woman saying that my daughter was invited to a screen test in Anaheim Downtown Community Center.  I tried to go to the web site www.justkids.com and the site looked just like the flyer.  Also, I tried to google justkids.com and almost got a virus attached to my computer.  I am suspious about this organization since we can not find any information.

My husband was approached at a Starbucks at Westgate today. The woman named Anna gave him the yellow flyer and a fancy postcard. My son is an adorable white 6 year old that is very articulate. When my husband came home I knew it was a scam because I saw it on the news a few months ago. I thought I would confirm it by doing some research. As many have, I could only find a link to the #888 number. I could not find anything local for these: The P.R Group or Be. network or "B" Studios. I could only find a PR Group out of Florida. I always thought I should get my son into television or modeling but I know better than to get into these scams.

Today in Target store on Camden Rd. we got a flyer and invitation to come on Sunday 7,2008 to 441 North First St. san Jose for casting. It suposed to be Anna Maria De Tagle would be there. It is a scam? Should we go there?

Don't go. It's a scam. They will ask you for money. I brought my daughters to one in LA and they had a form we filled out that asked for family income. I noticed they turned away the people who looked low income and told me that I would need to put my girls in acting lessons and then tried to get me to buy pictures at a later time for like 600 dollars. Luckily, I didn't give them a cent, just wasted a little time.

PR Marketing Specialist    The Buzz
I was approached today. I have 7 kids so I'm sure they thought I'd pay to have a couple three kids of mine on TV. Told me they worked on Hannah Montana. Yeah, right, I didn't bother telling the gal that I work for Disney and no they did not work on Hannah Montana. My own child was in the Entertainment industry and this is not how it is done. I sent the info over to a news tip line in hopes they'll be out there tomorrow checking these people out.

Same thing happened this past Saturday @ Great Mall, in Milpitas. The lady's name was Cheryl. She asked if I was the mom of the "cute little girl" with me [she's my niece]. My mom automatically said it was a scam after she gave us the flyer. I was like hrmmmm. I was trying to see if I could find a web address on the flyers she handed to me. There was nothing. so I googled "The P.R. Marketing Specialists" and nothing came up. So I googled the phone number. GOOD THING I DID!! And thank you all for posting this info! I'm actually really glad we didn't go yesterday!

I was approached in Target in Pleasant Hill today. This is so annoying! I figured it was one of those "be our guest, now give us money" types of things. My youngest sister went through that. So disgusting! Especially now, with people having a hard enough time trying to make ends meet. I suppose that's what they're counting on though. Pay us $600 and we'll make your kid a star. Tsk tsk. Mine was a cute little blonde named Heidi. She sounded young enough to BE one of the kids auditioning.

I did the same thing and tried to GOOGLE both The P.R. Group and got something out of Florida, as well as The Entertainment P.R. Team which gave me nothin'. Shame on them, again!

I was approached today in the Southland shopping center by a woman who gave me this flyer and said my daughter could be a star. The flyer said to be there at club sport in fremont between 2 and 5pm with this flyer. Anyway I googled all the info I could from the two flyers and even checked the BBB website with no info coming up. Anyway the only info I got was when I googled the phone number.

My sister is in showbiz and she actually told me to be weary of people like this they will get as many kids that they can to come and then tell them they have potential and get you to pay them for some acting classes. Real talent agents don't do this. They can suggest that you get headshots which are usually required but they don't take them for you. They can also suggest that you take acting classes but they will not take money from you they might refer you to a company but the agent will not take money from you.

Another good thing to remember is if you can find the name of the company in the better business bureau make sure the business they are in is listed as talent agency. Some companies that run businesses like this are in the better business bureau but they will not list that they are talent agencies they might list themselves as financial consultants or other things so that they don't get in trouble for charging people money like this. I hope this helps some of you.