Ami Shafrir, Blake Yoon- Explore Talent Explore Talent Hundreds of Thousands Scamed Los Angeles California
I have done some research on this company after they screwed me. I have verified this information from someone that used to work for Explore Talent in customer service. From what she says they fire people when they have been there too long and may know too much. They were also shut down temporarily for illegally not paying employees correctly.
Owners are apparently Ami Shafrir and Blake Yoon. Blake Yoon is an ex-criminal that was in jail for Drugs and Murder. I have found several sources of this- one is listed below. Ami Shafrir has had several companies that are scams and has managed to blame it on former business partners. He even scammed Geraldo into believing him and doing a story about it. He has been involved with Credit Card fraud and a lot of other fraud. He has built 1000s of sites to Sell his false story- see below.
So now we know Explore Talent is run by two criminals. I have researched some of their castings and they are fake- this is widely reported on the internet. They just sent me an email claiming that if I sign up with them they will get me paying work- guarantied! They don't even know what I look like. They also have been doing photography- which is illegal. It is called a photo-mill scam. They have a seven-day trail period that requires a credit card. Then they do not credit it back. This sounds like credit card fraud again- good to see Blake Yoon and Ami Shafrir are still at it. There BBB score is horrendous.
Now I get to the enormity of this scam. They claim to have over half a million members. They charge a monthly fee of $29.95. $30 times 500K = $15,000,000 a month in scamming profits. Yes that is 15 MILLION A MONTH.
GERALDO-WHERE ARE YOU NOW???
Some one do something to stop this!
Jamie
Hollywood, California
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Truthmonster
Studio City,California,
USA
Ridiculous Deflamation of Character
#5
Thu, August 27, 2009
Your research is fictional. This poster works for a company called Talent 6, I verified it this morning after a lengthy investigation of my own. This poster is found on several other forums, rebuking the claims people make against Talent 6.
Ami Shafrir is in no way, shape, or form associated with any type of criminal activity. He has never been charged OR convicted of any crime whatsoever. The previous owner was convicted and his company was taken from him once it was discovered what he was doing.
Ami Shafrir is the new owner and he handles the business in a professional and honest manner. The complaints through the BBB and RoR have all been taken care of in a satisfactory manner.
Realdealla
Hollywood,California,
U.S.A.
Ami Shaffir & ExploreTalent.com is a scam
#5Consumer Comment
Mon, July 13, 2009
Ami Shafrir is scam and so is exploretalent.com
1) He bought advertisements in April 2009 through a company that I work for. No one signed up for his scam site so he charged back his credit card and we're currently fight with his cc company, and we will be filing small claims against exploretalent if we don't win.
2) All my friends who are actors that have tried exploretalent.com say it's scam and they never got an audition much less a job. All those jobs are fake and Snoop dogg video was fake. Ami said, "He paid Snoop 10K in cash to do the video in his trailer after a local show." when he met with our company about doing ads on our site and want to go after want-a-bees and fakes to get their money to be a member of exploretalent.com
Stevenrogers
Springfield,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
What New Owners? In any case, still a scam...
#5Consumer Comment
Wed, May 14, 2008
There are no new owners listed on their website. I have no idea how you ever got this idea that there were some kind of new owners at all, or that anyone was attempting to "clean up their act" in any way whatsoever. Ami Shafir is still listed amongst the links at the bottom of the website, and there are no other names indicated anywhere.
On top of this, I was contacted by someone from this company just yesterday who could barely speak english, trying to pass himself off as a "casting director" to me. I filed a full account of my experience separately, but this was clearly an individual who was trying to con me into giving him money based on numerous lies and attempts to coerce and manipulate me.
No, there are no new owners, there is no contact info listed to reach anyone at this company listed on the website at all, there is an 800 number for customer service that many have reported either does not work, or they still continue getting billed regardless of anything they do once they agree to monthly billing, and there is no street address listed for this company at all. There is not even a reference to the city or state they operate out of.
This is a total scam, operated by individuals who are attempting to operate in total anonimity... a class action suit should be filed and these felons should be made to go back and complete their original prison sentences, plus a few more years added on for the pain and financial hardship they have contributed to by preying on the dreams of others...
Rene
Fort Worth,Texas,
U.S.A.
New Owners Attempting to Clean this up?
#5Consumer Comment
Mon, June 26, 2006
Does anyone know if ownership has recently changed? The L.A. BBB reports that the current owners are Robert and Jennifer Berg. They have an "F" rating, but the profile shows out of 94 complaints, the company has responded and rectified all complaints. Is this a cover-up, or are new people attempting to handle this company on the straight and narrow?
I applied for the 7-Day Free Trial + 1 month of $29.25. It's been 4 days, and I realized the acting gigs available in my area are either non-paying, or sound an awful lot like porn movies! So, I went to the User Agreement Web Page to find the procedure to cancel my Free Trial, and wouldn't you know, the "link to cancel" says "page not available"? When I tried calling the "Cancel membership by calling (323)485-2020", the voicemail said "This mailbox is not available". How quaint!! So, I went to my paypal account to cancel the subscription, which has successfully deleted them. I hope this is enough, and I don't begin to receive harrassing phone calls or bill notices in the mail!
Any updated info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!