Unfortunately, many but not all escort agencies are scams. They offer to advertise your services for a fee but they do not provide the promised bookings.

Warning signs of a scam

  • They promise they already have clients wanting your services but you have to pay a fee first.
  • They may ask you to pay upfront money for insurance or a CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) check. CRB checks are for those individuals working with children and not applicable to escort services.
  • They claim they have clients that will pay high rates for non-sexual services -only a dinner date. (95% of escort works involves sexual services)

Normally, we would suggest that you find the companies physical address and company number because it helps to verify who you are doing business with. However, it looks like both legitimate sites and scam sites do not publish any of this information. That means you will be giving your money to someone without being able to find them should something go wrong.

Recommendation:

  • Read the sites Terms and Conditions. Do they list a company or contact details?
  • Use a search engine such as Google to find information and complaints about the company with search terms such as “company name escort scams” or a general searches such as “escort agency scams” or “fake escort company.
  • Get a physical address for the company and arrange a face to face meeting or send a letter in the post to check if they receive it. You shouldn’t pay an upfront fee to anyone unless you know exactly who they are and where they are located.
  • Review the contract. Whenever you enter into a contract you should be given written confirmation on what services they are providing for the fee. You should get this in writing or via email. You should also look to see if there is refund clause if the company does not deliver or cancels for any reason. 

Remember that an 070 may be a mobile or premium rate number that can be redirected anywhere in the world. 0871 numbers are also premium rate numbers that can also be from anywhere in the UK or abroad. If you want to check the cost of the number go to PhonePayPlus and use their free number checker

Read our factsheet on how to spot Escort Scam websites.

Useful Links

This is a website with a forum for people working or consider working as a escort www.saafe.info

If you have been a victim of escort agency scam report it to Consumer Direct or call 0845 04 05 06. The more people that report it the more chance they will be investigated.

If they use a premium rate number you can also complain to PhonePayPlus