I had a similar experience. He is teamed up with a veteran of the modeling scam world, Mike Fomkin (I think he goes by Mike James now) and Alyica Kaback. The three have them have started companies under different names and scam everyone they meet.
I want to start this posting by saying I gave up after all other avenues to resolve this matter with Ryan Colby of Colby Models and Colby KMM talent in New York City were fruitless short of suing him.
I was introduced to Ryan about 5 years ago and was told by a reliable friend that he was a newly established talent agent who had been a male model himself. We had stayed in touch over the years until I referred a prospective model to him.
Ryan expressed interest in representing this individual required that he come to NY for two weeks time, start auditioning and most importantly deposit approximately $300 into an "associates" (a different person's account) Bank of America account for the production of the all important comp cards...this had to be done before Ryan would/could represent the individual.
Four months after the money was desposited no comps cards were produced despite numerous communications between Ryan and myself and the talent that they had been made. Each communication (when he bothered to answer) promised to "scan" and/or "mail" the comp card samples to the individual. Despite promises after promises week after week Ryan Colby NEVER returned the individual's money once he inferred he had NEVER produced the cards.
To this day he has not refunded the money and no comp cards were produced. Everytime we have exchanged texts or emails he insists the check has been sent. Still waiting Ryan...no check.
It is people like this that give the modeling/talent industry a bad image. And, when I went online recently I saw several posts about Ryan Colby being accused of other unethical business practices in the past.
I will be happy to take this post down when Ryan Colby finally returns this individual's money, but I doubt he will as he doesn't think he has to. It seems taking people's money and doing nothing for it is something this man is very comfortable doing (based on this case).
So if you are considering working with Ryan Colby I would suggest you look elsewhere. If this man will do this kind of thing over $300 he is pretty petty and probably desperate for cash. Lesson learned, do more homework than just taking someone's recommendation these days. Had I seen the other posts I would likely have not allowed the talent prospective to give him a dime and only pay for them once produced or at most a small deposit upfront.
Good news we were able to find several other more reliable and trustable talent agents who were not surprised by this story when we shared it with them. That spoke volumes.
Colby Models Reviews
Colby Models is a Scam
I had a similar experience. He is teamed up with a veteran of the modeling scam world, Mike Fomkin (I think he goes by Mike James now) and Alyica Kaback. The three have them have started companies under different names and scam everyone they meet.
same issue
He did the same thing to me but gave him 500 dollars he ignores my emails
I want to start this posting by saying I gave up after all other avenues to resolve this matter with Ryan Colby of Colby Models and Colby KMM talent in New York City were fruitless short of suing him.
I was introduced to Ryan about 5 years ago and was told by a reliable friend that he was a newly established talent agent who had been a male model himself. We had stayed in touch over the years until I referred a prospective model to him.
Ryan expressed interest in representing this individual required that he come to NY for two weeks time, start auditioning and most importantly deposit approximately $300 into an "associates" (a different person's account) Bank of America account for the production of the all important comp cards...this had to be done before Ryan would/could represent the individual.
Four months after the money was desposited no comps cards were produced despite numerous communications between Ryan and myself and the talent that they had been made. Each communication (when he bothered to answer) promised to "scan" and/or "mail" the comp card samples to the individual. Despite promises after promises week after week Ryan Colby NEVER returned the individual's money once he inferred he had NEVER produced the cards.
To this day he has not refunded the money and no comp cards were produced. Everytime we have exchanged texts or emails he insists the check has been sent. Still waiting Ryan...no check.
It is people like this that give the modeling/talent industry a bad image. And, when I went online recently I saw several posts about Ryan Colby being accused of other unethical business practices in the past.
I will be happy to take this post down when Ryan Colby finally returns this individual's money, but I doubt he will as he doesn't think he has to. It seems taking people's money and doing nothing for it is something this man is very comfortable doing (based on this case).
So if you are considering working with Ryan Colby I would suggest you look elsewhere. If this man will do this kind of thing over $300 he is pretty petty and probably desperate for cash. Lesson learned, do more homework than just taking someone's recommendation these days. Had I seen the other posts I would likely have not allowed the talent prospective to give him a dime and only pay for them once produced or at most a small deposit upfront.
Good news we were able to find several other more reliable and trustable talent agents who were not surprised by this story when we shared it with them. That spoke volumes.