I saw a post on a Facebook local parenting group the other day, advertising a child modelling competition. Loads of people commented on it saying they were interested and wanted their children to enter but some people were wary of it being a scam and said so in their posts.
The organiser said that there were 2 rounds in the competition, a preliminary and a final. Entry to the competition is free and there is nothing to pay on the preliminary day but if they get through to the final then there is a £25 fee per entrant to cover admin and overheads apparently. The parents seemed happy with this as the organiser explained that it meant no-one would be led on and made to pay for something they had no chance of winning. So loads of people commented on the post to say they would enter their children.
So...fast forward to tonight and one lady has started a post saying something like "woo my beautiful daughter got through, yay" and then there is loads of posts commenting on this, all along the lines of "yay, my 2 sons and 3 nieces got through too!" and "excellent, my 6 grandchildren all made it, I'm so proud!"
There are no posts to say that their child didn't make it (obviously I realise that people may not brag about the fact they didn't get through) but...looking at the names they are pretty much identical to the ones in the first post announcing the competition. So far there is no-one whose child didn't make it and there are only 3 parents out of the initial 40 who haven't come back and re-posted to say if they got through or not.
AIBU to think this sounds suspicious? I know £25 isn't the end of the world and the judging is totally based on opinion but at the moment it looks like everyone made the final and is therefore liable for the £25 fee. They are looking like they will make a lot of money after assuring everyone it was purely to cover costs and nothing else...and obviously they are a company out to make a profit but why not be honey about this from the start instead of making out they only wanted to cover costs and not lead anyone on?