March 24, 2006 | Funny Bits

Would-be porn star duped

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A man in Revere, Mass., learned that lesson the hard way recently when he answered a classified ad in hopes of becoming a porn star. He responded to the ad looking to get screwed but ended up getting screwed over.

“The way it was described sounded good to me: making movies with Playboy Bunnies,” the man, known only as Joe, told the Boston Herald.

So Joe answered the ad, which was listed in the Boston Phoenix under Diamond Productions. A woman with a Brooklyn accent named "Melissa Johnson" then called him, offering him a role in an adult film that was shooting in Rhode Island. She didn't ask for an audition or even a photograph; instead, she offered Joe the role, sight unseen, and a salary of $30,000.

The only catch was the studio needed a little help with financing. While that seemed a little fishy at the time, Joe bought it -- literally, forking over $16,000 in credit card charges for deposits on studios and crews for phony shoots that were always canceled. When Joe began asking too many questions, Johnson threatened to send mobsters after him.

It's at that point that Joe finally got wise to the scam. He filed a complaint with local police and consulted the state attorney general's office, which referred him to consumer affairs, which referred him back to the attorney general.

"It’s very unfortunate what happened,” Chris Goetcheus, spokesman for consumer affairs, told the Herald, “but consumers need to know you don’t transfer money to anyone unless you verify the authenticity of the business offering a product, a service or, in this case, adult entertainment stardom.”

Words to live by, folks - in case you were thinking of pursuing a career in porn via newspaper classifieds!

• Porn swindle - Lured by scam, Revere man loses his shirt [Boston Herald]
• Man gets skinned by porn scammers [United Press International]