The Fake Movie Casting Call

Did you receive a tweet offering you to appear in a movie with Taylor Swift or another celebrity  Sounds too good to be true, right? That’s because it is!

A version of the tweet we saw this week read:

We’re filming in your town for a new movie starring Taylor Swift and want you to be in it. Go here @W_DCasting

It should be noted that the Twitter profile in the tweet above was suspended only hours after we first saw it. Before it was suspended, the account’s bio read:

Welcome! Please proceed and confirm that you will be available for the movie
FOLLOW THIS LINK 

The link they include in their bio leads you to a cryptic sub-directory on mobiledeals.com-mobile.mobi. This is a rather simplistic website which asks for your first name, last name, and phone number. The header on the site claims you can, “Make up to $300/day working as a movie extra, actor, or model for Movies, Videos, Reality TV”

Oddly, the terms on this site don’t mention anything about a movie or acting, and hints that this is just an SMS message service. Those terms begin with the following:

Summary Terms.

Up to 4 messages per week. Msg&Data Rates May Apply
Reply with STOP to opt out and HELP for help
Available on AT&T, Alltel, Boost, Sprint, Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, MetroPCS, Cricket Wireless, and Verizon Wireless.

The terms never mention what the content of those 4 messages per week will be.

Back on the site, I decided to continue on and see what else they had to offer. So I entered a fake name and phone number, and was then met with an ad for Publisher’s Clearing House, which then led me to another cryptic directory, this time on 160-tracker.com.

This site tells you that you can win an iPad 2 for free, and proceeds to lay out the terms of a typical “rewards” program, which means you must sign up for, and stay signed up for, several “rewards” programs. These rewards programs are often nearly impossible to complete, and often require to to purchase something and/or referring a friend to sign up as well.

To obtain the gift for this promotion you must: 1) register with valid information including e-mail address, shipping address, and phone number; 2) complete the survey; 3) complete at least 2 Silver, 2 Gold and 5 Platinum Sponsor Offers (offer availability will vary); 4) be a US resident 18 or older; 5) not cancel your participation in more than a total of 2 Sponsor Offers within 30 days of the Sponsor Offer Initial Transaction Date (the Cancellation Limitation).

The terms for this site further states:

For this promotion, Apple iPad 2 64GB – Mobile, you must complete a total of 9 offers as follows: Page 1 (Silver) – complete any 2 offers; Page 2 (Gold) – complete any 2 offers; Page 3 (Platinum) – complete any 5 offers to get your gift.

Summary
The series of events appears to be: First, you’ll get a tweet saying that they want you in a movie, which will send you to an SMS subscription website, which in turn takes you to a “free iPad2″ rewards program.

It’s all just a big bait and switch.

All of this begs just one question: What happened to the Taylor Swift movie?

Obviously there is no movie, no free iPad, and nothing worth seeing here.

10/17/2012 variation: Dlsney is filming a new film in your city starring Justin Bleber ! We want you to be in it! Go here @WaltDCasting
10/18/2012 variation:  Aftermath is in your city shooting the new Eminem video ! We want you to be in it. Go to @EmsNewVideo
10/19/2012 variation: We are filming a new film starring Katt Williams and we want you to be in it! go to @PerryCasting
10/28/2012 variation: [Name] you’ve been chosen to be featured in the next Weezy music video click on @ExtrasNeeded and follow the instructions