Scam casting notices appear for 'Thor 2', 'Maleficent'

Actor auditions and casting notices are widely used by the film industry for big budget film productions, but many are not what they seem.

I was made aware this morning of several casting notices advertising extras and onscreen roles for Marvel's 'Thor 2', Disney's 'Maleficent' and other movies. It soon became apparent that the ads were suspicious as the information of each movie had been scraped together from other websites and the compensation offered looked far too good to be true.

Casting announcement:

"Encore Talent Group is currently seeking actors/actresses for various Hollywood movie projects here in the USA and WORLDWIDE seeking new talent. We offer professional acting training and send our talent to Hollywood movie, television and commercial auditions. Encore Talent Group is a talent management and a film production for the motion picture industry. We do represent talent worldwide. Call Mr. Jimmy for free international calling at www.skype.com SKYPE name is: efigroup1 , contact : [email protected]"

The ad then gives a description of the movies currently in pre-production and that producers are looking for actors worldwide. The films on the list include 'Thor 2', 'The Hunger Games' sequel, 'Maleficent' and 'Paranoia".

Marvel Studios have just confirmed to me that this information is completely false and the person posting these ads is not affiliated with them or the production of 'Thor 2'.

All other movies on this list are not casting through this agency. Don't reply to them.

If you are making an online application for auditions be very wary of the information you see about each film, how its written and what the compensation is. This particular ad has been reposted on many websites and appears to be a legitimate global casting announcement at first but it's not.

Scammers can use your information to get details about you. If you think you've been duped find out more about what you can do to protect yourself against identity theft.