New York-based agency Faces Models and Actors was shut down yesterday after investigators found the outfit had misled clients and was operating without a license, reports New York Post. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, the modeling firm, owned by Judith DeLong and Sharon Backos, owed the city $20,000 in fines. Within three years Faces has also gone under the name Time Model, NOW! Models, and New York City People in an effort to evade the law.

Promising modeling and acting jobs to potential clients, Faces made terms for them to purchase a “portfolio” of photographs, thus forcing the unsuspecting people to pay extra to send photos to potential employers.

“The curtain has finally closed for Ms. DeLong and Ms. Backos - classic scam artists who have repeatedly deceived consumers, ” said DCA Commissioner Gretchen Dykstra.

“Promising modeling and acting jobs with false guarantees and profiting from very expensive photo collections is the oldest trick in the book, and unfortunately easy to fall for. ”