Christian Siriano is a fashion victim — of a Craigslist scam, that is.
Fake ads on the online classified ad service are using the “Project Runway” winner’s name to recruit models — and the designer is striking back.
Starting last February, Siriano’s clothing company began re ceiving inquiries from modeling hopefuls that had come across the Craigslist ads, the Web site Fashionista re ported.
The company complained to Craigslist and the site took down the fake ads, said Bianca Bianconi, a representative for Siriano.
They stopped hearing about the ads until about a month ago, she said, when complaints began again about a new scam asking models for a $150 appli cation fee to work for Siriano.
Siriano warned would-be models on his Face book and Twitter pages, “fyi girls i have never and do not ever look for models on craigslist or online. these photo shoots i’m hearing about are scams! be careful!”
“There seem to be two [scams] going on. The first wanted models of a specific type and gave an address of where to go,” Bianconi said. “We were concerned for safety, that’s why Christian said in his Twitter ‘be careful’ . . . The second one seems to be money-based.”
The latest ad, besides asking for the fee, has even gone into specifics about what models would be paid and asks for dress sizes, she said.
Siriano’s company has contacted the NYPD and Craigslist, who say they are investigating.
The ads have appeared in several cities, Bianconi said.
“With Fashion Week coming up, there seem to be a lot of these,” she says. “It really worried us the first time because it seemed to give specific information. It told them where to go, who to see, and it was totally a lie.
“Our thoughts immediately went to a worrisome place. Christian would hate it if something happened to anyone,” Bianconi said.