Coronation Street and Hollyoaks – how ex-actor lived life of luxury funded by £13.6m sham model agency scam

Fraudster Philip Foster

A former soap actor was finally exposed as a fraudster after running a cruel multi-million pound con which left families out of pocket.

Philip Foster, who once appeared on Brookside, has been handed a jail sentence in his absence as he remains in Spain. His scam involved tricking victims into believing they had a chance of becoming a professional model, only to hand over large amounts of cash and then quickly shut down after complaints were made.

Photography studios were set up across the country, including in Manchester, where people were duped into believing they could find work on Coronation Street or Hollyoaks. Victims would be left out of pocket while Foster enjoyed the trappings of wealth funded by his scam.

The Echo reports that his empire came crashing down as he bragged about his criminal gains. It took authorities eight years of connecting various dots involving Foster to finally bring down the millionaire fraudster who targeted children, parents and vulnerable people.

But despite the work from police and Trading Standards, Foster remains in Spain. It is also suspected that his son Michael Foster is in Spain, with the pair being sentenced in their absence last month. Philip Foster was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years, with his son Michael handed three-and-a-half years.

Scam would see people lose hundreds

The staff members employed by the criminal organisation were also sentenced. The operation involved tricking victims into thinking they had a chance of earning money as a professional model. But it was a scam which targeted young people and parents who parted with large sums of money. The plan was simple; the employees of this scam would set up a photography studio before using social media to cast a net and give any person who responded to their messages the impression that the modelling agency was interested in their potential.

They would then invite the unknowing victims to a ‘free’ test photoshoot. However, this was a ruse to fool the victim as they went along to the studio experience. They were told how successful previous people had been and handed brochures before being told they had passed the studio test and were told agencies were interested but they had to purchase the portfolio of photographs to become a professional.

Some people saw through the tactics but others didn’t, and handed over sums of money to the firms. When an investigation took place into the sham agencies, it was found that they would only trade for a short period of time, pay no tax, filed no tax returns and were quickly dissolved after multiple complaints.

(left to right top row) Michael Foster, Jamie Peters, Lisa Foster, Emily Newall, (left to right bottom row Atif Qadar, Paul Fleury, Aslihan Foster and Paul Evans(Image: PA)

The network also operated a second layer of the scam. The studios would often refer the victims to supposedly interested agencies where they were led to believe that they were separate businesses who wanted to represent them. The supposed second company would tell the victim how staff had heard about their potential and would make them pay an annual fee believing they would be able to secure work going forward.

In total, 59 modelling agencies were identified by investigators, as well as 23 companies and a complex web of financial transactions. Philip Foster’s ever-changing company structures and complex financial transactions allowed the enterprise to remain out of the grasps of investigators for years.