Austrian gets sentence for cheating model hopefuls

A court in Vienna convicted owner of a modeling agency Peter Huber for cheating young people willing to become models.

Huber lured young people by saying he could get them modeling jobs in television and advertising, prosecutor Georg Krakow said.

Huber charged the clients Ђ590 (US$726) for quick photography sessions, but most clients never got modeling offers.

Several clients refused to pay up, and Huber then sent them fake letters in which he pretended to be from a debt collection agency, ordering the clients to pay the bills plus an additional fee of Ђ500 (US$615).

A court convicted him Wednesday of aggravated fraud for sending 11 fake debt-collection letters and sentenced him to a 12-month suspended prison sentence, the AP reports.