Police in HCM City and the local Department of Culture and Sports have stopped and fined the organisers of the Vietnam New Face Casting 2015 show for license violation.

The casting event, which took place on October 11 in District 7 with hundreds of contestants, had been promoted since September on social media networks saying applicants would have a chance to get training by professional model companies, and the six would compete in the Asia Model Awards 2016 in South Korea.

However, the two organisers, Venus Modeling Company and Yeah1 Group, did not have a license, and 12 out of 250 contestants were aged 13 to 17, which violates the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's regulation for beauty contestants.

The managing director of Venus, Minh Phuong, said the company was just organising the event to make a clip to promote for the contest on social media, and was unaware it needed a license.

"We did not expect such a large number of contestants," Phuong said. "And we were only accepting contestants aged 13-17 for training."

Tran Thanh Long, of the Vietnam Model Association, said some beauty contests were being conducted without permits, and local regulations were not strict enough.

"The fines are too small compared to the big profits that these organisers may earn from these contests," Long said. "I think the ministry should have stricter rules to curb the problem.

The ministry's Department of Performing Art  last year fined two models, Cao Thuy Linh and Huynh Thuy Anh VND30 million ($1,500) each for illegally taking part in beauty contests in Thailand and the US without a licence.

The manager of the two models, Ngo Dinh Hoa, said that Thuy Anh was in US visiting relatives and was introduced “accidentally” to participate in a beauty contest of overseas Vietnamese.

In the case of Thuy Linh, Hoa said she was invited by the Miss Grand International organizers in Thailand. “I just helped her prepare costumes,” Hoa said.  "The invitation letter was sent to Linh so late that I did not have time to ask for a licence."

Under the law, Vietnamese representatives at international beauty contests must be prize winners at local pageants. Both Linh and Thuy Anh have never won prizes at any local beauty contest.

Previously, some models like Que Van and Phan Hoang Thu were fined for similar behavior.