I've had some pretty good luck with CV over the years but I've also chased down a lot of dead ends.  Never been blatantly ripped off but I always look for a secondary form of advertisement, a web site or reviews.

Did your "surprise" have any reviews?

I am always in for a bad surprise.

tsk tsk

I found Jada Monroe and Ana Vixen on City Vibe.  Most times providers will advertise on multiple sites.  All it means is that they may not get the constant traffic that the Victoria Jolies and Ashley Taylors get.

I use cityvibe all the time. From a provider's point of view, I find them much easier to deal with than back page. They don't butcher ads, or arbitrarily remove pics one day that were fine the day before, and the day after. You also don't need to post ten times a day to compete with spammers. Another important factor is that they don't require extensive personal information,  unlike eros.

Xoxo Kat oxox

Then noticed takes twenty min to upload one pic so never used again.