Beware - copycatz

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I am a Bot. My inbox is not monitored. Beep boop.

I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen a beware for them, truthfully. I never commissioned them myself because their initial approach (soliciting for comms through PM without any prior contact or mutual connections) screamed scam to me; they fact they were suspended shortly after I was contacted by them reinforced that.

I'm very sorry to hear you had issues with them. I really hope you're able to get something from them, ideally a refund so you don't have to deal with them any longer after that.

11 hours ago, harlequinn said:

I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen a beware for them, truthfully. I never commissioned them myself because their initial approach (soliciting for comms through PM without any prior contact or mutual connections) screamed scam to me; they fact they were suspended shortly after I was contacted by them reinforced that.

 

I'm very sorry to hear you had issues with them. I really hope you're able to get something from them, ideally a refund so you don't have to deal with them any longer after that.

After their initial ban from FA and the large rant they appear to have made about it on Twitter I didn't think they'd return.  When they did I figured now would be a good time to post about their behavior and taking of people's money.

There's not going to be any resolution to this unfortunately though, I sent them a message of the beware, told them I don't want any of their art, and even mentioned that I don't really expect a refund as I've talked to others and they do not give them out despite having no TOS about it.  They gave me this response below and blocked me.  I can try to communicate to them through other channels but I feel that borders on harassment territory and ultimately they'd just block me. 

I'm chalking this up to a learning experience as a commissioner that you should have a reasonable expectation of what artists meet and if they fail that immediately do not be afraid to call them out.  If they just drag you along and get defensive on demanding a refund you need to deliver an ultimatum and if paid via a third party site file a dispute in the time frame you have to do so. 

Yeah I've had the misfortune of dealing with this guy. Initially acted really nice and acted like my friend...but was all to get money out of me.

Really sorry to hear you had to go through that. And that's just insane having something back from 2016 and hearing nothing about it. 

Considering their other account i've mentioned from the previous beware is suspended. wouldn't this user be evading their ban by making that other account and continuing this behavior.

13 minutes ago, RTKobold said:

Considering their other account i've mentioned from the previous beware is suspended. wouldn't this user be evading their ban by making that other account and continuing this behavior.

This account was suspended as well but that suspension has ended.  This was I main account I believe as it's the one they would contact people on.

It's insane how somebody can go on like this...

I can add that the very first message they sent being like ''OMG yoru page is amazing etc etc'', I've had it sent to me two (three actually, but third message they had changed the approach) times by them. I rejected them first time in polite manners, second time I asked them if they may not remember who they sent this to as I've received the very same message before (which they then didn't reply to), and the third time I couldn't reply because they had blocked me, probably because I've had pointed out their spam in last message...

I searched my received messages (trash) to find the different times he sent the first message.

I had a client come to me who sadly did fall for this, and they had experienced the same treatment that you had. I find it ghastly, and hope the word will spread so nobody else will have to fall into their (if one could even call it) work list.

On 5/24/2020 at 5:44 AM, DemalyxDragon said:

It's insane how somebody can go on like this...

I can add that the very first message they sent being like ''OMG yoru page is amazing etc etc'', I've had it sent to me two (three actually, but third message they had changed the approach) times by them. I rejected them first time in polite manners, second time I asked them if they may not remember who they sent this to as I've received the very same message before (which they then didn't reply to), and the third time I couldn't reply because they had blocked me, probably because I've had pointed out their spam in last message...

I searched my received messages (trash) to find the different times he sent the first message.

I had a client come to me who sadly did fall for this, and they had experienced the same treatment that you had. I find it ghastly, and hope the word will spread so nobody else will have to fall into their (if one could even call it) work list.

 

That's...  Okay, that's almost verbatim what they sent to me as well.  This person has quite the setup it seems for sending out lots of notes to con many people out of their money.  I really wish we could get FA to do something against them but I have a feeling this falls into a moral grey area where it depends on who you talk to.

On 5/27/2020 at 1:41 AM, JohnV said:

That's...  Okay, that's almost verbatim what they sent to me as well.  This person has quite the setup it seems for sending out lots of notes to con many people out of their money.  I really wish we could get FA to do something against them but I have a feeling this falls into a moral grey area where it depends on who you talk to.

That's actually is considered spamming according to FA Code of Conduct.  

3.4 Do not spam.

This includes registering accounts or posting content automatically, messaging users en masse with unsolicited ads or information (e.g. beware content), posting content that is nonsensical and/or unnecessarily long or page breaking, or making incessant comments at others.

On 5/29/2020 at 6:42 PM, RTKobold said:

That's actually is considered spamming according to FA Code of Conduct.  

3.4 Do not spam.

This includes registering accounts or posting content automatically, messaging users en masse with unsolicited ads or information (e.g. beware content), posting content that is nonsensical and/or unnecessarily long or page breaking, or making incessant comments at others.

This and the others I have talked to this occurred years ago and probably part of what got them the one year ban initially.  Unless they're doing it now which I cannot ascertain, it's not a line to follow at this point.  Just talk to your friends and acquaintances warning them about this artist.  Urging them to tell others about them until is spreads that this person cannot find safe harbor to continue ripping people off.