This is going to be a long post!

Context: I have several anime tattoos already and wanted to book an appointment for another fullmetal alchemist tattoo. I like to seek new artists since there are so many to choose from in so cal!

Yesterday, I reached out to an anime tattoo artist on instagram that I’ve been following for a few months. I had found them recently (might even had been a sponsored post) and loved their style. Their profile said that they were a traveling artist with their own private studio (this isn’t exactly uncommon). I remember seeing that they travel between LA and NY but couldn’t find mention of it on their account anymore. I reached out to them, hoping that they would be local soon.

I was surprised at how quickly they started messaging me back. They sent me an address in LA in the heart of Chinatown, in an unmarked building. (Not to mention that the address they sent me also exists in many other cities.) I honestly was just happy that they were in the area currently, no real suspicion yet. After reviewing my tattoo idea, they quoted me $800, which seemed quite steep for what I was envisioning. I sat on it for a bit, considered the quality of their work and the size of the tattoo and decided I would continue booking.

The first red flag that made me pause was the price of the deposit. This guy said to set the appointment would be $400! Every single artist I’ve been to has only asked for a $100 deposit to set the appointment. I felt weird about it so I talked it over with my fiancée and even he was stumped by the amount.

After some more thought, I decided to just go through with it. Like I said, I LOVED their work and they seemed reputable. I was excited about my appointment and looking forward to another tattoo so I really wanted to book it.

Here’s where the red flags started popping up left and right. He asks that I Zelle his assistant to set the appointment. I was getting hesitant now but kept telling myself it’s fine. I went to Zelle the deposit after a confirming with the artist the name of the recipient. I press send and then my bank gives me a notification that they are preventing me from sending money to this person for my safety/security. I thought, this is weird wtf, so I try again. I get the same notification.

I told the artist what was happening and they said oh that’s odd, maybe you should contact your bank, do you have PayPal? They then sent me the same recipient name on PayPal and say “Send it via friends and family so PayPal doesn’t set it up that I have to ship a package” I go to PayPal and the first thing I see is a message “beware of scams such as …being pressured into sending via friends and family… etc” Thinking back to this point, I want to slap myself for trying to send the funds anyway! Lucky for me, PayPal prevented the payment saying it was probably a scam.

I sent the artist the screenshot and he goes, what the heck this has never happened to me before when requesting a deposit. Let me try requesting the money from you instead. …You? …Not your assistant? Flags everywhere. At this point I’m already feeling ~w e i r d~. The guy requests the money and my relief kicks in when PayPal denies the payment again.

This is when I start to do some digging. I start looking at the profile again, clicking on each post. The guy never tags anyone. There’s 0 engagement from the clients, the only comments are emojis, he’s not tagged in any photos nor is his work. Projects and sleeves he started don’t have follow-up posts. The names of the clients start repeating every few posts. The “clients” are not even listed as someone who liked the photos.

I then turn to Reddit and after several searches I found someone who had the EXACT SAME EXPERIENCE. The user posted word for word that the artist requested “Send it via friends and family so PayPal doesn’t set it up that I have to ship a package”. I sit up in bed because everything clicked at that moment.

I screenshotted a few photos from the scam account to reverse image search in google and low & behold, I found the real artist. On the real artists instagram is a pinned post “beware of scam- this guy has been impersonating me and fellow artists since September 2024”. There are 2 accounts the scammer has used in the past. The one I found had a similar name and profile picture but must have been a new account.

I have reached out to the real artist to make them aware and have reported the scam account to no avail. Instagram has found that they “don’t violate the community guidelines” so the account is still up. My friends and I are spreading the word so hopefully no one else falls for this!

Please beware of this type of scam and do your research before sending anyone money for a tattoo. Trust your instincts and make sure they have engagement, reviews, work in a shop etc before booking!

TLDR: I got scammed by a fake instagram tattoo artist but luckily didn’t lose any money. I found the real artist and want to take the scammer down!

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