Concerning SweetAnika

[charha.livejournal.com]

Sweet Anika aka Sweet Sue is notorious for not paying the people she commissions. I know that she has been mentioned in this community before.

I would like to know how many people have been so far conned by her and would it be possible to gather our forces so that we could put an end to her behaviour once and for all. Perhaps with enough people we might be able to write a petition to the DA staff and ask for them to remove this user because she uses her account to steal from people? I really don't know how these things work, but it hurts me to see her list grow longer.

She tries to cover up her tracks by keeping a list of people she currently owes money to on her DA page. I've been keeping an eye on the list and I haven't seen any progress on it for months. I contacted these artists and I found out that some haven't even drawn her anything. One was furious with her.

Since April I have done what I can to keep in contact with Sweet Anika. I chatted online with her on a couple of occasions and sent her about five private messages concerning the pending payment. She now accuses me of harassment. When I told her that I am expecting the payment by 1st of November she only said "bahbah". She has also told me to "fuck off". I have plenty of message logs in which she ignores our agreement and insults me.

And for the record, she was initially very happy with the picture I drew for her. She even used it without my permission.

It doesn't bother me that I lost money because of her. This incident taught me to be more careful in the future. But it sincerely worries me that she keeps on doing this to other people and I wish there was some way of stopping her.

Comments

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm sure you could get more than a few people to ask she be kicked off DA for good. I know one in mind already that I sent word about this post to.

Let's just hope she doesn't then move to FA after she gets banned from DA

[maui-dolphin.livejournal.com]

She was on FA she stole there too, I know she was at least banned from the forums but they might have also banned her from the site.

[xantheequine.livejournal.com]

She was in fact banned from the site... I kept an eye on her for a bit and I even noted some of the artist that she wanted to 'commission.' Thank goodness by the time her ban came around no one was falling for her attempts anymore.

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I can reply here, but I'm gonna try it anyways.

TK told me you were asking about this specifically, so here's what I know:
Anika's a basket case who conned a lot of artists into doing commissions for her that she turned around and refused to pay for. Adding insult to injury, she called the artwork that'd be done for her for that reason "shit" and "garbage". She threw a tantrum about it, and at least one of those tantrums ended up here on Artists Beware.

I got Anika banned on 3 of her accounts on Deviant Art. She was also on Fur Affinity, but I don't know if she's still there. All I know is that she'd bothered Beowolf over there once not too long back.

I wouldn't expect Deviant Art to do anything to her now. I've reported her newest account over there at least twice for differing reasons (one of which was the usual "ban evasion" reason that I'd gotten her other accounts removed for previously), but they told me that as long as she "behaved" they would let her account stay there. I don't know if you can convince them that she's not behaving anymore, though. I don't know how much they're paying attention now.

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Hello Rachel. Yes you were the person I had in mind, but I was fearful to point this out to you directly.
Maybe you can add your experiences with her to the long list of complaints and see she is banned again.

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

I went ahead and recounted my story to the main thread.

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Good to see then. I remembered you mentioning her a long time ago, and figured you would have a lot to add.
I hope you've been well.

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm doing okay. Still getting everything together up here. *shrug*

[isilbastet.livejournal.com]

Me. I never got money for a 2-character piece.

[charha.livejournal.com]

How much does she owe you, if I may ask? I'm really curious to find out the overall sum of the money she owes to people... So if she owes you even a little bit of money, it still adds to the sum.

[isilbastet.livejournal.com]

$4.00 originally. I'm strongly considering giving what my current total would be as a price, though :/

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

She owes me $30. S'been about two years now? Maybe more, I lost track.

I contacted her several times, and she always told me she 'forgot', would send payment ASAP, but of course, I never got it. I'm pretty sure she has no intention to pay me, and it's so frustrating because I could really use that money.

[rat-the-unloved.livejournal.com]

She owes me $15 for a Furcadia portrait.

Basically the following needs to be said once and for all: Anika will NEVER pay for artwork. Period. She "commissions" everyone and their grandmother's Zeta, takes (steals) what she likes, ignores the rest, and NEVER compensates artists.If you remind her of your deal she will accuse you of harassment. Just don't work with her. The mere mention of her name on the FAM Art scammer forums is enough to send some into grand maul seizures of hatred.

[oddcookie.livejournal.com]

ah, me too :\
she responded to two of my notes but afterwards just ignored me.

[charha.livejournal.com]

Can you tell me how much she owes you? It doesn't matter if the sum is small 'cause she still owes you. I thought about making a list of money she *really* owes people. I understand if you're not comfortable with the idea, but if I asked my friends and other people to crosspost this list, it might further disencourage people from accepting commissions from Anika.

[oddcookie.livejournal.com]

She owes me about $15.

[guyver47.livejournal.com]

She contacted me by MSN messenger quite some time ago about getting a commission, but I declined since I was full up on them. I'm thankful now that I didn't start a commission transaction with her, but I'm also sorry to hear so many people didn't get compensated for their work :/

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

dA won't boot someone just because a bunch of you ask, well most of the time anyway they won't.

You'd be better off just spreading word about her and making it impossible for her to commission artwork.

[wyndsong12.livejournal.com]

She never paid for the commission I started for her either. I stopped after I heard all the rumors. She's the one responsible for my new payment policy.

Also, she is back on FA. I heard she was pretending to be a gay male. Can't find the link right now, but I stumbled upon it the other day. So I can only assume she's back at it again.

[wyndsong12.livejournal.com]

Ah...here it is..

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/adriankugodashi/

[xantheequine.livejournal.com]

Looks like her in the picture... Guess this is another one that we need to watch out for. *grabs her "Waring Portal" hat and waits*

[wyndsong12.livejournal.com]

I hope something happens....there is nothing worse that thief like this this. I personal only did a prelim sketch for her, but I've heard so many people getting conned by her. Its really not right someone should waste their time and effort making her art just to have it get thrown back in their face and called "shit" or "garbage" solely because she doesn't feel like paying for it. That and her personality is none to pretty either...*cringe*

[baddakutachi.livejournal.com]

That would be ban evasion. :O

[wyndsong12.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, and as far as price, it was $20 from over a year ago.

[xantheequine.livejournal.com]

Yep, I just looked at the picture she has up for this new user adriankugodashi verse the ones of her on the old FA page, same user. Might want to watch out for that one too guys.

[charha.livejournal.com]

That is her, without a doubt! Oh man, she actually had the nerve to ask me for another commission by using this "Adrian account". And when I told her (at the time I thought that it was some other person) that I will not draw commissions unless I get paid in advance, "he" said I'm a "heartless fuck" and blocked me.

I want to report this to the admins, but I'm not sure which one I should contact.

[wyndsong12.livejournal.com]

You should maybe bring it up in the forums. I'm really not sure as I can't remember ever reporting anything.

[aria01.livejournal.com]

I guess I am one of the rare ones, she actually did send me money for a bust commission a little over a year ago. I wasn't able to complete it - along with a few others because of complications with my arthritis.
All she did was accuse me of being a thief even though I sent her a refund. She's pretty good at blowing steam XD
I know she's been harassing Crystal (crystal-for-ever) through IM's lately repeatedly asking for commissions but I'd previously warned Crystal about her so she's just ignoring her.

I think really the best thing to do is spread the word about how she behaves and hopefully people will wise up.

[likeshine.livejournal.com]

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/190032/

:-P she admitted it.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

It begs the question as to why she is still asking for commissions if she couldn't afford the ones she already has ordered.

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

So this is ban evasion?

Why doesn't anyone report him/her/whatever to the admins? I dunno how. :p

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

I reported her 3 times for ban evasion. She did get banned again those three times, but the 4th time, they told me she could stay. :\

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

I'm not a member of this community, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents on this girl anyway.

What I know of Anika is this:
I found out about her originally because she was whining about getting banned because of the problems she was causing a couple of members on Deviant Art. This was at least a couple years ago, but could've been longer. Not too long after that, she approached me about doing a commission for her, and I accepted.
Back then I did sketches first before accepting money for the work to make sure there was nothing wrong with it, but it happens to be Anika that changed my policies about that. I was only charging her $20 for what she wanted, and she'd agreed she would pay me. She said she'd send a money order. When over a week passed and I didn't get the money order, I asked her what had happened. She claimed she'd forgotten and she'd send me the payment in a couple days. More than another week passed and I still had no money order. I asked again, and she said she'd send it on the 3rd when she got her check. Over a MONTH passed, and I still had no money order. I figured it was a lost cause and didn't bother with it anymore since I had other work to finish anyway.
Time passed and I eventually found out she was being spotlighted here on Artists Beware. Apparently I wasn't the only one she swindled. Adding insult to injury, she was calling the art she was refusing now to pay for "shit" and "garbage". She got into a lot of trouble for it, but that only made her whining worse.

As far as getting her bumped off DA, I don't know how successful you may be in that. The first of her accounts was banned because of her harassment of other members. The next three accounts I got banned by reporting her to Deviant Art for ban evasion. But her fourth account they wouldn't ban. I contacted them about her, because she was pulling her tricks again, but they said that as long as she "behaved" they would let her stay. So, I suppose it's really only a matter of whether or not you can convince them that she isn't behaving anymore...

I'm not saying this to insult Anika, I'm saying it because I honestly believe it. I think she's mentally ill. She seems to be a little... slow... if you know what I mean. Trying to talk civilly to her never works.

[charha.livejournal.com]

I'm really sad to see Anika in FA again.

I'm thinking of gathering some more information so I could write a list of how much money Anika really owes to people. By crossposting this list and by asking my friends to crosspost the list in their journals it might disencourage people from accepting commissions from Anika. The more I learn about her, the more amazed I am to hear of her reckless behaviour.

I happen to have her street address, so if I had enough people interested in backing up my words, I could send a polite letter - including this list - personally to her parents. As far as I know, Anika still lives home. I wonder if her parents are aware of their daughter's online frauds.

(Anika actually told me online that her parents are dead... or something, but a moment after she blurted out that "they hate artists", so I think there's a change these parents really do exist. At least according to Kentucky yellow pages they do.)

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious indeed to see what her total owing is. :/ If you'd like, when you do have the total, I'd be happy to crosspost the list on my DA and FA journals. I want to see a resolution to this, I really do.

[midnightfury.livejournal.com]

She only owes me $20, but it's in "write off", since I'm not really interested in pursuing it anymore. The sketch is 2-3 years old now, and I have no desire to try to finish it now, so... yeah. But my sum can be added if need be.

Stuff like what Anika said about her parents and how she acts with people when she talks to them one-on-one is why I believe the girl has mental issues. She told me she got her check on the 3rd of the month. That would coincide with disability checks, which usually are received on the 3rd of every month. She "forgets" a lot, and I don't know if maybe she actually IS forgetting, or has no idea what she's really asking people when she gets into commissioning them. Now, I don't feel like that's any excuse for her. She behaves terribly, and I have a feeling that could be more to parental spoiling than any mental conditions. And with how absolutely childish she can be, I sometimes even wonder what her true age is.

As for sending a letter to her parents, I'm a little leery. It's difficult to predict how they would receive something like that, and might view it as some kind of harassment, or accuse you of stalking or something. If you decide to go that route, please be cautious!

[charha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought that if I would send her parents a letter I would have to be as polite as possible while describing this situation. I would leave them my email address should they have some further questions, so it wouldn't just be some kind of a hit and run letter.

I live in Finland so the physical distance between us is quite big. I believe that a sincere letter might have a better impact than some kind of a long-distance call... And it would be less threatning, especially since my aim would not be to ask for them to pay for their daughter's debt. I would just like to inform them of the situation.

From what I've heard from artists who have drawn commissions for her, she owes several hundreds of dollars to artists online. She is harming our online communities with her behaviour and she mustn't think that she can go on doing this forever because people in the internet are somehow "less real" than those irl.

[carra-m.livejournal.com]

Well, I say goodluck and be careful with the letter thing. Though it may provide a wake up call to the parents. (They may not even know their daughter is giving out their home address to strangers across the net).

But something must be done. I agree she cannot continue to do these things because the internet is "less real" and the people that she's crewing out of money aren't the same thing as 'going into debt' or owing anything else.

She's posting now in her journal on FA that Wynd up there posted saying she's sorry and 'I love you all' making the excuse that currently she's in some financial trouble (paying for a car, back-bills and food) and I'm quite leery as to how serious these are considering one of the artists responded by saying they wanted to be paid asap and gave information and she was going to have the artist 'sign' an agreement saying that the artist agrees to wait for the payment until bills and her CONTEST have been dealt with first. Which is riddiculous...

I doubt her 'sorry' is anything more than trying to get some people off of her back. But who knows....

yeah...

[charha.livejournal.com]

It sounds like she's just trying to make people wait - now more "officially" than before. Agreeing to something like that means that you're okay with her paying whenever the heck she feels like. And it might be never.

I'm personally sick of her excuses especially because she keeps commissioning more artists before paying the ones still waiting for their payment. Bleh. If she admits that she currently can't afford to pay people, she surely shouldn't afford to have contests and commission even more people.

LOL B&

[themocaw.livejournal.com]

http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=12863

In other words: I'm not sure who it was said that FA admins weren't banning her any more, but it seems she is still persona non grata there.

Dodged a Bullet!

[enter-data-here.livejournal.com]

She approached me for a commission of that same character she named herself after, and after I did the initial sketch she ignored me for like a week until I sent an email telling her that if she wasn't serious, then to let me know so I could move on. Somewhere along the short exchange, I told her I was canceling the commission because she was more trouble than she was worth, to which she turned around and called my artwork terrible and called me some names.

It was only $17 but I could tell right off the bat that she was just going to be difficult with me. Then I found out that she had the habit of not paying anyway, so all she got out of the deal was a crappy sketch. :]

[mercurystatic.livejournal.com]

She owes $4.95 from an icon commission awhile back. Not much cash, but its still annoying.