Commissioner Beware: Fenrirhound

[charlielemur.livejournal.com]

****EDIT***** THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN RESOLVED, FENRIRHOUND HAS REFUNDED THE MONEY THAT WAS CHARGED BACK FROM ME, I DON'T KNOW YET IF THE SAME HAS HAPPENED FOR THE OTHER ARTISTS BUT MY MONEY HAS BEEN RETURNED. Meaning this was not Fenrirhound's fault, it really was their brother that did the chargebacks, please be informed that Fenrirhound is not the responsible party for the chargebacks.

(This is my first time attempting to write here so please let me know if I've made any errors)

WHO: Fenrirhound (commissioner on FA)

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fenrirhound/ Furaffinity notes, Furaffinity.

WHAT: 2 digital art commissions (in-stream 20$ sketch, normal 15$ colored sketch)

WHEN: Commissioned in Early August, issues occurred beginning of October.



PROOF: First commission contact for in-stream -

a view of the finished commission for them -

contact for the next commission finished -

a view of the WIP for this commission -

My note to the commissioner asking for approval before going further -

there was no reply for almost 2 months before the chargebacks occurred.

EXPLAIN: The person seemed friendly enough, they received their first commission in the stream, the second I had sent for approval, but received no response at all. That is when I started to feel uneasy about the situation. I usually receive a respond from my commissioners pretty quickly, if not within a week or two at most to let me know if they need any changes first. But I found myself waiting for almost 2 months before the chargebacks occurred without any communication accompanying them.

What confuses me is that this person seemed friendly and non-threatening when they were actively in contact with me for their commissions. The reason stated on the chargeback was "unauthorized credit transaction" Which according to a paypal employee, implies that this person might have stolen their parent's or a person they know's credit card and has just been found out. I have not yet seen whether or not any of the other artists have been ripped off as well, but I have attempted to contact fenrirhound to have them explain their actions

to which I have yet to receive a reply.


EDIT: 10/6/2013

I've received a note from someone claiming to be fenrirhound's friend, passing on a message from fenrir to them to give to me. I'm not sure why they didn't just note me themselves, so I'm not sure I can really call this a legit excuse at the moment, but here is the message that was sent -


I've opted to keep this person's identity and username private because I do not think it is important for the cause of the article. If this story does turn out to be true it should be noted that this unfortunate incident was not fen's fault. But I am not inclined to fully believe it until I and the other artsits have received their money back.

Comments

[nisaetus.livejournal.com]

There are a whole bunch of shouts on their page from people who apparently got chargebacks as well. :c

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

Which according to a paypal employee, implies that this person might have stolen their parent's or a person they know's credit card and has just been found out.

I swear I've read about another case of this recently, but I can't remember where... I went back a few pages in this comm and didn't see anything.

[ainoko-ironrose.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you are referring to, that incident happened a year or two ago.

***Edited for spelling and grammatical errors***

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

I've only been in furry-related LJ comms for a few months, so it had to have been something recent.

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

There have been a few recent ones, yes! Chargebacks are sadly increasingly becoming an issue.

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

Good to know I'm not losing my mind and I really did read that.

Bad to know they're happening so much. :C

[ainoko-ironrose.livejournal.com]

Something that you will never see me do. To be honest, I would love to see the admins instantly lock a users page the moment that word gets out that they are issuing charge backs to those they have commissioned and do not unlock their page until they have paid back every artist affected by their actions. Also, I would like to see a trusted commissioner page like there is for trusted artists that way you artists will know if the commissioner is to be trusted, I know there is the risk of new and established users on any art site doing just this, but the idea of a trusted commissioners page would most likely cut back on charge backs.

[slinkslowdown.livejournal.com]

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

[ainoko-ironrose.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

All you have to do to get in those groups is have someone say your good. No proof. I went through the trusted Artists group and saw a LOT of scammers.

And all you have to do to get someone blacklisted is say 'This person did X' and again, without proof.

Obviously AB doesnt list everyone, but you can go through the monthly reviews, as well as watch out for people as they are all tagged; a quick ctrl-f will find who you are looking for.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Looks like she made a journal on her Deviantart (http://fenrirhound.deviantart.com/journal/ATTENTION-DUELISTS-404267618) not too long ago (Sept. 30th) so she's definitely around.

Note that this is not an invitation to outsiders to comment on her pages!

[purpule.livejournal.com]

I don't buy it. It's always the evil brother, cousin or friend who's at fault.

If the issue was that her parents had found out she was using the card without permission and then they did the charge-backs I could believe that, but it's this "no no, I was always responsible with the card, it was my brother who messed up! Damn him, grrrr" that absolutely reeks of someone who is avoiding responsibility.

Charged back on me as well

[konnokyo.livejournal.com]

Did happen to me as well (I'm Abelsword @FA btw)
Bought two egg adopts from me in august, received art and charged back this weekend. Making my PP go into the negative.

What actually stuns me now is, that i got the exact same note. EVery word is the same. I didn't even bother to respond, because seriously? It looks like a blatant lie. I only assume this of course, but that sounds all so ridiculous.

Re: Charged back on me as well

[charlielemur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even though at first I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt, I just don't see this as a plausible story honestly. Sounds pretty fishy to me. I just think this person was trying to make sure I didn't make their actions public at all in some weird desperate attempt to sound innocent. Well, it's kind of too late for that, putting two people in the red is a pretty awful thing to do.

Re: Charged back on me as well

[konnokyo.livejournal.com]

yes exactly this. Especially the last sentences from their friend? I mean it sounds personal but it isn't, because it's exactly the same mail they sent to me. Which really is strange imho.
And the part with, please don't make it any worse, she doesn't need internet drama. Yeah well, then please don't cause any. u_u

Got a note from Fenrirhound

[konnokyo.livejournal.com]

Says she is gonna pay me back now. Will let you guys know when I recieved the money. Hope Charlielemur got the same note =)

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

It is long beyond being 'internet drama' when it's about someone stealing money. This would be considered theft of services if you had enough proof and wanted to pursue it legally. Of course, I know nobody really does, I just hate seeing people try to demean a problem to make it sound less serious than it is. It's not 'drama', it's theft.

Also

[bluwolf0.livejournal.com]

I had gotten the same chargeback on my account last night. I immediately noted fenrirhound with bewilderment before I even found this artistbeware post.

Surprisingly, I got a note this very day much like you guys, from fenrirhound herself. It simply said 'the issue is being resolved, please send me your paypal and the amount of money I owe you.' I just responded, so we will see what will happen.

I'm not sure if I should dispute the charge back on paypal or not. I really don't think, if the brother story is true, that this brother should be allowed to simply get away with fraudulent claims.

Re: Also

[charlielemur.livejournal.com]

The person has refunded me for the trouble, so I hope you guys got your money back as well! ^^

Re: Also

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear; I'll mark your post as resolved!

More about the issue

[fenrirhound]

If you're still reading this and still think I am a royal douche hole or think I'm lying, you're partially right. I was lying, mostly because I had a very faint idea of what happened. Until now anyway. No, I did not steal a credit card, no I did not hack someone's account, actually what happened was my dad cancelled my card while I was on a trip. That may sound pretty bad, but there's a good explanation. About a year ago I went to Maryland to see a friend of mine, being the idiot that I am I left my phone at home. We hit a dive bar but unfortunately they didn't take cash, so I went to the nearest ATM to withdraw money from my credit card. After five or six tries with a different pin number each time (I have no idea if credit cards even have pins, but I was horribly drunk by then). My friend paid the tab, we got a ride home, and still running off my drunken buzz I commissioned several artists and bought some adopts. Back at home dad saw the declined withdraws, and without my phone assumed I had been mugged and left to die in a ditch. So he canceled the card and for months the charges had been in payment limbo, never showing up on the credit card statement. Which is why these chargebacks happened months after the fact. The credit card company was waiting for payments on a card that their records show had been made after the card was cancelled. And that's hoW I became the Fresh Prince of Bel-douchehole