Artist- Jaibo/Damin

[sleetfury.livejournal.com]

Who: Flight Rising user Jaibo/Damin

Where: http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=view&tab=userpage&id=13446

What: Two digital busts of my characters Sleet and Nightsky

When: October 25, 2013

Proof:

http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=mb&board=art&id=984442

http://i.imgur.com/7CtQE8L.png

http://i.imgur.com/lfPAf2R.png

Unfortunately, they deleted their responses to me on my thread.

http://i.imgur.com/zRiqcNk.png (Payment)



On Flight Rising, I have a thread on the Art Sales board that I made so that I could commission artists specifically for furry artwork instead of going through threads myself. It got a fair amount of attention from people that didn’t have their own threads.

On the 25th I was contacted by the user Damin on the thread. They provided examples of busts I liked and he offered a deal of two for 100k treasure (the site’s currency) instead of 75k each.

I paid and continued on with buying artwork from other artists. On November the 5th I remembered that I had commissioned them and went back to my thread to find their posts had been deleted! I was a little suspicious but knew I had their username in my sent messages folder and found them under the name Jaibo instead.

I noticed that their recent posts section had been cleared out and I sent them a message.

http://i.imgur.com/PpMcmYN.png

Their response: http://i.imgur.com/xwZCWgD.png

I was fine with this as I still was in contact and had their new username on record, even though I would have preferred to be told that they had changed it.

http://i.imgur.com/NtJSfb6.png

I asked if they have somewhere else I can watch them on here and never received a response.

On the 18th I sent this

http://i.imgur.com/Pl37jZg.png

Asking about the status of my commission and didn’t get a response.

On Flight Rising you can tell if a user is active by whether their dragons are fed, which they are. I also noticed that they have recently gotten achievements for hatching eggs and completing an achievement in the coliseum.

http://i.imgur.com/1Q9K95I.png

(American dates)

I posted a public message asking about the status of my commission and left it be. I was definitely suspicious at this point as they were definitely online, just ignoring me.

I came back today to see the public message was deleted and was extremely upset.

Because I realised I wasn’t going to get any joy from them about status I was about to ask for a refund or have to take the transaction here, when I realised I was blocked.

http://i.imgur.com/a3UTCOv.png

I’ve written off the 100k. I have nowhere else to contact them and because I’m blocked I have to. I know the FR admins won’t do anything about it, as they’ve said so before. I’d just like people to know what’s happened and not to trust this person. I would have liked to get my art, though. I’m just glad this wasn’t real world currency and feel like I’ve dodged a blow.

Comments

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

Hope the admins over at Flight rising starts to do something, if this is not stoped more people will be scammed wether there be rl money, gem or gold coins.

[morti-macabre.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't hold my breath.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

Neopets mods never did anything about stuff like this, nor did Gaia mods, Waja mods, Subeta mods, any other site with in-game currency, at least not that I can recall, I don't see why FR would be any different. (for that matter none of these posts have been about gems, it's all about Treasure currency, none of which amounts to even close to 5$)

This sort of thing was just as rampant on all those other sites, FR is just the popular one with an older group ATM.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Aywas does. It's the only pet-site I play nowadays. They have a policy that once you enter a transaction, you have to come through in.. I think a month? or you can contact a moderator and they do actually get in trouble for it. I understand it's rare though.

[ukthewhitewolf.livejournal.com]

^ This.
Aywas is really good about protecting it's artists and commissioners from being scammed out of their money.
I've only ever had to contact a mod on Aywas once about a commission that was never finished, thought it was a lost cause because it didn't look like the person had been around, but the mod I spoke to was able to contact them and I got a refund on it.

Bit disappointed with FR's handling of this kind of thing though. :/ Noticed a worrying amount of people saying they've been scammed or had artists drop out and not refund on FR and it's put me off trying to sell or buy art on there.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I understand WHY sites don't want to get involved in transactions like these, I really do, but I feel like if you want a thriving art community (which is good for the site as a whole), you have to be willing to dedicate some protections for it. It just doesn't seem like a wise business move to do otherwise, just because other sites do it too.

[poptartkitty.livejournal.com]

People in the Flight Rising tag on tumblr were saying that they were a scammer either earlier this month or last month, I don't remember which. I guess they were right. :\

also "I lack english to explain" ? They seem to speak perfect english in their tumblr posts. :T Unless of course that comment somehow meant something else.

Their tumblr (http://ableistic-allistic-cishet.tumblr.com/)
edit because I messed up the coding. @_@

[sleetfury.livejournal.com]

Wow thank you for that tumblr link! I've sent them a message but I'm not holding my breath haha.

[poptartkitty.livejournal.com]

No problem!

but yeah they'll probably just block you on tumblr too. :T

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing about this game and it's quickly becoming something I will not be looking into EVER. The scamming seems so rampant and unsettling. Sorry this happened. I hope something comes of it. :C

[sleetfury.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame because literally every single other person I commissioned has been fast and reliable and this one bad apple totally spoiled it.

I don't expect anything out of it, unfortunately the admins have made their stance very clear in that they won't refund anyone if something like this happens.

[mazz.livejournal.com]

Well yup, not joining flight rising if their staff is just going to let people rip others off.
I was waiting for registration to open back up but... noooo

[kestral-kitsune.livejournal.com]

this...is why I don't go on the forums.... the game itself is alright, the scamming is going on in their forums, i don't deal with them other than commenting on my flight's page every now and then.

[nisaetus.livejournal.com]

Not surprised to see Damin here in the least. That's so shady I have no words. :/

[maryseif.livejournal.com]

I had a particularly nasty encounter with Damin in which he stalked, threatened, and called me all sorts of slurs for exalting one of his dragons so I am not surprised to see him here at all.

[cioniel.livejournal.com]

I am very unsurprised he ended up here. He's got a terrible attitude in the Flight Rising tumblr tags and viciously verbally assaulted another user with misogynistic slurs. He said on his tumblr that he had been banned, but I suppose not. He uses a lot of ableist/racist/sexist slurs in general and has been asked to stop but always comes up with very childish responses in return.

[sleetfury.livejournal.com]

Ew. I wish I'd seen all this before he appeared in my thread.

I guess I'll have to keep reblogging all of his posts reminding him that he owes me. (He deletes the post every time I do. If he ends up with nothing on his account then that's his prerogative.)

[cioniel.livejournal.com]

That would seem wise. If he does not give you your art, you should contact the mods.

[sleetfury.livejournal.com]

They won't do anything about it. They've made it really obvious that they won't refund anyone that gets scammed.

[cioniel.livejournal.com]

Maybe they would give him a warning for his behavior at least.