Fancy-Fancy

[laroger.livejournal.com]

WHO: Fancy-Fancy

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fancy-fancy

WHAT: Two Milkcrown commissions Fancy and I had agreed to share.

WHEN: Beginning in June of 2013 to Present

PROOF: Screenshots of notes. I also have Skype logs and Paypal info, but this should be sufficiently damning.



https://www.dropbox.com/s/uacrnm82pm5kc33/proof1.jpg
Fancy notes me about the price of the two commissions we were to split.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k86r918o1squkwa/proof2.jpg
Fancy tells me what his paypal is so that I can send him the money- 85$.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/50f0on0n83b4fge/proof3.jpg
I ask him if he's received my money.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/377jcr1i9l13nlx/proof4.jpg
Fancy tells me that he has received my money.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u38x84kuaasyjlc/proof5.jpg
Fancy confirms that he's sent the money to Milkcrown.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yc3k1lmxk3ghgjv/proof6.jpg
Fancy shows me the sketch that he received from Milkcrown for approval.

At this point, several months go by. Every time I ask Fancy about the status of the commissions, he dodges my questions. Eventually, I begin to suspect he's stolen my money, and I ask send a few notes to Milkcrown to gather evidence.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1a9hp9d8d7gwp3w/proof7.jpg
This is pretty damning evidence.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1ckl58d4bt6akw/proof8.jpg
Milkcrown explains that Fancy specifically requested the pictures NOT be posted.



EXPLAIN: Click below for my side of the story.



I'll do my best to keep this brief.

Fancy-Fancy and I began communicating early in June 2013. We hit it off big time, and began to flirt. I'll give him this: he's very charming. I was infatuated with him. So much so that when he offered to split two Milkcrown commissions with me for half the cost (85$ total for me), I agreed. He said that he had already paid Milkcrown, so all I had to do was pay him the difference. It took a week or so to iron out the details of what we wanted, and then I sent him my money. A while later, I received the sketch, as normal. Everything looked fine.

But then weeks went by, which turned into months. I noticed several times that MilkCrown was selling more commissions, though mine had not been finished. Fancy-Fancy was no longer in any of Milkcrown's commission-status lists. Suspecting that something had happened, I asked Fancy about it. But he dodged my question. I asked him again and again over the next couple of months, but always he dodged the questions. Finally, I asked him bluntly if he'd stolen my money. At that point, he blocked me, deleted my comments, and deleted my shouts.

I sent notes to Milkcrown to try to figure out what had happened. Milkcrown tells me that Fancy received the commissions that he had paid for and that he had specifically requested those commissions not be posted or shared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: I've been in contact with Milkcrown since I wrote this journal. He has shared with me the pictures that Fancy got. I'll include them below- they are Not Safe for Work.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xhkez01caoiut5/fancy%20fancy%20commission2%20color.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cbugh6liyc5mqh/fancy%20fancy%20comission%202%20full%20color%202.png

As you can see, though I paid for half of each of these, neither contains my characters.
UPDATE2: I have been approached by someone else who claims they were given the same deal as me and also paid Fancy money, which means these commissions may be 100% stolen, not 50%. I'll have screencaps as soon as they're available to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recently, I've discovered that I may not the only one he's done this to. I've found no less than 8 different people (and probably more) that have had issues with Fancy-Fancy in the past, and at least 1 other who had been offered the same split-a-milkcrown-commission deal, but didn't take it.

Fancy-Fancy is a thief. The screencaps above prove it, and others should know.



UPDATE: Click below to see my confrontation with Fancy, on 2/13/14



Fancy-Fancy has finally gotten back in contact with me.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ek6l4bmbms9yik4/ff1.jpg

After our conversation, he unblocked my Furaffinity in order to send me this.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7eo80ebqbg93mjl/apology.jpg
I replied, and promptly blocked him. I hope that we'll see him here on A.B. soon.



Clearly, Fancy-Fancy is not interested in resolution. I absolutely believe he will continue to scam whoever he can get away with stealing from. Be extremely cautious with this individual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FINAL UPDATE:
Thank you, everyone who helped me with my awareness campaign on Furaffinity. My strategy consisted of journals promoting awareness of Best Practices in commissioning with links to this Artist's Beware article as an example. Unfortunately, but understandably, some readers became upset and felt very passionately about this issue and confronted the Fancy directly. This was against FA ToS and CoC, and I have never condoned it. But I understand it.
Fancy-Fancy has returned the 85$ to me through paypal today, 2/14/14. This particular issue is resolved, but I would absolutely encourage anyone else who has been affected by this person to step forward, screen cap their own evidence, create their own articles, and continue to Beware.

[I will post screen caps here of proof of repayment and Fancy's final words on the subject as soon as I can]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments

[neolucky.livejournal.com]

I've done a few images for Fancy in the past, I no longer have him as a customer due to two incidences that made my uncomfortable:

1.) He paid/donated to someone to have them animate an illustration I did for him without asking me. I found this out entirely by accident and told him it was NOT ok.
2.) He repeatedly asked to "buy" some characters I featured on a furry paysite in order to pair them up with his. I said no a few times and told him not to ask after the third one.

He was a decent enough customer for me, but I was not comfortable taking more work after those two things and now I'm even less inclined to do so =\.

[norsepaw.livejournal.com]

Heard about this guy and it seems there is nothing new what he does. I am amazed how long he have been able to do so, but now i hope some people will have a heads up in case he contacts them.

[grinningkitten.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, this is all too common with Fancy. In particular with femboys, he has a reputation for flirting and then using people.

[yuki-fox-demon.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just because I'm not an artist, nor do I commission people very often, but the way Milkcrown responded kinda bothers me. I suppose if it were me, I'd be looking into what happened, at least get some proof from OP to decide if the discussed commission was actually made and just not given to OP. Because if they were actually made, I'd imagine all OP would have to do was show proof to Milkcrown that they had, indeed, paid for half.

I am saying nothing bad about Milkcrown, as I do not know him/her, but just rather curious at their reaction. Either way, that was a pretty scummy thing for Fancy to do.

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

I'm seconding this as well; if OP paid for half, they paid for half and no single party should be getting exclusivity to the commissions at hand. Generally speaking, I can understand not wanting to go back on your word, but when it's coming off as a pretty shady transaction, it's always best to do your own investigation instead of taking a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach.

[latiro.livejournal.com]

what Fancy did to you is absolutely dreadful, but unsurprising from the things I've heard about

another good reason why I unwatched Fancy. Beware warranted

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

He is a highly repeat customer of mine and has always paid me upfront and I have never really had a problem with him. Though I have heard on more than one occasion people that he has 'shared' in with commissions that he doesn't pay his half (though the work was done but they never received his 'half'). Twice that I was told by his 'partners', only one resolved that I know of.

[laroger.livejournal.com]

If you have any evidence of that, please please please issue a trouble ticket on FA and send the ticket number to the admin Carmen.

[maxi.livejournal.com]

Wow. I keep hearing about this guy lately and ugh. I'm sorry he took you for a ride, OP ):

But next time don't send your money to someone else for them to commission an artist - get into contact with the artist and pay your half yourself. I've done many commissions this way, though of course I require consent from everyone beforehand.

[stokerbramwell.livejournal.com]

I've talked to him once or twice in the past, no real major interaction, but I've been hearing a LOT of terrible stories surfacing about him lately. This does not surprise me in the slightest.

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

A bit of advice; never send to the commissioner, send to the artist.

But yeah, this is typical of him. I've heard lots of similar things from friends who he has done the same thing to.

Update

[laroger.livejournal.com]

Update on Situation

I've gotten back in touch with Milkcrown and I've shown him the evidence listed above. He's since blocked Fancy-Fancy as well.

He offered to draw something for me since I'd lost my 85$, but I declined. It wouldn't be fair to Milkcrown- I was the one that was duped, not him. X3

Still no word from Fancy-Fancy, and I doubt he'll ever be inclined to comment- I just hope that nobody else falls for this scam. I've already met 2 others who claim they were offered the same split-a-commission deal.

Re: Update

[grinningkitten.livejournal.com]

That's quite the update and also quite honorable of you. I'm glad to know that things are working out to the point where it will be tougher for him to scam others in the future.

And I wish you the best as well!

[laini.livejournal.com]

Was in a very similar situation a couple of months back. Was funny how he kept saying people never wanted to split commissions but every time he saw I had a slot with someone he tried to get me to include him in it and never once offered anything in return.

It became pretty obvious to me he was just using me to try and get some free art and thankfully the two commissions I did pay for I was able to get altered.

[cabadath.livejournal.com]

I'm one of his "victims" as well. We commissioned an $80 pic from Ryunwoofie and at the time he told me that he would pay for his half in two weeks.

Soon after that he went completely apeshit on me, blaming me for things like having conversations with my FRIENDS. He also insisted that I shouldn't keep my Skype name public on FA cause he didn't want other furries to add me.

The two weeks passed, still no money, and he was acting really rude towards me. Told me that my "nagging" was irritating. After that he blocked me everywhere and I could kiss my money goodbye.

Me and a bunch of others sent FA admins trouble tickets but I'm sure everyone here knows how well those things work out...

[laroger.livejournal.com]

My trouble ticket will be 1 month old in three days. I'll see if there's somebody I can talk to to expedite the process, and I'll see if they can look at yours, too. Do you have a ticket number?

[lumi (from livejournal.com)]

Hey, I did update my old ticket about Fancy-Fancy with this artist-beware post, and the moderator handling my ticket thanked me for updating about the issue, and said (s)he'll be on lookout for more tickets about people having similar issues.

Please, please, please update your old tickets or file new ones and do link this A-B post in it as well, so the moderators realise not only his bullying, but also thievery.

Got a response from the admins!

[cabadath.livejournal.com]

"Good day,

Unfortunately, members of Fur Affinity's staff are not permitted to mediate business transaction disputes, unless it involves mass scamming; however, I have reviewed your ticket and made notations concerning this user. If other users come forward with more evidence that would suggest several users have been scammed, an investigation will be launched.

In the meantime, I encourage you to try to contact this user and work out your issues and document everything. If you know other users who have been scammed by him, please direct those users to file tickets and contact me personally with their ticket numbers to help escalate this issue.

I will be closing this ticket for now; however, if something more comes to light or you have other updates, please RE-OPEN it so I can assist you further.

Best wishes,

Carmen
COCE Lead"

It finally seems like something's happening. If you've been harrassed or scammed by Fancy, please file the admins a new ticket, or re-open your old ticket like Carmen asked!

Re: Got a response from the admins!

[jinx katski (from livejournal.com)]

That quote is complete bullshit. They just say they don't mediate payments because they hate doing work. They didn't seem to have any trouble telling me I'd be banned if I didn't revoke the chargeback I used on Teil because she fucked me over.

Re: My story (From RKSparkster on FA)

[laroger.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for sharing, but nobody can view those messages but you. ^^; You'll have to take screen captures and post them as images, like through dropbox or photobucket.
I highly recommend submitting a trouble ticket through FA and sending your ticket number to Carmen. Even though we can't read your notes, if you check the box to allow admins to review linked notes when submitting your ticket, Carmen will be able to read them and add your story to the growing pile. THANK YOU for coming out with this.

[ark rotarl (from livejournal.com)]

I was nearly made a victim of this myself, but after he learned that I have no money or income, he promptly ceased communication with me entirely, deleting me from Skype -- even after a little bit of flirting with me. This was sometime back in early 2013 or so. After hearing so much about this kind of thing before, shortly after we stopped talking and hearing it brought up again somehow, I can say I'm not the least bit surprised. He's in it for the money and he doesn't care how many people he has to use. I'm glad I couldn't have been taken advantage of.

MOD POST

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Hello.

You have already been told by a community moderator (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/739490.html?thread=28306850#t28306850) to please send this in as a beware of its own.

Please follow through with this, as asked because as a comment this doesn't help spread awareness as much as a post does.

Posting is simple:
The template: http://community.livejournal.com/artists_beware/432731.html
Our FAQ: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/659082.html
How to make an LJ-cut: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75

Again, we'll be screening this comment and look forward to you presenting all of this in a beware format.

[cabadath.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I like how Fancy has suddenly erased every shout and journal on his FA page ;3

What Fancy-Fancy did was dreadful

[rourkie.livejournal.com]

I sort of have a stake in this because Roger asked if he could use my paypal to pay Fancy-Fancy for the commission. I am currently trying to get a hold of him directly since technically I'm the one who made the payment, but thus far have been unsuccessful.

This guy is a total rip-off artist. I really can't say much more than that, without repeating anything else that's been said. The unfortunate thing is that it's all digital art - there's no way to "take back" something that's been sent digitally. The only thing you can do is get word out there and hope it doesn't happen to anyone else.

UPDATE

[laroger.livejournal.com]

Fancy-Fancy has finally gotten back in contact with me. Here's what he has to say.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ek6l4bmbms9yik4/ff1.jpg

It's clear that there will be no resolution.

Re: UPDATE

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I like how he asks you what you want, then gives excuses to why he shouldn't have to apologize. Trading 85 dollars for an apology is a pretty sweet deal that he should have taken. Why did he even bother asking if he was just going to be so dismissive??

I just can't believe how there is no regret or guilt whatsoever. He is literally going 'I've taken lots of money, but I don't care, because it's in the past (everything is technically in the past once it's happened... how convenient)'.

Definitely a very solid beware. He's fully aware that he's stealing from people, and clearly sees other people as existing just to get him what he wants. I'm glad there's a warning out there about him.

UPDATE

[laroger.livejournal.com]

And another update. Gosh. Two in one day.

After our conversation, he unblocked me on FA in order to exchange this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7eo80ebqbg93mjl/apology.jpg

I replied, then blocked him. I hope we'll see him soon.

Re: UPDATE

[ravensmoon666.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe this guy, how can you not feel any emotion for those you have ripped off?

[val !! (from livejournal.com)]

this guy's actions are super awful, but there is a lot of hate popping up on his FA page under some familiar names/icons. :/

[lumi (from livejournal.com)]

I started causing ruckus because it's been "we'll follow if other people fill tickets out of him" for ages. I'll take the bullet if I have to, whatever it takes to get mods involved and take him down.

[laroger.livejournal.com]

A lot of people have been affected and feel very strongly. But we shouldn't try to harass him. That bears repeating.

We shouldn't be harassing anyone.

We should be making other people aware of his actions.

I can't condone the shouts on his page.. but I understand why they're there. I think Fancy does as well.

[val !! (from livejournal.com)]

sorry to reply to one of your comments, but isn't this (http://www.furaffinity.net/full/11340858/) the same piece commissioned with your half of the payment? i found it in someone's gallery... the description says its a "gift" commission from fancy-fancy.

[laini.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, to actually see the two images he commissioned with your money and one of them is a gift to one of his friends?
That's even lower.

"Here I got ya this, not with my own money though, I mean I like ya but not that much."

Just wow.

[grinningkitten.livejournal.com]

That's what I am surprised about. If that were me he had effectively stolen for, I would feel disgusted. And also insulted.

[grinningkitten.livejournal.com]

Wow, at those new updates. It takes a special kind of person to stoop so low and not even care about the terrible things that you are doing. And the slimy way he weasels out of holding himself accountable is astonishing. This guy could be a politician or journalist.