Notice for Fur Affinity Users- Adoptables Scams, Stolen Art

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

WHO: Multiple accounts (Klinx, Newbieadopts, Celestyal, SurveyOnTheGo, ImInVain, etc.)

WHERE: www.furaffinity.net - Multiple accounts, and creating more.

WHAT: Selling Adoptables / Plushies / Digital Art without delivery; Selling artwork that is not owned by the account owner.

WHEN: ~2 weeks (02Dec2012) and still ongoing.

EXPLAIN: For the past two weeks, Fur Affinity has been dealing with a rash of new accounts being created for the explicit purpose of attempting to sell 'stolen artwork'. These accounts only seem to remain active for a few days, reposting auctions that have already been won (again, of stolen art- usually taken from VCL or DA galleries) and then notifying the winners of where to send their payments. These payments are currently being made over PayPal, with instruction to send as a 'gift', so it may not be contested once the account is found to be a scam.

If you currently conduct business over Fur Affinity, please be aware that this is an ongoing issue, and that we are dealing with the separate accounts as soon as we find them. The user(s) have been hopping from one IP address to another, so we have been unable to maintain an IP ban on them, and have to rely on singular account suspensions. If you feel you have come across an account of this nature, please contact me directly through notes at

www.furaffinity.net/user/Bazeel

Comments

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Well darn. I suppose making a separate FA account for the sole purpose of selling adopts is a bad idea right now?

Thank you for warning us!

[sigilgoat.livejournal.com]

Well if you link back to your main account, and establish your account with some obvious time investment, I'm sure you'll be fine! This user doesn't even upload an icon.

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't feel it is a bad idea if you are an established artist. These are accounts that appear to be shady to begin with, for the most part- different art styles on each picture, no user icon, creation date of (current day) or (day before). If you are a legitimate artist on FA, I don't think there is an issue!

[taasla.livejournal.com]

C: Thank you for clearing that up, then!

[ansitru.livejournal.com]

What Sigil-goat said.
If you invest the time in your account and maybe make a journal on your main announcing that you are making an adoptable-account, that could also help.

Anyone can steal an icon and impersonate you, but only you can say which account is your alt and confirm it as being yours.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

I assume this won't affect established business dealings on FA? Figured I'd ask just in case some kind of wacky investigation would impeded it for prof artists.

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

This should not have any affect on 99% of the userbase. It is mostly a concern for those purchasing art, rather than those who deal in it.

[growly.livejournal.com]

I am very glad to see an official warning about this person. It's very alarming how persistent they are.

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

Everyone who gets scammed should report the account to PayPal itself.

Eventually the reports will pile up. Especially now that PayPal requires US citizens to provide their social security number to create or use an account with them. It'll make it easier for them to track down the scammer(s) if they live in the US.

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

The best thing to do is to not 'send gift' payments when people request them. You cannot counter that claim.

[ladysnakebite.livejournal.com]

And gift payments are a bad idea for both the artist and the buyer anyway. The buyer has no ability to dispute the payment, and if the artist gets too many payments as "gifts" their account will get frozen and perhaps even shut down entirely.

[foxhack.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah.

But enough complaints to PayPal about a person may prompt them to begin a criminal investigation.

[lazer-the-hyena.livejournal.com]

It can also prompt them to close the account of the people who sent the payments as "gift" since that is scamming the system. So most people won't report anyway because they will also be in trouble.

[deejthistle.livejournal.com]

I saw the ImInVain account spamming the hell out of the front page with supposed YCH auctions. Glad to see they were shut down, but bummed that the rabbit hole goes even deeper.

Thanks for the beware!

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

Of course. We are doing everything we can on our end, but since these are being made from different IPs, and by actual people, it is very difficult to ID them before they begin their scamming practice.

[pinstripedtiger.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about that last night while watching the front page.

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

I've seen a lot of journals about this pop up throughout the late year about these accounts, glad to see there's more of an "official" addressing to it from an admin/mod of FA.

I'll keep an eye out for anymore of these journals, and hope that the artists are being contacted once found.

[lackoflollies.livejournal.com]

Oh jesus. :/

[citrushark.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen it myself, but must be a pretty big issue if this got an official announcement on FA, hopefully people will be more wary about these accounts.

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

I pushed through both announcements at roughly the same time- Dragoneer wasn't at his home computer, so he wasn't able to approve the one on Fur Affinity until later in the evening.

almost scammed

[minkamuffin.livejournal.com]

I made an AB post of my own, but apparently the Internets may have lost it.

I was almost scammed by ImInVain. I made a bid on a reference sheet, but luckily I was warned by note to not give money. Having this person's Paypal shut down would be ideal, I think.

Re: almost scammed

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

Actually if you check your inbox (and possibly the spam box) again, there should be a notice from LJ regarding it.

[ansitru.livejournal.com]

What I don't understand is why so many people are willing to buy from an account that is brand-new and has zero credibility yet.

I mean, a new artist making an account is one thing, but someone making a new account to spam a lot of things for sale right away will always seem a bit fishy to me. o_O

[ryunwoofie.livejournal.com]

The main problem, I think, is people not taking the time to sit down and look around themselves. (A common problem on FA to begin with.) They see nice art and an affordable price and want to scoop it up as quick as possible before anyone else does thinking they nailed a sweet deal.

It truly is unfortunate.

[ansitru.livejournal.com]

Agreed. There was a similar problem not too long ago with another scammer both on FA and dA who offered plushies for ... $20, I think?

Common sense would dictate that doesn't even cover material-cost and shipping, so if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Loads of people still fell for it, which was unfortunate.

Honestly, if I have to choose between being prudent and probably missing out on a legit deal, or buying something right away only to notice I've been scammed, I'd rather lose the legit deal.

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

That was the account on Fur Affinity named 'NewbieAdopts'.

[ansitru.livejournal.com]

There has been another one that was also posted on here, Simsime if I recall correctly.
(I figure if she's been posted on here already (quite a while ago), I'm allowed to name the name, but if not I'll edit as needed.)

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I witnessed this scammer on his ImInVain and Klinx accounts and have some screenshots. He seems to be trying to resell the same YCH sketches on various accounts, so if you see it coming by you can be fairly sure it's the scammer.

On ImInVain he stole from the artist Neurodyne.
ImInVain screenshot 1 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Feelin%20Good.%20by%20ImInVain%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
ImInVain screenshot 2 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Gimme%20More%20%20by%20ImInVain%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
ImInVain screenshot 3 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Being%20Left...%20by%20ImInVain%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
YCH auction. (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/YCH%20%20FAST%20AUCTION%20by%20ImInVain%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)

On Klinx he stole from the artist Kabuki Homewood.

Klinx screenshot 1 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Broadway%20fox%20by%20Klinx%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
Klinx screenshot 2 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Dino%20by%20Klinx%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
Klinx screenshot 3 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Getting%20Younger%20by%20Klinx%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
Klinx screenshot 4 [NSFW] (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/Headshot%20Kabuki%20by%20Klinx%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net.png)
YCH auction. (http://www.myriadofmagpies.com/uploads/images/stuff/YCH%20%20Fast%20Auction%20by%20Klinx%20%20%20%20Fur%20Affinity%20%20dot%20%20net2.png)

Please note that the bidders in these screenshots have already been contacted.

Maybe if we could get this guy's paypal address (or addresses if he has multiple) it would be easier to warn people.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Oops, Klinx screenshot 4 is actually SFW, oh well :3

[bazeelphooka.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's you! You're the one who actually alerted me to this issue int he first place (With this account in particular). Thanks!

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

Hey, no official warning, since I know you're just joking with the text you put under the cross-out. However it's still not OK wording, so I'm screening it.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

/facepalm

[foxwolf321.livejournal.com]

i posted his paypal info below

[puritikoneko.livejournal.com]

Ugh, gross.

I've had at least one person with a fresh account watch me, and I've been extremely leery of them since I myself make and sell adoptables from time-to-time.

Thanks for the head's up, I'll make sure to keep a close eye on them and my eyes peeled for any mass-uploads or other suspicious behavior.

[bulldogc.livejournal.com]

[foxwolf321.livejournal.com]

I "won" one of Klinx's auctions. his paypal info is julieelmo1@hotmail.com so hopefully this will come up under a search if he tries to scam anyone.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing, I hope you can get your money back?

[foxwolf321.livejournal.com]

oh thanks, but I saw how new the account was and asked for the picture first before payment. So i did not loose any money.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

That's good, glad you're not out any money.

[excessdenied0.livejournal.com]

I would still be concerned, actually. Did you pay them at all, after getting the image? Even if you got the image first, it likely wasn't theirs to distribute, and if you paid anything at all it was for nothing, because you can't claim the adoptable as yours anyway.
Hopefully you never gave them a dime!

[foxwolf321.livejournal.com]

in this case it was not an adaptable, but a YCH auction. I did not receive anything nor did i loose any money.

[excessdenied0.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I'm glad!

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

Looks like this is not good considering YCH have been showing up on FA a lot. Though i still don't understand the popularity of YCH considering how questionable they are.

[marblestheskunk.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for letting us know!

Not sure why so many adoptable scams are going on right now!

I recently have had an issue where I bought and adopt and the artist pretty much changed the hair style and nipple color and sold it to someone else, even though they were supposed to be custom. Then blocked me when I brought it up to them. Not AS bad, but I know how annoying that can be :/

I hope no one else gets scammed by these people though and I'll keep a watch out!

[dragontripmon.livejournal.com]

I'm really not surprised this is happening considering most adoptables i've been seeing on DA are either traces bases or generics.

[excessdenied0.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's part of why I hesitated for so long to offer "recoloured" adopts of my own. Even if it is my own design, it feels a bit odd to reuse the same lines so many times. People do seem to prefer them though, and it's about the only way I can afford to offer designs at low prices.
I'm hoping no one steals any of mine to resell, because I suspect it wouldn't be too difficult to do, even if they did only steal a downsized preview image.
The whole thing makes me nervous.

[spartanwerewolf.livejournal.com]

Excess, your style is so distinct, I don't think any of your adopts would get very far without someone saying something. The fact that the adoptables you've done have been unique designs/new species helps too.

[excessdenied0.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right! I feel a little paranoid.

On Furrafinity & Deviantart a gruoup has been trolling for 10 years

[spikedragon]

In Deviant Art and Furrafinity there's a group formed by 4 guys who want to be famous, forcing people to suscribe them. They are thiefs, stalkers pursuers, defamers, with killer instict they fought against policemen and they visit their psychiatrist. that' explains why being so old, more that 40 aged they keep trolling on all web sites: Youtube, facebook, Deviant Art and Furaffinity. A group who has been trolling for 10 years. they craeate many accounts, false identities and imposter accounts stealing identifies to make ban innocent accounts.

We have reported many times but sites just ignores us, one of their tricks because they are ban avoiders, hide evidence, but we keep it, every page they insults.

Actually one of them is suspended on Furaffinity. But just for one month.

We called police, the administrators and the TV news but everybody just ignore us. WHO CAN HELP US?