scam tail maker

[Mermaid Momo]

i don't know if this has been posted yet, but i'd just like to point out a scam tail maker i found while surfing google. All of the pictures in the gallery are MVD tails that are photoshopped.:
http://cheap-mermaidtails.weebly.com/index.html

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Looks like one tail is Thom Shouse's and one is Raven's. Complete photoshop scam.

[AniaR]

They photoshopped my tail and I am pissed. They had the nerve to post on here! http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?34-Article-Tailmakers/page2

I just sent them an email


This is Raina Mermaid
You have photoshopped a photo of my tail to make it look blue and claim it as your own. You are scamming people by photoshopping others creations and pretending they are yours. I will take legal action if my image is not removed from your website. You are violating my photographic copyright simply by altering and re-posting the image without my specific written permission, and you are also committing fraud by using the work of others to represent your own.

I am seriously pissed. But I also think it's weird they stole images from Raven, MVD, and tailman, and NOT from mertailor considering how infamous his tails are. I gotta think it's someone following FB pages because that's the only place I've seen that image of Thom's tail.

[Samantha Siren]

They also can't spell and their website makes no sense!

[Neria]

Wow. That is pretty low. Well, at least they definitely won't be getting any buisiness from mernetwork. Plus I am pretty positive everyone on here can recognize where all of those tails originally came from in an instant.

[Mermaid Momo]

good, i was worrying that there wasn't any knowledge about this "maker" at all. I'm now worried about the hopefulls(sp?) who aren't on MN and can't recognize tails the way most of us can who thinking this is a legit company with awesome tails, buys something from them and never gets what they paid for.

[Mermaid Momo]

and good thing is, they seem to have just popped up earlier today

[MermanJesse]

http://www.weebly.com/spam.php

You can follow this link to report the web site as I have already done.

The purple tail on the bottom right is the Splash tail where Madison is laying on the beach.

[AniaR]

Raina so angry! Raina SMASH

[Prince Calypso]

Raina so angry! Raina SMASH

raina is now officially the mermaid hulk in my brain forever more

[MermanJesse]

Should we expect a web comic coming soon, Raina?

:neener:

[babsannee]

LOL it's like they didn't even put effort into changing them. :doh:and the website sucks. sorry to all those who got ripped off though, that sucks. :( I wonder if anyone has tried to order from them? They could be in even more legal trouble if someone paid them, and they couldn't deliver. :no-no:

[Mermaid Momo]

i don't think that anyone's tried buying from them yet, but i've been wrong before.

[Azurin Luna]

They took the site down, so I hope they got scared and stopped with their cheap trick

[Mermaid Sirena]

Actually, I think it is more likely that Weebly took it down as I know I personally sent an email stating the site was fraudulent and I know several others either sent emails or went through the spam form. If a site gets a lot of hits all at once especially if it was just made the hosting service most likely looked at it and suspended it.

[MermaidSophia]

The website is down. Yay! But I kind of wish I saw it. It makes me laugh when people think they can get away with something like that.

[Winged Mermaid]

Just proves that mermaiding is getting large enough people think they can get away with scamming others. Lucky for us we're a tight knit community and can pounce on anything like this and spread it across the community fast so no one gets taken advantage of.

Reminds me of all the countless pictures I see on eBay and other sites that are ripped off of another quality maker then you get some POS. Corseting, cosplay, and lolita clothing are three big areas that people do this in that I've noticed. You may have a picture of a top of the line corset from Fairy Goth Mother- with any watermarking photoshopped out and different model photoshopped in- but when you get it, it will be a corset made of table cloth vinyl and zip ties with craft ribbon for lacing.

Sadly it happens in all kinds of areas, and those not educated enough to know better are the ones that get scammed :/

I'm just glad that this person was stupid enough to try and run a fraudulent site off of a hoster such as weebly, and so it was fast to get the site in a defunct state.

[MermaidNoveli]

Hey guys! I saw this thread and I was curious to see if these people would write back so I emailed them. I emailed on July 4th: "I'm interested in a silicone tail!" This is the response I got to my email today, on July 15th:


Dear ….

My apologies for the late answer, but my computer was broke.

So here are the informations.

I've attached some photos. Under every photo there’s a number and
letter. You can choose from these how the mermaid’s tail should look
like.

I need some additional information:

-What colors should the tail be. (If you have a favourite fish, i can
make it like that)
-Measurements (I’ve attached a video for help)


Color Options:
* Waist - Measure above the hips all the way around just along the belly button:
* Hips - Measure the fullest part of your hips all the way around:
* Knees - Measure around both knees while they are together:
* Ankles - Place feet together and measure around both your ankles together:
* Waist to Floor - Measure from even with your belly button down to the floor:
* Waist to Ankles - Measure from even with your belly button down to your ankles:
* Waist to Hip - Measure from even with your belly button down to the widest par of your hip:
* Waist to Knees - Measure from even with your belly button down to your knees:
* Shoe Size: Specofy Child's, Women, or Men US Size:


Size:


-Silicone mermaid tails: $965.00
-Silicone bra: $35.00
-Latex mermaid tails: $785.00
-Latex bra: $28.00
Shipping: $54.00

. I will keep you informed of the progress via email, and can send pictures, if you wish.. 4-6 week production time. Remembering that every tail is custom made and hand painted, there are imperfections of brush strokes, etc.. Shipping all over the world.


I will contact you when I’m finished with the tail. I will attach a
code, which will help you track the package.




I look forward for response

Ps: When you send me the details, I will send you a sketch. If you
like it, I will start making it.

ATTACHEMENTS:

4255
4256



And this LINK
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1388c7f7f0b34200&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3De7d7c8d4f2%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1388 c7f7f0b34200%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realatt id%3Df_h4ol0hwl0%26zw&sig=AHIEtbTADnCiMIxfI7pmAPSk0tRMZ7gNkQ

[AniaR]

grrr this makes me so mad they're still out there. No tails to show, just other people's hard work. Also, they're writing style seems familiar to me. Just sayin.

[Spindrift]

Well their MerNetwork profile says that he is male, and likes "Football, Money Sailor Moon the Movie (Independent Short) Foo Fighters, swimming", if that helps narrow it down.

[Mermaid Saphira]

Should mernetwork banned him from the site as he was trying to scam other mers?

[Mermaid Momo]

the writing style seems familiar to me too. I just can't place it.

[Mermaid Star]

Looks like the doc is down... that or the system is having errors as I can no view the doc. Anyone else? It seems this person is not a very seasoned scam artists. They are making some big mistakes. But we seem to be putting a dent in and keeping them running. That is the best thing we can do. The more they move the harder it is for them to direct clients to their webpage or seem legit. We just have to keep a sharp eye out... anyone up for Whack-a-mole?

[Mermaid Saphira]

Looks like the doc is down... that or the system is having errors as I can no view the doc. Anyone else? It seems this person is not a very seasoned scam artists. They are making some big mistakes. But we seem to be putting a dent in and keeping them running. That is the best thing we can do. The more they move the harder it is for them to direct clients to their webpage or seem legit. We just have to keep a sharp eye out... anyone up for Whack-a-mole?


The doc isn't working for me either....whack-a-mole sounds fun ;)

[AniaR]

yeah that's what it sounds like, but I seemed to remember someone pulling something like this in the days of meryuku as well...

[Mermaid Annariea]

this just blows my mind, it really saddens me that someone would try to do this :(
especially because everyone here is so honest with each other. to have someone come on here and tr to scam is just... it really makes me mad.

[Sea Pearl]

Doc won't open for meeither but I think I did something about this not too long ago. Don't know if it's the same guy though. Really sad to see.

[AniaR]

"broke" "imperfections of brush strokes"....

[malinghi]

yeah that's what it sounds like, but I seemed to remember someone pulling something like this in the days of meryuku as well...

Are you thinking of Adam Martyn, aka docjava? His M.O. was different. Instead of showing off pictures of other tailmakers work, he was actually a talented silicone tailmaker who showed off tails of his own. Despite being able to make gorgeous tails, he'd take the money and never deliver on the merchandise, typically with a sob story of how he was ripped off by his former partner and wouldn't be able to make any more tails until he raised enough money to get back on his feet. It was a disgusting scam, and successful.

[AniaR]

nope. Not who Im thinking of. Im going to hold off, because I think this person will screw themselves over anyway

[Mermaid Photine]

Color Options:
* Waist - Measure above the hips all the way around just along the belly button:
* Hips - Measure the fullest part of your hips all the way around:
* Knees - Measure around both knees while they are together:
* Ankles - Place feet together and measure around both your ankles together:
* Waist to Floor - Measure from even with your belly button down to the floor:
* Waist to Ankles - Measure from even with your belly button down to your ankles:
* Waist to Hip - Measure from even with your belly button down to the widest par of your hip:
* Waist to Knees - Measure from even with your belly button down to your knees:
* Shoe Size: Specofy Child's, Women, or Men US Size:


Looks like images are not the only thing this guy copy and pasted. This is from themertailor.com:

Custom Color (Contact for pricing $150 min):
*Color Options:
*Waist - Measure above the hips all the way around just along the belly button:
*Hips - Measure the fullest part of your hips all the way around:
*Knees - Measure around both knees while they are together:
*Ankles - Place feet together and measure around both your ankles together:
*Waist to Floor - Measure from even with your belly button down to the floor:
*Waist to Ankles - Measure from even with your belly button down to your ankles:
*Waist to Hip - Measure from even with your belly button down to the widest par of your hip:
*Waist to Knees - Measure from even with your belly button down to your knees:
*Shoe Size: Specofy Child's, Women, or Men US Size:

[ShyMer]

I like that this person didn't try to fix awkward wording or even typos, just copy, paste.

[MermaidNoveli]

I actually wrote them back and said "Thanks for getting back to me! I saw a tail I especially like on your website but when I went to go find it it said the website didnt exist? Did you move your site?

Thanks!" and this is the reply I got:

"Hi!

Maintenance because not available the website. Send picture, write which like."

There was another document attached but it didn't work.

[Mermaid Narina]

hmmmm something smells fishy .... < sorry, i couldnt help myself :P
but seriously, this is just sad :(

[MermaidNoveli]

Yeah :( From what I gather, they're still trying to make scam sales through just email.

[AniaR]

Looks like images are not the only thing this guy copy and pasted. This is from themertailor.com:

Remember when I said this looked familiar? I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a "drum up some drama" thing, based on past experiences.