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nyx702
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Total posts: 9 Location: Nasty ol' Pittsburgh Gender: Male |
 Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject: Scam warning, help appreciated! |
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Hey folks,
I recently got scammed by an avid poster on the DWS talent search. His goes by the name “Josh Hoopes” and his posted email is magic_bella@yahoo.com and also by the email joshjoejosh@yahoo.com. With the help of a few fellow artist that he scammed we managed to find out this:
“He finds people who are looking for commissioned artists to do work for them, and he has them pay him making them think he's the artist. He then gets multiple artists involved to do the work, which he claims he does the work. I think he targets out of the US artist mostly, since most were from Argentina, Spain, Australia and Brazil.
He gets the work done by the color people or whatever and never pays them keeping the money and giving the art to the commissioners.
I was a commissioner, and 3 people came to me saying the work I posted was not Josh's work, but theirs, and one person proved it was theirs, which made Josh never contact me again, after I questioned him, and caught him with proof he never contacted me again.”
I was commissioned to ink 24 pages at $50 a page paid at the end of the 24 pages. I did 12 and found this information out. I demanded a contract and he drew up a bogus one but I still trusted him at this point. He dodged all my questions about the other artist involved. I did find out that "Josh Hoopes" has a criminal record if that is indeed his real name: https://services.saccourt.com/indexsearchnew/CaseNumberList.aspx?SearchValues=HOOPES,JOSH,,4163310
and some more info about the cases:
http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/272.html
He told me his ‘company’ was “Visionaries Comics” and the comics they were doing are “Prairie Fire” and “Sophia.” You can find out more info here: http://mirrorstewedios.deviantart.com/journal/16566834/#comments
These are the pencils he gave me. I am asking for you help in finding the artist who did them so he can be informed if he doesn’t know already and to spread the word!. Any info is much appreciated....we are trying to put down this scammer!
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| ARROW |
| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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Why don't you take this information to your local police, or if necessary, contact the FBI.
If the perp already has a criminal record, then the law will doubtlessly react harshly to him scamming people.
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"We all grow older, we do not necessarily have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin |
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nyx702
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Total posts: 9 Location: Nasty ol' Pittsburgh Gender: Male |
| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| See...i was thinking about this but I believe that most of the information he gave is fake. He is just a ghost...how would we pin him down? I am not even sure if Josh is his real name...
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| ARROW |
| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:22 am Post subject: |
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Provide all the info you have to the authorities and let them do the trace.
Obviously, if there's a email, or a mailling address, there's a link to the actual person--regardless of what their actual name is.
If money is changing hands at some point, its going to a physical location for someone to pick up, or it has some kind of trace to an actual bank account tied to a real person.
Let the cops do the "pinning down".
_________________
"We all grow older, we do not necessarily have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin |
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nyx702
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Total posts: 9 Location: Nasty ol' Pittsburgh Gender: Male |
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| HellboyOne Site Admin
Joined: 28 Jan 2002 Total posts: 13539 Location: "Los Angeles is what's happening." Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:56 am Post subject: |
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This guy sounds shady from the get-go and I'm wondering how he was able to fool anyone into buying his schtick.
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nyx702
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Total posts: 9 Location: Nasty ol' Pittsburgh Gender: Male |
| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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Here is some more work he is claiming as his own...
If you know the artist or are the artist, please, get in touch with me...
This guy's committing a federal crime
Wire fraud is a legal concept in the United States Code which provides for enhanced penalty of any criminally fraudulent activity if it is determined that the activity involved electronic communications of any kind, at any phase of the event. As in the case of mail fraud, this statute is often used as a basis for a separate federal prosecution of what would otherwise have been only a violation of a state law.
The crime of wire fraud is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and reads as follows:
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
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| Sean-E Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Total posts: 229 Location: Perth Australia Age: 43 Gender: Male |
| Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| nyx702 wrote: |
Here is some more work he is claiming as his own...
If you know the artist or are the artist, please, get in touch with me...
This guy's committing a federal crime
Wire fraud is a legal concept in the United States Code which provides for enhanced penalty of any criminally fraudulent activity if it is determined that the activity involved electronic communications of any kind, at any phase of the event. As in the case of mail fraud, this statute is often used as a basis for a separate federal prosecution of what would otherwise have been only a violation of a state law.
The crime of wire fraud is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and reads as follows:
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
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so what have we got there...
a dave finch page...
a frank cho
a jonboy meyers
all claimed fraudulently as his either pencils/inks or the colours or both...
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I colour stuff... |
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