nyx702

Hey folks,

I recently got scammed by an avid poster on the talent search here. 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

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.c...66834/#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. Any info is much appreciated....we are trying to put down this scammer!




(EDIT: Uploaded better pictures)

BobRivard

That's unfortunate. But, it happens. Make sure you get at least some payment up front or get paid per page. Lots of scammers and slackers in the biz.

Those pencils are too small to make heads or tails of. Can you post larger images?

nyx702

Sure sure, i updated the first post. Thanks for your time!

Mecha

Have you reported him to Ed?

I can actually vouch for the validity of this. That Josh guy almost snagged me and a buddy of mine as inkers via his Talent Search post.

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Jeremy Colwell

I had some down time and cruised the DW talent search. Saw his ad for "high paid, high profile project" and was in talks with him as recently as about a week ago. I couldn't get him to answer my questions about the project other than title ("Praire fire"), pay rate, and pay schedule (upon completion via paypal), so I wished him luck and sent him on his way. He said the penciller was "a new guy on the block". Glad to hear I made a good choice.

sabba

people like that piss me off

Crestmere

Scam?

I am not a scammer.

I really do have $56.2 million dollars in a bank account in Nigeria. I just need a little seed money to get back there and get it.

Ibrahim Amin

This is troubling, since I recently hired him to pencil, ink, and colour 10 pages for me.

I've received pencil versions of the first three of those pages. I'll post them here in case anyone wants to make a claim to them.

Guess I'd better email him and see what happens.

nyx702

Mecha: I am sorry but I don't know who/what is Ed? Kind-of new to the forums...

Jeremy Colwell: Yea, good instincts bro...wish I had them...

Crestmere: Jesus man...that made me "lol"

Ibrahim Amin: Great! Another one...I will email you with more info. I am trying to compile a butch of evidence. If you can will you hold off on the email? Just play stupid for now...



Ok, I am trying to take some action. There are many fraud agencies out there too help luckily. If you have been scammed by him could you please take a moment to fill out one or all of these complaint forums. They will only take a couple of minutes and it's the only way to bring legal attention to him.

http://www.cftc.gov/customerprotect...tform/index.htm

http://www.ic3.gov/

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup


Does anyone know why I can't edit my first post to include this information?

raya

Ed is the owner/creator of Digital Webbing, check out this link:

http://www.digitalwebbing.com/forum...isplay.php?f=21

You can PM him if you want to.

Siafu

Is that visionaries or visionary?

Either way, sorry that you and those other artists got screwed. I'll keep my eye opened if he ever contacts me... Altho I'm in the states...

Once again, sorry you guys got bit. Atleast you lived and learned, right?

I've had a few people contact me, asking if I'd like to be involved in a project with them. But I have turned them down. For whatever reason. Some, are so vague in their request for what they want you to do, you have to say, this is a set up of some sort.

nyx702

raya: Thanks, I sent a complaint thought he site interface and a PM.

Siafu: He told me "Visionaries." Unfortunately I am in the states too...seems he is broadening his horizons. yes, I have defiantly learned and lived! Lucky I didn't lose any money just a lot of time and valuable work...I feel REAL sorry for the people who lost money. It sucks we all have to be so un-trusting with humanity...

artofsw

I was also one of the unlucky ones who got sucked in by him. I only did one colored page. I just don't except jobs anymore without at least 25% deposit.

Whoever did those pencils, they are really good. Hope you find out who they belong to.

Ibrahim Amin

I guess I should have been more careful about vetting him out. I was torn between him and another of the artists who sent me samples in response to my ad. The other guy provided a full list of credits, so I could have made sure he was legitimate.