A TikTok user has gone viral after sharing her tattoo gate story of how she was scammed out of thousands of dollars.
The American woman has had more than 4.3 million views after detailing her horror story on the social media platform.
Now, other people on TikTok have come forward with similar videos claiming they were swindled by the same artist…
TikTok user’s tattoo gate story
The mother, whose TikTok handle is @running_mom_of_boys explained that she wanted a tattoo by a talented artist she found on Instagram. She did a consultation and was asked to pay a non refundable $180 fee.
She showed reference photos of a colored fox with butterflies and flowers and was was charged a “design fee” of either $1500, $2500 or $6000 depending on how many changes she wanted to make.
When the artist sent over the design, it was nothing like what she asked for, but she wasn’t allowed to make any alterations unless she paid $2260 more as she went for the cheapest option.
The artist claimed it was her fault as she didn’t explain the design properly and continued to blame her and defend her extortionate fees in a series of emails.
After lots of back and forth, the artist refused to refund her any money and explained she could have gone straight to booking and avoided the design fee, which she was never told.
‘That’s madness’ says TikTok
The viral video has had everyone on TikTok in disbelief.
One person wrote: “I’m 70% covered in ink. I’ve never had an artist charge for a concept or consultation. RUUUUUN!!”
“$1500 and no ink touches on the skin yet?” said another.
A third person added: “Small claims court!!!”
“I’ve never had to pay a design fee. That’s madness,” said another.
Someone else wrote: “Never in my life have I heard of paying money for a sketch or consultation.”
Others come forward with similar stories
Now, other TikTok users have come forward with similar stories, claiming they were scammed by the same tattoo artist.
“I guess it was only a matter of time before someone else came out with a story about this same artist,” one user called @ririality said.
She claimed she was scammed out of a whopping $4000 after asking the artist to cover some birds on her collarbone.
The artist changed the design, started her appointment late, left half way through and proceeded to charge her thousands more to rebook.
