A Jacksonville tattoo artist says scammers hijacked her online identity, cloning her videos and portfolio on TikTok to reel in clients and collect deposits for appointments that never existed. People walked into the studio expecting fresh ink they had “booked,” only to find no record of their appointments, and some walked out lighter in the wallet. The owner of Sugared Ink says she had been flagging the impostor accounts for months before the problem finally surfaced in local coverage.
News4JAX found at least 10 TikTok accounts impersonating artist Ashanti Asato and reported that more than a dozen customers lost money over a six-month stretch. TikTok told the station it reviewed the accounts and removed them for violating platform rules after getting specific examples. According to News4JAX, scammers took deposits through peer-to-peer payment apps like Cash App, Venmo and PayPal and sometimes went as far as scheduling bogus appointments.
How The Scam Worked
The fake accounts leaned heavily on Asato’s own content, lifting her clips and photos to build profiles that looked every bit like the real thing. Some scammers even put money behind the stolen videos, paying to promote them so they showed up as what looked like legitimate ads. “They are persuading my potential clients and current clients to send the money and scam them out of a deposit,” Asato told the station. Victims often did not realize anything was wrong until they showed up at Sugared Ink and staff could not find their names on the calendar, according to News4JAX.
Platform Response And Safety Steps
TikTok’s Community Guidelines already ban impersonation and explain how users can report accounts that look suspicious, and the company says it relies on automated systems as well as human reviewers to enforce those rules. The FBI’s Jacksonville field office has separately warned that impersonation schemes are on the rise, urging people not to send money to unknown contacts, to reach out quickly to their financial institutions and to report suspected fraud to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Asato is asking clients to double-check that they are following her verified accounts and to book only through her website or another approved booking platform instead of sending deposits through peer-to-peer apps. Anyone who believes they were caught in the scam is urged to hang on to transaction details and screenshots and to contact their bank and local law enforcement.
The artist says she plans to keep hunting for copycat pages and wants customers to contact her studio directly if they have any doubts before they send money or show up for an appointment.
