SCAMMER ALERT: ART ASYLUM BOSTON!

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:10 pm

I recently purchased three Kaws Dissected figures and a Kaws Pinocchio figure from Art Asylum Boston (AAB) for $3,600. I was sent a bogus tracking number and countless emails to them requesting for a refund have been ignored. The only time I received a response was when I threatened to go to the authorities and even then, he continued to pile on the lies about how the items have been shipped out and how I shouldn't believe the lies that I read about him being a scammer!

I know it's highly unlikely that I'll get any of my money back but I would like to warn my fellow KR boardies about this scum bag who has no qualms about cheating people out of their hard earned cash!

I know I'm not the only one who has been scammed by AAB. Please refer to the following threads for more horror stories regarding dealings with AAB:

http://collectingstreetandgraffitiart.b ... re-of.html

http://collectingstreetandgraffitiart.b ... rammy.html

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=164474

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=150093

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=156776

viewtopic.php?f=43&t=140551

melting · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:20 pm

Sorry to see that you have been added to the list of good people that AAB has scammed.

I hope somehow you get a positive resolution to this.

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:28 pm

Thanks, mate! It's an expensive lesson learnt but I hope this serves as a warning to anyone out there who's thinking of dealing with AAB. I don't want anyone else falling for him scams!

spoonie_gee · **Joined:** Fri May 07, 2010 4:52 pm **Posts:** 128

Hopefully justice is served, and whoever AAB scammed gets their money back in full.

They were supposedly moving to New York, so hopefully they don't resurface under a new name.

fail2evolve · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:40 pm

i've already found like three aliases for jason, i'm gonna keep finding more people that are in regular contact with him. gonna have a little list up for grabs if they go missing.

666ways2love · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:20 am

That sucks. I just read through some of the other complaint and it just really pisses me off. Mess with one ant, you mess with the whole ant hill.

Can anyone take them to small claims court or something?

xianricca · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:17 am

How did you pay? There has to be some kind of insurance policy for a purchase that big. You seem pretty laid back for losing what equals 2 months pay for me.

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:35 am

xianricca wrote:

How did you pay? There has to be some kind of insurance policy for a purchase that big. You seem pretty laid back for losing what equals 2 months pay for me.

I paid by bank wire transfer which was a pretty stupid thing to do since there's no buyers protection. Believe me, I'm absolutely fuming over the loss of $$$ but there isn't much I can do besides lodge a police report as I'm located overseas.

dong32117 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:22 pm **Posts:** 491

Damn sorry to hear this happened to u and so many other people. Really hope something is done aboot this guy. It's crazy how many people he screwed and he's still getting away with it. Hope ur situation along with everyone else gets resolved.
http://www.freshnessmag.com/2010/09/24/ ... %E2%80%9D/

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:50 am

dong32117 wrote:

Damn sorry to hear this happened to u and so many other people. Really hope something is done aboot this guy. It's crazy how many people he screwed and he's still getting away with it. Hope ur situation along with everyone else gets resolved.

BTW, thanks for linking the " KAWS has NO ASSOCIATION with Art Asylum Boston" article before. I've shot off an email to Kaws, hopefully he'll be able to do something about it.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2 ... 1785707149

666ways2love · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:54 am

yeah, wire xfer is sketchy numero uno. Paypal or bust

Why doesn't someone just confront the gallery in person? It's not like it's just some seller working out of his house and the person has skipped town. Dunnybunny, I know you're overseas so you can't personally do it. But get someone to knock knock on their door. If you have proof of payment and can back your story up, I don't see why you (or anyone who has been scammed by AAB) take them down. If someone gathers all the scam cases, all the proofs of payment, blog articles, statement from KAWS- shows them to the police. The police should be able to do something, right?

It's fraud after all

EDIT: https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:28 am

666ways2love wrote:

yeah, wire xfer is sketchy numero uno. Paypal or bust

Why doesn't someone just confront the gallery in person? It's not like it's just some seller working out of his house and the person has skipped town. Dunnybunny, I know you're overseas so you can't personally do it. But get someone to knock knock on their door. If you have proof of payment and can back your story up, I don't see why you (or anyone who has been scammed by AAB) take them down. If someone gathers all the scam cases, all the proofs of payment, blog articles, statement from KAWS- shows them to the police. The police should be able to do something, right?

It's fraud after all

EDIT: https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx

Thank you for the link. I have filed a complaint with the BBB.

Philpenn · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 4:43 am

So here's my story with AAB, I didn't read the thread so sorry if I repeat anything, and sorry it's so long. I just don't want to leave any shady detail out.

I first signed on here because I wanted a 4' KAWS Companion. After a bump or two I started to get some PM's. They were from two or three people saying ArtAsylumBostom was selling four footers. After a little board browsing I saw the thread with people complaining and AAB giving excuses but the thread was locked by moderators so I didn't know what to think. At this point I contact AAB about the sale and began negotiations. AAB tells me to wire transfer the money and that the wire transfer is 100% protected in case of things going wrong. LIE # 1. From reading the complaint thread I see that boardie Howies has the most negative things to say about AAB (sorry if I outed you here Howies, but I figure you're mad enough to not care.) After hearing exactly how AAB just makes excuse after excuse from Howies, I figured maybe the problem was that he lived in Australia and I guess things could go wrong when shipping a coffin sized box half way around the Earth. Being that I'm in Philadelphia and AAB is in Boston, I figured I'd have no shipping problems. Just from the unclear stories on the board I decided there was no way I was going to wire transfer AAB a single penny. So when I said I wanted to use Paypal and AAB said that was fine so long as we split the charges, I figured all was good since the buyer almost always wins in cases of non-received items. So I make the payment via Paypal but due to some weird unknown kink with my bank I have to send the money in two payments. This is when AAB takes any little glitch they can find to start making excuses. They tell me that one of the payments was put under review by Paypal and that they can not access the money. Being that my Paypal page says both payments cleared, I then call Paypal to see what's up. Paypal tells me not only did both payments clear but that both had been transfered to AAB's bank account. LIE #2. I tell AAB that Paypal says the opposite of them and AAB just says I don't know what to tell you it's under review. Being that I had already talked to Paypal I just tell AAB that no matter what happened before the payments would be good to go in a couple days. This is when AAB tells me that the 4' is at the shipping company waiting for the one payment to clear. After weeks that I pretty much know the payments have been made I call the shipping company wanting to know how they were cool with a gigantic box taking up space in their workspace. The shipping company then tells me they have not picked up or had anything dropped off by AAB in months. LIE #3. They do say they have done business with AAB before though. About a month has passed at this point so I know I only have a couple weeks of Paypal protection left. I start getting more demanding with AAB even requesting a phone call instead of useless emails back and forth. After two or three no calls I finally get Jason on the phone. I should say by this time I have been emailing with both Jason and Juliann at AAB. Jason straight lies to me on the phone and even when I tell him that I know he's lying to me he just plays it off. Then I get an email from AAB saying they don't appreciate my accusing them of lying and scamming. They threaten to sue me for liable and slander, and say it would just be best to refund my money. After a week without any sign from Paypal that they were refunding my money I opened my claim. Being that I was dealing with Paypal and AAB's main argument was a Paypal payment didn't go through, I won my claim without AAB ever even responding. That's all and again I apologize for the long reply.

CHIP* · **Joined:** Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:12 pm **Posts:** 415

damn, what a bunch of butterfinger. if it had been me, i would have just gone with the extra costs and bought it off ebay, it would have been worth it to have all the protection

Mendez · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:31 am

wow man, sorry to hear and read all this. Has anyone posted all his alias' ? Maybe I missed it.

dunnybunny · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:13 am

Mendez wrote:

wow man, sorry to hear and read all this. Has anyone posted all his alias' ? Maybe I missed it.

This is all the information I have on Art Asylum Boston:

Art Asylum Boston
35 Sutton Street, Suite #2
Lynn, MA 01901, United States
(617) 818-0724

Email: sales@artasylumboston.com

Jason Zenga (Director/Owner)
Juliann Cyhan

skaterboy · **Joined:** Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:34 am **Posts:** 313

Being that you won your claim did you get your money back in the account? I heard if the paypal holder has no funds then you may win but not get the funds? Hope it works out. I think someone needs to call the local authorities. Good luck.

Blood101 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:53 am

Philpenn wrote:

So here's my story with AAB, I didn't read the thread so sorry if I repeat anything, and sorry it's so long. I just don't want to leave any shady detail out.

I first signed on here because I wanted a 4' KAWS Companion. After a bump or two I started to get some PM's. They were from two or three people saying ArtAsylumBostom was selling four footers. After a little board browsing I saw the thread with people complaining and AAB giving excuses but the thread was locked by moderators so I didn't know what to think. At this point I contact AAB about the sale and began negotiations. AAB tells me to wire transfer the money and that the wire transfer is 100% protected in case of things going wrong. LIE # 1. From reading the complaint thread I see that boardie Howies has the most negative things to say about AAB (sorry if I outed you here Howies, but I figure you're mad enough to not care.) After hearing exactly how AAB just makes excuse after excuse from Howies, I figured maybe the problem was that he lived in Australia and I guess things could go wrong when shipping a coffin sized box half way around the Earth. Being that I'm in Philadelphia and AAB is in Boston, I figured I'd have no shipping problems. Just from the unclear stories on the board I decided there was no way I was going to wire transfer AAB a single penny. So when I said I wanted to use Paypal and AAB said that was fine so long as we split the charges, I figured all was good since the buyer almost always wins in cases of non-received items. So I make the payment via Paypal but due to some weird unknown kink with my bank I have to send the money in two payments. This is when AAB takes any little glitch they can find to start making excuses. They tell me that one of the payments was put under review by Paypal and that they can not access the money. Being that my Paypal page says both payments cleared, I then call Paypal to see what's up. Paypal tells me not only did both payments clear but that both had been transfered to AAB's bank account. LIE #2. I tell AAB that Paypal says the opposite of them and AAB just says I don't know what to tell you it's under review. Being that I had already talked to Paypal I just tell AAB that no matter what happened before the payments would be good to go in a couple days. This is when AAB tells me that the 4' is at the shipping company waiting for the one payment to clear. After weeks that I pretty much know the payments have been made I call the shipping company wanting to know how they were cool with a gigantic box taking up space in their workspace. The shipping company then tells me they have not picked up or had anything dropped off by AAB in months. LIE #3. They do say they have done business with AAB before though. About a month has passed at this point so I know I only have a couple weeks of Paypal protection left. I start getting more demanding with AAB even requesting a phone call instead of useless emails back and forth. After two or three no calls I finally get Jason on the phone. I should say by this time I have been emailing with both Jason and Juliann at AAB. Jason straight lies to me on the phone and even when I tell him that I know he's lying to me he just plays it off. Then I get an email from AAB saying they don't appreciate my accusing them of lying and scamming. They threaten to sue me for liable and slander, and say it would just be best to refund my money. After a week without any sign from Paypal that they were refunding my money I opened my claim. Being that I was dealing with Paypal and AAB's main argument was a Paypal payment didn't go through, I won my claim without AAB ever even responding. That's all and again I apologize for the long reply.

That sucks, If i was you and being as close as Philadelphia ,id be taken a mini road trip with a baseball bat to boston.. just a thought.. but I am going to am to a wedding today and my friends girlfriend lives in boston, so im gonna ask her about this place.

Philpenn · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:15 am

skaterboy wrote:

Being that you won your claim did you get your money back in the account? I heard if the paypal holder has no funds then you may win but not get the funds? Hope it works out. I think someone needs to call the local authorities. Good luck.

That was Paypal's old system. Now they refund your money into your bank account and if there's no money in the seller's account then they go the debt collector route.

I did get every penny back so at the end of the day I only lost time and brain cells. This needs to be stopped though.

CHIP* · **Joined:** Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:12 pm **Posts:** 415

it sounds crude and kinda lame but they might start giving in a bit if you start flooding their emails they might start paying proper attention. has anyone actually been to the AAB gallery in person?

gonedaddyfinch · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:42 am

I dont know if you guys read UPSOs thread on the sale page ...there's a link there explaining how ABB scammed Everlast ...and a guy in Germany that sent $18000 + for all 3 4'ers and never got his items or a refund .

ABB is in WAAaayy deeper than any of us knows ...the article said the guy in Germany already filed a criminal complaint... he's ( ABB ) definitely lookin at jail time if he doesn't make full resolution ...but that doesn't get any ones cash back :doubt:

Howies · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:55 am

Sorry Phillpenn , That you had to go thru this , But I did warn you

I am open to explain my situation, I don't understand why we all go thru this then he finally refunds some of us to date , it doesn't make sense? why would you try to screw everyone over then repay them eventually! it took me 4 months to get my money back.

Every time I would ask Jason and AAB about his Bad Rap. he told me there are 2 sides to every story, As He owned a Gallery i believed him,. no more !!

Thank God i got my money. As it doesn't look good from here on. i hope every one gets there cash and AAB is shut Down, as I was hanging on to $6000 in the end and probably divorce if it didn't come thru

gonedaddyfinch · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 11:03 am

Howies wrote:

Sorry Phillpenn , That you had to go thru this , But I did warn you

I don't understand why we all go thru this then he finally refunds , it doesn't make sense? why would you try to screw everyone over then repay them eventually! it took me 4 months to get my money back.

Every time I would asked him about his Bad Rap. he told me there are 2 sides to every story, As He owned a Galery i believed him,.

Thank God i got my money. As it doesn't look good from here on.

He's using the money from his new scams to pay back the earlier scammed sales ...the bubbles gonna bust sooner than later though ...I'm thinking he's about there now ...scumbag

SpecialKAC18 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:19 pm

dunnybunny wrote:

Mendez wrote:

wow man, sorry to hear and read all this. Has anyone posted all his alias' ? Maybe I missed it.

This is all the information I have on Art Asylum Boston:

Art Asylum Boston
35 Sutton Street, Suite #2
Lynn, MA 01901, United States
(617) 818-0724

Email: sales@artasylumboston.com

Jason Zenga (Director/Owner)
Juliann Cyhan

I also have their bank info... I won't post it up but if the authorities need it I have it.

fail2evolve · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:31 pm

As soon as my neighbor gets home, me him and his cousin are driving down there to see what the deal is, hopefully i'll be able to grab nstnate's and blackandgold's stuff (only people that have asked me). I'm not going looking for trouble, just trying to get my boy's ish back.

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