BEWARE: Makeup Artist Scam

BEWARE: Makeup artist SCAM. Anika Stehr, Tisha White, Julia Wigal are the names that someone is using to SCAM makeup artists using my photos. This is NOT me but they are using my photos to pretend to book makeup for a wedding for them and their bridesmaids. DO NOT ACCEPT MONEY FROM THIS PERSON! DO NOT SEND THIS PERSON MONEY! DO NOT SEND THIS PERSON YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION!

Over the past year or so, makeup artists have been reaching out to me on Instagram to ask if I am booking services for an upcoming wedding. Unfortunately, someone has stolen my photos from Facebook and is pretending to be looking for a makeup artist in order to scam people. This is NOT me. Someone is using my identity to try to steal money from people. One hair and makeup artist that recently reached out to me suggested that I write a blog post about this so that others can easily find out that it’s a scam right away before getting in too deep. Most of these artists found me by doing a reverse image search and ending up at my website. Thank goodness that really old photo of me from 2016 still lives in the metadata of this website. I have been contacted by at least 60 people on Instagram over the course of the past year but who knows how many other small business owners they have targeted. It seems to be directed at makeup artists.

Some of the names that this person has used are Tisha White, Anika Stehr, and Julia Wigal. Some of the email addresses and phone numbers they have been using are: jp0303040@gmail.com, 323-795-4587, jbrash2019@gmail.com. They have been using multiple different emails, names and addresses to keep the scam going. They are using addresses of houses that are up for sale. It seems like they are targeting one geographical area at a time and then moving on to another one. The inquiries are starting on email. The tactic they are using is to book services with these makeup artists and then “overpay” on Zelle, Venmo, MoneyGram, or with a written check. Then they are asking the service provider to refund the difference. They are not paying the makeup artists with real money to begin with, so the refunds they are receiving is just them stealing money from the makeup artists.

Here is an example of an email that they have sent:

Hello,

How are you doing? Thank you for getting back to me.

I'm Tisha White, and we are having our wedding party on the 31st of January (Wednesday) and it's happening in our home, we are expecting a few families and friends but I would like to have a good memory of that day. I'm looking for a make-up artist for myself and 4 bridesmaids. Our address (4806 Limerick Dr, Tampa, FL 33610), We just rented it as we are relocating to the city from Honolulu, HI. My fiance works with the United States EPA on private research work and he just got transferred, so we are moving in before our wedding day.

Trial would have been good but I am not available due to my busy schedule and my friends and I are even planning an Istanbul (Turkey) trip in a few days time before my wedding. You are going to make up for me and 4 bridesmaids on that day in our house. What's your standard rate and what does that include? What beauty products do you use? Do you have a portfolio? About the portfolio, I have no problem if you don't have one, I just need makeup that lasts and looks good.

The wedding ceremony is starting by 5pm, I would like to know the time you will be able to arrive. Let me know your transport cost as well because I'm going to take care of that too. I hope to hear from you and I just attached my pictures as well.

These are my photos that they are using to scam people:

They are calling this My friends and I.jpg

They are calling this Me.jpg

I have contacted the police about this and they said that there is not much I can do because this person is not stealing any money from me, so it is up to the people that they are targeting to report it. I have filed a formal report with my local police. Others have suggested finding a lawyer to contact them with a cease and desist.

As of now, the best course of action to take would be to REPORT them as a spam in Gmail or whichever email service you use. You can also file a Fraud Report with the FTC. I would so appreciate it if you would file a report if you were targeted by this person. I will try to keep this blog post updated with any future information and am trying my best to put lots of photos and keywords in it so that comes up early when you search for any of this info online. If you are a makeup artist, please spread the word in your community about this scam!

Here are some more screen shots that other makeup artists have sent me of the emails that they’ve received.