Grieving TikTokers are warning others about con artists who claim they can make memorials out of ashes but then hold the ashes for ransom.
Kari Ide, a resident of Tennessee, told USA Today that in December, a TikTok artist who went by “Chad” offered to incorporate her mother’s ashes into a painting for free. According to her confessional TikTok video, she suspected a hoax only after sending the body parts to Georgia.
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In a video, Ide explained that she had sent the scammers her mother’s cremated remains.
The artist revealed to Ide that he had secured a contract to carry out the project in Cambodia during their discussions of the latter. However, according to USA Today, she received a disturbing email from someone pretending to be Cambodian customs after sending her mother’s ashes to a Georgia address.
They claimed to have Ide’s mother’s ashes and a painting in their possession but demanded that she pay a “clearance fee” of $3,576. In a January TikTok post titled “I got Scammed….He stole my Mom’s Cremation Remains,” Ide explained the incident and said she immediately called the police.
According to USA Today, Cronin said that a woman contacted her after she commented on one of “Chad’s” videos, offering to give her a portrait in exchange for the shipment of her late husband’s ashes. After Cronin paid the fee, she received an email similar to the one Ide received, requesting another $3,576 for clearance.
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Cronin stated, “My heart is crushed” in a TikTok video she posted in January. My husband’s remains have been taken. Wendy Bailey of Alabama told USA Today in December that she was also a victim of the artist’s scam when he asked for an online shoutout in exchange for artwork made from her grandparents’ ashes. After sending the cremains to the Georgia address, the artist approached Bailey for $200 to cover the cost of materials.
When Bailey declined, the artist said he had already shipped the ashes to Cambodia and that she owed him $1,000 to get them back.
It seems that Ide wasn’t the only one who fell prey to the anonymous TikTok con artist. Jocelyn Cronin, of Petaluma, California, said in a video that she had sent her late husband’s ashes to the same Georgia address just days after she told her story.
Cronin told USA Today that a woman contacted her after she commented on one of “Chad’s” videos, offering to give her a portrait in exchange for the shipment of her husband’s ashes. After Cronin paid the fee, she received an email similar to the one Ide received, requesting another $3,576 for clearance.
Cronin stated, “My heart is crushed” in a TikTok video she posted in January. My husband’s remains have been taken.
Wendy Bailey of Alabama told USA Today in December that she was also a victim of the artist’s scam when he asked for an online shoutout in exchange for artwork made from her grandparents’ ashes. After sending the cremains to the Georgia address, the artist approached Bailey for $200 to cover the cost of materials.
Artist said he sent the ashes to Cambodia and Bailey would have to pay $1000 to get them back after she declined his request.
