Warning fraud alert: Ed Twist, a.k.a. Patrick Keith Snyder has defrauded me and other

It really pains me to have to write this, because it marks the very first time in 15 years of doing business and transactions online where I have been defrauded. And not just a small amount either. The individual going by the moniker Ed Twist, whose real name is Patrick Keith Snyder, has been responsible for many of my sleepless nights over the past year. Another unfortunate fact is that I have now come in contact with others who have also become his victim. Finally, a recent search on Google shows that he has actually been arrested for federal mail fraud charges, so it is clear that he has done this on a larger scale, just not how large. The group of victims in the 1/6 collectors community I have found have incurred losses of over $15,000 collectively!


The most important point to this message is to warn as many people as I can so he cannot make any more victims. It is easy to set up new email addresses and new aliases, which is why I am including a picture of Patrick Keith Snyder as well as his address, and PayPal address so you will be able to identify him even if he changes accounts.


I do not do this lightly though, because I realize the impact this will have in the communities. However, I am now very sure of my facts. I can corroborate all my statements with video recordings of Facebook Video chats I had with him as well as my entire message history with this individual.
Of course, with the other victims I found, I know I have other witnesses as well. We have contacted the police and pressed charges which will be added to his record on top of the other fraud charges that have been leveled against him.


The pattern seems to be the same for all his victims. Some of whom have been in contact with him for years before problems arose. In my case, the first months went fine, where he delivered the prototype for a large order of imperial thrones I had ordered from him. He also sent me a few figures, including some custom work, so I thought he was legit. He said he was a veteran, who lost the use of his legs in the Middle East due to an IED, which softened me to him further. However, after those first months, I sent him a lot more money to produce the entire order, and that is when the troubles started.


I got story upon story of bad news, where he claimed to have been ripped of by mold makers, of deaths in the family and even reported an official break in with the police claiming that all his work have been stolen.
I have also found out today that he has been banned from certain groups for claiming the work of others as his own and selling on those figures for a ridiculous mark up.


The bottom line remains the same though, he never kept his promises and I am out thousands of dollars of my personal savings that I invested in this project. Just goes to show that you cannot be careful enough, so please make sure you know the identity of the people you are doing business with and that they are completely on the level.


I hope this statement will help people become safer in online transactions, and I also hope to hear from others who have fallen victim to his practices so we can build a stronger case against him.


I want to end this on a positive note though, because even though this is a sad moment for me, it is completely drowned out by the incredible amounts of positive energy I get from working for the wonderful people in the 1/6 collecting community, and I hope to be able to serve you for many years to come!


Your sincerely,
-Joost Assink
Jazzinc Dioramas

That sucks, but unfortunately, we are in a hobby where we seem to have mostly genuine people with which we share, but unfortunately, these kind of people seem to love to pop up from time to time to take advantage of the general trusting and good nature of collectors. Hopefully, since hes been charged you can recoup some of your loss.

Sorry to hear this man!
1/6th collectors AND the many groups are mostly all awesome guys...just 1 or 2 bad fruits in the bunch.
Hope you get things sorted Jazz

Sorry to hear that jazz especially coming from a stand up guy such as yourself. I have done business with you previously when you made the acrylic tiles for my xm magneto and thanos. I have never had any issues or problems with jazz during any transactions. That really sucks when good people get screwed over.

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Thanks for the Heads up Joost. Remember when you reported having troubles during your Emperor's Throne development. Collector's communities are certainly a place where this kind of individual sees a lot of potential for their scams.

Damn...sorry to hear this. Always one jackass ruining all the fun.

Just saw this.
https://www.mailtribune.com/news/20171116/men-who-bilked-immigrants-get-prison-time
Sheisty Bastard getting some time. Unfortunately he’ll probably only serve half.

What a creep. Even in that article in court he seems to have various excuses for his disability and his crimes. Faking his death? Oh man. It's amazing guys like this survive so long.

And his schemes are so varying. I mean, does he just look for a crooked angle in everything he does? Was he genuinely interested in 1/6th originally and then just realized the money was just too easy to steal?

Niltusk said:

we are in a hobby where we seem to have mostly genuine people

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ObiGlennKenobi said:

1/6th collectors AND the many groups are mostly all awesome guys...just 1 or 2 bad fruits in the bunch.

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This may be true, but I've only ever made two commissions (different artists, for head painting) and never received either of them after paying up front (losing the cost of the heads as well).

Must just be my rotten luck...

Really sucks to hear this happened to you OP.

Prime Clone said:

This may be true, but I've only ever made two commissions (different artists, for head painting) and never received either of them after paying up front (losing the cost of the heads as well).

Must just be my rotten luck...

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Nope, not your bad luck and it's not just a few bad apples. Read over the customs section and you'll see how many custom artists (and "run organizers"/"project managers") over the last ten years have such little regard for their customers or are outright thieves like Ed Twist. There's been so many custom pyramid schemes that turned out just like Ed Twist. They get greedy, take on too much work and use the incoming money to fund the previous project. Eventually the money runs out or they get tired of producing and a few people at the end are left hanging. Shady run organizers just take deposits (I like calling them no-interest loans) and flat out lie about deadlines (i.e., when they paid money directly to the artists doing sculpts or clothing). It only gets attention when a large group gets screwed, but when it's one or two people get screwed it flies under the radar.

Even some of the "well regarded" customizers completely rip people off and treat their customers like crap because people like their work so much.

The post below is from six years ago and absolutely nothing has changed about this pattern of scamming. Not one year has gone by without at least a few of these scams going down and countless screwjobs that are not publicized.

Dark Passenger said:

Has you or someone you loved been screwed over by a customizer? I have made a list of things to watch out for to see if you are going to, or already have, been screwed by your customizer. No one likes to be f'ed over. Follow these simple guidelines and you can at least prepapre to be screwed. It goes in easier if you're ready for it and see it coming.

#1- Customizer claims there has been a death in the family.
While this is a touchy subject, many customizers have a lot of grandparents somehow. Some have even had all 7 of their remaining grandparents die in one calendar year. While it may not be suspicious to some, this is an early warning sign that you may soon be getting screwed. Hard.

#2- Customizer has been in an automobile accident, and/or has been set on fire, and/or lost his home when a plane crash landed on it.
Apparently God hates customizers as He is always doing horrible things to them or their homes. If you haven't heard for your customizer in a while (see rule #3) and he finally gives his thread an 'update' that involves his home or himself bodily harm, prepare to be screwed. Hard.

#3- Customizer does not answer your emails or Private Messages (PM's).
Customizers really do get stuck with very crappy internet and phone service. Their email never works, they never get PMs with read receipts and always 'lose' your messages. I don't know what internet service they all use, but maybe it's time for them to switch over from dial up. If your customizer hasn't contacted you in a few months (or years), you may be getting screwed. Hard.

#4- Customizer says he shipped you out already or will ship you out soon.
Not only does God hate customizers, but so do postal employees. I have never sent something out that was never delivered. But postal workers are always losing customizer's packages or just decide to not ship it. If your customizer says you're shipping soon and it's been over a month, prepare to be screwed. Hard.

#5- Customizer says he will be refunding everyone's money.
Let's face it, most customizers are struggling artists who's primary income is customizing. They barely get by paying bills but always have extra cash for new figures, props, masks, or other collectibles. If you're awaiting a refund from your customizer and see he bought a brand new Cadillac Escalade on FaceBook, prepare to be screwed. Hard.

#6- Customizer hasn't logged in in over a month.
When they have a new head sculpt to sell they are on everyday and quickly answering PMs. For some reason, when they take all the money for everything, they always start to experience log in problems. If you check your customizer's profile page and see it's been over a month since there last log in, you may be soon to be screwed over. Hard.


These are just a few simple early warning signs. If you can answer yes to 2 or 3 of these prepare to be screwed. Hard.

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To be clear, there's some great custom artists out there, but there has clearly been a history of scams and poor treatment.

Wow. That's why I would never pay anyone to do any work for me. I read that it's common for customizers to take money from people and not deliver the product for 6 months or a year. There is no way I would be willing to pay someone for a custom sculpt for example if they can't produce in in less than a month. The way I see it they shouldn't be taking people's money unless they have the time to work on and complete the project. If you are busy with some other projects don't take people's money for new work.

Jazz, very sorry that this ended in a total bust with this jackass, but glad it hasn’t stolen your joy and you’re still plugging away at making awesome toys! Definitely will keep supporting you as long as you’re in the game.

As far as warning signs go, for painters, if they start to “tire” of a certain sculpt they’ve been painting a while on commission, also be prepared to get screwed. Any customizers that need YOUR money to float their project should be looked at with a raised eyebrow. Especially if they need your cash to fund the prototype. That’s also an early warning that they may be scamming. In this service industry, it’s customary to render the service prior to payment.

Oh yeah and we use to have this guy in the 1/12 community who was a vet, with cerebral palsy, and transportation issues, and internet connection problems, and his parents died, and.....always some ****.

Prime Clone said:

This may be true, but I've only ever made two commissions (different artists, for head painting) and never received either of them after paying up front (losing the cost of the heads as well).

Must just be my rotten luck...

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That does suck, most of my customs have been from Joe customizers over the years, but get some Batman stuff from time to time as well, never had a problem.

Sorry to hear this info, but thanks for the heads up!

One thing for sure, customizers should not taking a year to deliver any product. There is no excuse for it. If you are offering a custom,it should take no more than 3 months or so to finish it and get it out to the customers.Don't offer something that will take 1-2 years to get and while also taking full payment for something. Really,there is no excuse for any of it. It's poor business and people need to wise up about it.

tbay said:

The post below is from six years ago and absolutely nothing has changed about this pattern of scamming. Not one year has gone by without at least a few of these scams going down and countless screwjobs that are not publicized.

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Yep, that looks all too familiar!

teemu said:

One thing for sure, customizers should not taking a year to deliver any product. There is no excuse for it. If you are offering a custom,it should take no more than 3 months or so to finish it and get it out to the customers.Don't offer something that will take 1-2 years to get and while also taking full payment for something. Really,there is no excuse for any of it. It's poor business and people need to wise up about it.

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Exactly. I was shocked when I read about people paying in full then waiting a year for some customizer to complete and deliver the product. It's redicilous for these people to take money when they can't complete the work quickly.

Its disheartening to read about these scams. No matter where it is - some fat bearded prick like Mrs. Snyder is always trying to rob the good people.