RIPOFF ALERT: 50Yen aka Keiyo/Kenzaki Tsukayama - Baltimore/Maryland

Well, in light of Incantation's RIPOFF ALERT THREAD, I figure I should speak up about someone too.

His info
keiyo.jpg

Name: Keiyo Tsukayama (sometimes referred to as K or Kenzaki)
Emails: sexwrestling@gmail.com, kenshiro@centurysendsavior.com
Website/blog: http://www.centurysendsavior.com aka http://www.henshinhobby.com [hasn't updated in a year]
Address: I know his old one, which is in Baltimore, but has since moved to a new address in Baltimore (or near it)
Phone number: [will post this if it comes to it]

His girlfriend's info
Name: Jackie aka RukawaGF
Phone number: [will post this if it comes to it]
Website/blog: http://rukawagf.livejournal.com [still active]
Cosplay Profile: http://www.acparadise.com/acp/display.php?a=29925 [lots of pictures of her]

I was introduced to this guy by fellow sk'er Maiku. I've met Maiku before (in person), and we talk on AIM/gchat a lot. Maiku is trustworthy, and I don't hold him against this, because Keiyo has also strung Maiku along for a ride over the years. Keiyo has owed him tons of merchandise, but since Maiku and Keiyo are "friends" in real life (they used to go to anime conventions together and so forth), and because Maiku also lives nearby Keiyo, Maiku was FINALLY able to meet up with him and get his goods. So Keiyo did finally come through for him, 5 years after the fact. What a great friend Keiyo is... finally coming through for a "friend" 5 years down the road. Stand up fellow, ain't he?

Now for me, I have never met Keiyo. However, we used to chat on the phone for many hours, as well as on AIM. There would be times we were talk about Berserk, statues, kits, and so forth once a week, for months straight. He was actually very knowledgable in the figure / hobby world. He had a lot of inside information and connections (supposedly). He knew the names of each sculptor at Art of War, and he knew which sculptor sculpted which statue. It was interesting info, and it made me trust him more.

Basically, he was an expert. Like, he really knew his shit, dating to kits and figures 20 years old. And he always boasted about his connections. And since, I got into hobby collecting in early 2000, I was missing a backlog of 10 years of Berserk kits. He said he could get a lot of these kits for me, through various collector friends he had. So naturally, I took the bait.

His story, was similar to Oliver's, in the sense Keiyo kept telling me "My friend has your kits, he'll ship them out to you soon, but he's been busy". Over and over again "Yes, he's in the middle of moving so his stuff is in storage, so he can't get to your kits right now, but when he does, he'll ship them to you". Similar stories each time, rinsed and repeated. And sure enough, Keiyo just stopped responded to me.

But it wasn't just me and Maiku that got ripped off. Check this out... There was this ebay account back in 2005, "rasputins_ghost1976" who was selling a TONS of anime resin statues (by the hundreds). Epoch, Kaiyodo, Volks, EVERYTHING. And for a few months, they were getting all positive feedbacks. Suddenly, after selling a huge chunk of auctions, for rare statues, for a shit ton of money... ALL OF THEM RECEIVED NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS, and none of the auction winners got their merch. People were ranting in statue forums everywhere about this account. Also, fellow sk'er EndLeSS8 warned me about them (as I was about to bid on one of their auctions), because EndLeSS8 exchanged a few emails with them and felt like something was shady. So because of his advice, I decided not to buy. Good looking out.

Turns out, EndleSS8 forwarded me an email exchange he had with rasputins_ghost1976 (email name was Lester Romero), and his email address was... wait for it... rasputin@centurysendsavior.com . So naturally, I brought this up with Keiyo. BTW, this whole scam happened during the time I started to get to know Keiyo (via phone/AIM). Keiyo told me, that ebay account was linked to one of his colleagues, that did indeed scam a whole bunch of people, took all the money from the ebay auctions, and framed Keiyo and others for it. Essentially, Keiyo profusely denied his involvement in it, and has since cut ties with him. Seeing how much we were chatting at the time, and how I honestly felt like we were friends, and that we had a mutual friend, Maiku, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, as that is what friends do...

Later in 2005, Keiyo asked me to sell some stuff for him on sk.net. I wish I didn't do this, but thankfully, it seemed like everyone got their stuff. But that is the last time I would ever do something like that for someone else. He had a few AOW statues that he wanted my help to get rid of. You can see the thread HERE. Fellow sk'ers Rhombad and -rob- purchased stuff from him, and both of them had complications with him. It took them a long time to get their merch, but they finally did get them. Looking back, I find it interesting that whenever he sells/trades stuff, he does it "through a friend". In this case, me being the "friend".

BTW, Rhombad, if you have anything to add about your transactions with him, please let me know.

Also, Tirade, I believe you have done some Trading Card transactions with him too, right? If you have any info about your experience, please share.

Finally, I did some more research earlier this year. So, in 2005, his paypal address was: johnny_anime_ebay@yahoo.com . That email is debunked now, however, another email tied to that paypal account still works. I filed a paypal claim against all these transactions, and then I received an email from that other email tied to the account. I won't release his info, because he was actually a big help to me. AND GUESS WHAT, here's what he wrote to me:

"How are you doing mate? You do seem to be quite annoyed and I feel you. When I was younger, unfortunately I was idiot enough to allow my so-called friend, Keiyo to use my Paypal account. He since screwed me quite badly and owes me money for a certain incident. I have not spoken to him in over 5-6 years"

Well look at that. ANOTHER "friend" Keiyo fucked over. Keiyo Tsukayama... class act, huh?

Anyhow, it was after this paypal claim, where I was finally about to get a hold of Keiyo, and where he sent me $500 of the $1500 he owes me. FUNNY THING, the paypal account that sent me the $500 wasn't his either. It was his friend's. I wonder if I should warn that account holder of Keiyo's history of screwing over friends.

After I received that $500, Keiyo called me, and had the NERVE to chat with me, like nothing was wrong. "Oh hey Derek, long time. How you been? How's the music going? Enjoying New York?" BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Anyhow, I'm going to keep trying to get my money back. And I'll keep hassling him until I do. And hopefully, one day, Keiyo Tsukayama will grow some balls and restore some honor to his dirty deceitful life.
 
Damn, sorry to hear you've had this ongoing for years now. Thanks for bringing it up, I think it's important for the rotten apples to be separated so we can watch out or we're warned about em. How did you manage all this time ... super~patience?!! His girlfriend seems pretty active online, it's a shame there's no help from her or any response the guy. I hope he sees this topic and there's some progress.

I googled him and found ...

KenzakiTsukayamaKeiyoRipOff.jpg


... I can't read the comments about his fraud, but on the website it says it was last edited 3 weeks ago which I think means he's probably active on there? I don't know much of how blog comments work, whether they're auto deleted or not.

After I received that $500, Keiyo called me, and had the NERVE to chat with me, like nothing was wrong. "Oh hey Derek, long time. How you been? How's the music going? Enjoying New York?" BLAH BLAH BLAH.
What a cheeky douche! >_<
 

turkitage

ターク
man... that's horrible Derek. I'm sorry. :judo: I think we should stick Nightcrawler on this guy and the other guy Incantation dealt with too.

Btw.. you have CRAZY good stalking/CSI skills... remind me not to mess with you!
 

Tirade

Hai Yai, Forces!
DirectDK said:
Also, Tirade, I believe you have done some Trading Card transactions with him too, right? If you have any info about your experience, please share.

I know this is an older topic, but I suppose I should include my dealings with 50Yen. As Derek stated, I did trade berserk cards with him. Also sold him a few cards. Not surprisingly, he was veeery slow in making trades. We agreed upon a big card trade back in October of 2005. I foolishly sent my cards to him right away. I ended up waiting until Jan of 2006 to get the cards he traded me. Lots of excuses - school, travel, and the likes. After that, I did briefly chat with him on the phone up until July of 2006. I needed some cash and ended up selling a Griffith Illustration Autograph card to him (big regret there). I had no further dealings with him after that. Based on this thread, I'd say I was one of the lucky ones to have dealings with him.
 
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