By Mahsa Saeidi & Walter Smith Randolph
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NEW YORK (WCBS) — Two New York City women say they paid thousands of dollars for a cosmetics training course. Months later, they say they’ve been ghosted: no course, no calls and no contact.
They turned to CBS News New York investigator Mahsa Saeidi for help getting their money back.
NYC women paid $3,000 each for course with online influencer:
Online, she goes by just “Melanny.” The Florida-based influencer says she got rich doing permanent makeup, and with her course, you can, too.
“Three years ago, I was living in a homeless shelter,” she says in a video. “Today, I bought my second dream car, all cash.”
She claims to make $200,000 a month.
“I’m going to teach you everything that you need to know to generate $1 million in one year,” she says in a video that has been viewed 1.8 million times.
Those viewers include Ashley Landin and Michelle Echeverry.
“This makes me so mad,” Landin said. “That’s literally, I bet you, our money that we invested.”
“I hope she gets what’s coming for her,” Echeverry said.
Invoices from Melanny’s company, the Luxury Ink, show Landin and Echeverry each paid $3,000 for a class in New York City in 2024.
“I’ve seen her posts and I was really intrigued,” Landin said.
“I did see people, like, taking her courses,” Echeverry said, “so I just kind of figured that it was legit.”
“She markets herself as a millionaire, who helps people achieve financial freedom,” Landin said.
“It originally started at $6,000 [fee for a class], and then it was on discount for $3,000,” Echeverry said.
“She said that she’s flexible with payment plans,” Landin said.
“She sent me a link to, like, Square, where you make the payments,” Echeverry said.
Customers say influencer failed to contact them about promised refunds, reschedules:
The day before the course, Melanny canceled due to “emergency surgery.” In text messages, she said they could either request a full refund or take the course in Miami, in which case, Melanny said, “We will pay for your flight and stay.”
“I would just have to let her know 30 days in advance,” Landin said. “I let her know two months in advance, and I didn’t hear anything from her.”
“I was a little bit suspicious of it, so I did ask her for a refund,” Echeverry said. “And then, after a couple of days, she just stopped answering me.”
Saeidi called, emailed and messaged Melanny, but she has not responded.
Echeverry reached out to Melanny, as well.
“She just blocked me, at 1:39 p.m.,” Echeverry said.
Melanny has, however, been promoting another course set to happen next month in Dallas.
Saeidi called reporter Larry Seward from CBS Miami. He stopped by the address listed for Melanny’s business on Google and on invoices.
Unable to reach her, Seward went to her listed home address and spoke with a man who identified himself as Melanny’s stepfather.
“There are customers in New York and Long Island, Virginia, that they’ve paid her, but they’ve not been able to take the classes and we’ve been trying to reach her,” Seward told him.
“She lives here, but she’s not here right now,” the stepfather said.
The women did not have a contract with Melanny, or even know her full legal name. According to Florida state records, it’s Melanny Restrepo Herrera.
To do permanent makeup in Florida, you must have a tattoo license, complete a course on bloodborne pathogens and obtain biomedical waste generator’s permit.
CBS News New York reached out to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Department of Health to confirm whether she has the right qualifications. They have not gotten back to us.
Consumer advocate offers advice to avoid issues:
Teresa Murray is a consumer advocate at the United States Public Interest Research Group with advice that’s not on your feed:
– Always vet the influencer.
– Check licenses and references.
– Get a signed contract.
– Pay with a credit card.
– And act fast for a refund.
– “No buy now, pay later. No [peer-to-peer]. Not a debit card, not cash,” Murray said. “You have 60 days from the date of the statement that the transaction was on.”
Both Landin and Echeverry used Square, a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform to pay Melanny in installments.
A spokesperson told CBS News New York that Square deactivated Melanny’s account in December.
“Based on … ongoing assessments of merchants’ businesses, we may take steps in accordance with our policies, such as deactivation, to ensure the safety of our platform,” the spokesperson said.
They note the bank is the final arbiter of refunds.
“The banks are pushing back a lot, so don’t think that it’s just going to be automatic,” Murray said. “So hopefully your piece will help others not make the same kinds of mistakes, whether it’s about eyebrow tattoos or, or something else.”
Murray said in this case, she would file a police report and file a dispute with everybody.
Landin and Echeverry have both filed reports with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. A spokesperson said the agency is looking into whether they have proper jurisdiction.
Echeverry also filed a police report with the Suffolk County Police Department. She said they told her she needs to file a dispute with her bank instead.
Suffolk Police say there’s no update at this time.
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NYC women paid thousands for an influencer’s cosmetics course. They say she ghosted them. News Channel 3-12.
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