It took an additional two to three months for the fraudulent account to be removed from the website after Lee and her followers reported it.
One way to verify a reborn doll’s authenticity is to consider its price. The scammers were selling their imitations for US$220 each, while her dolls were priced at about US$1,500 at the time.
“So if you see something at that price range, … you can’t expect (dolls that are) very realistic, high-quality,” she advised.
TURNING DOLLS INTO DOLLARS
According to Lee, her unconventional career path had been a long time coming.
As a child, she had a passion for realism painting and drawing. Her father, however, was not supportive of her artistic ambitions. He believed a career as an artist would be difficult and unlikely to yield a good income.
So she set aside her dreams, focusing instead on work and raising four children. It was not until 2021, after her youngest child completed her Primary School Leaving Examination, that Lee found some time to rekindle her love of painting.
She enrolled in a one-day beginner course in acrylic painting and later participated in a workshop on reborn-doll painting. As she shared progress photos of her dolls online, she started receiving inquiries from collectors interested in buying her creations.
