Fact Check

Baby Ink

Does a company called Baby Ink tattoo babies?

Published July 7, 2003

Claim:

Claim:   The Baby Ink body art chain specializes in tattooing babies and children.


Status:   False.

Origins:   Yet another web site has sprung up for the sole purpose of shocking the unsuspecting: Baby Ink, purporting to represent "a body art chain to cater to toddlers and children" where babies as young as 6 months can receive tattoos. This one is easily exposed as a leg-pull:


  • The domain registration info is bogus (an address of "1234 ABC Lane" and a non-working phone number).
  • None of the putative Baby Ink locations that were listed on the web site included phone numbers, nor was any address or phone number information for "Baby Ink" available through directory assistance or phone directories in the cities named. Why go to all the trouble of operating a business and putting up a web site, only to make it impossible for potential customers to contact you? (Hint: actually listing phone numbers would have made this site too easy to identify as a hoax, so they were omitted.)

  • The addresses listed for the various Baby Ink locations are phony as well. 743 Rainier Ave. in Seattle is the address of a Wal-Mart store, as is the 2301 Wellesley Ave. address in Spokane. 4101 Crenshaw Blvd. in Los Angeles is a Macy's department store.

The web site of the babyink.com domain's registrant, Channel933, confirms that the Baby Ink site was an April Fool's joke. As of 2005, the domain is up for sale.

Last updated:   29 October 2007


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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