Is it safe doing tattoo guest spot in Bali safe?

Hi all,

I'm Indonesian but resides in Singapore. My boyfriend is a tattoo artist who is planning to do guest spot in Bali. We got in touch with a studio manager and get the planned detail including registration to the authority/immigration.

However, my parents who lives in Jakarta warned me that there has been an escalating trend of a group of people called Laskar Bali, a legal group, doing sweeping for tattoo studios/artists and the foreign customers, end up asking local businesses to do payment. My parents vehemently told us not to do guest spot in Bali, saying the news about this Laskar Bali has been quite strong recently in the news.

Is this true? The studio manager did ask a small fee for the registration and paperwork, so we assume it might serve as some necessary "fees".