#commission scammer
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marshmallow-biscuit-blog · 3 months ago
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I got a scam commission from sandra9437. Starts off asking you to draw their son's dog, and being safe I said I only accept payment before hand, and that if I'm unable to do the commission I refund. But when it came to payment they wanted my email and I just don't trust that since paypal has the paypal . me link that works perfectly fine, and I researched it and yeah there's no reason they would NEED my email. It's just another option. They wanted to give me $200 supposedly which is obvious BS nobody's willingly paying an artist that much- So I guess, what i'm saying is watch out
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fiestylittlebeetle · 13 days ago
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Block @sublimewhispersbread they are a commission scammer. How do I know? This was sent to my art blog right after I used the general tags for artists on Tumblr and digital art and then immediately blocked my art account after I question them.
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killershrike · 4 months ago
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⚠️‼️ART SCAMMER WARNING‼️⚠️
Someone was very kind to dm me and point out why they think an artist I recently paid for commission is a scammer. I am very new to the commission world, so I didn't even realize art scammers existed, and didn't know any common tactics or ways to research.
Her x account is Maria_Phoebe_
Her Instagram is _maria_phoebe
Her Facebook is under María Phoebe
And her beechance is Maria Phoebe
This is her caard
Here are the samples she sent me, the first two I found on other sites through Google lens.
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The person who dmed me said that a big red flag is how the style varies, I stupidly thought the artist just liked to experiment in many different styles or had sent old pictures as well as new ones.
This is the most recent sketch of my oc she sent me, please let me know if anyone recognizes this as their own art or someone they know so I can apologize and let them know their art is being stolen. Hopefully this post can help other commission newbies like me not lose money and accidentally support a scammer!
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Don't be like me and pay a acammer for stolen work at worst, and not even quality worth what you pay at best. Do your research and try to find a legit artist before you lose money like me </3
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chickenhoops · 4 months ago
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Sorry for double posting but APPARENTLY those commission scammers have showed up on Tumblr at least for the first time for me.
For those who don’t know what I am talking about, there were/are commission scams going on in Instagram and even places like Artstation where people would pretend to be interested in your work and try to commission a pet or portrait for the sake of trying to get your bank details. Here’s how to (somewhat) sniff them out:
1- They don’t seem to be an average customer/ person that would be involved in your fandom, or has a blank template for an account or don’t even follow you.
2- They ask you to draw a portrait or a pet picture either for themselves or their children/family.
3- They promise to overpay you (in the hundreds) and do not listen to you even if you firmly state the price is cheaper.
4- They are constantly asking for your email name, or private details regarding things like banking details or passwords or other private information others should not know.
5- They try and over reassure you they mean no harm, try to guilt you into giving them the info, or become aggressive over you not giving them what they want.
What should you do if you come across one of these guys? My best advice is to block and report. Sadly these people jump account to account so there isn’t really much to do other than spread this info to prevent artists from being scammed.
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maikaartwork · 1 year ago
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Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers
There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.
How they begin
Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.
What to look out for:
Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.
Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 
They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.
They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.
Where the scam actually happens
If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 
Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.
A few things can happen here:
They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 
They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.
The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 
You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 
Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.
You can find more info on that method HERE.
What to do when you encounter a scammer:
Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.
Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 
Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.
Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 
Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 
Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 
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Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!
Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.
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leidensygdom · 4 months ago
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Commission scams: A guide on how to avoid them and find legit artists
Hello! I am writing this guide in order to hopefully help people spot scammers and art thieves, to teach people how to deal with them and to give people ways to actually get real artists for commission work.
For those who do not know, there is a recurring, extremely widespread type of scam where someone will advertise their commissions using stolen artwork, or (sometimes) traced or AI-generated pictures. This started (as far as I know) on Twitter, but it is currently in all sorts of social media (I have found them in Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Tumblr) and also on Discord servers, often large Discord servers requiring no invites or that are easy to find through Discord advertisement places.
These do obviously hurt both, the people seeking to buy a commission (who will either get their money stolen, or given a product that is not of the quality that was advertised), and the artists whose work is being stolen, who are not getting the work themselves. It is important for people to learn how to identify these people, and to quickly take action when possible. This post is kind of lengthy, so please press the Keep reading button below for the full guide! (And please do share this post around if possible- This is a very common scam and I have met far too many people who have fallen to it or have got their art stolen due to it, including friends and myself.)
So, how do they work? (in Social media)
In my experience, a lot of these scammers either run multiple accounts or are part of a larger scheme, operating in organized groups that follow similar tactics. They will very often use automated means to advertise en masse. Those in social media will make accounts that post some example artwork, often with a myriad of tags, in styles that do not match (see first example, featuring my stolen art :'')). They very rarely post anything that isn't stolen artwork, or have any actual real following they interact with properly. They will then very often spam heavily through replies (such as it happens in Twitter), posting hundreds of really similar messages in a short period of time. In the second example, you can see an account from one of these scammers that is using automated posts to garner attention, which are shared by similar accounts (notice the same exact wording between the first and third post). The third example (in the Replies tab) shows how one of this accounts replies "Hi" to every single message they get.
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They will often seek posts from people who are searching for commissions, answering them (often with a "I do commissions, DM me") or other variants of that. (They often only share their "art" on DMs to not be caught stealing by the original authors.) You can see an example of that on the first screenshot below. On Twitter, Instagram and pretty much any place where you can DM people, they may also come to your DMs, often starting with a "Hello" or something so you answer to them, and then they will suddenly share their commission information (as seen in the second picture).
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In any case, they rarely have publicly available commission sheets, and will only disclose their prices on DMs. They may share more stolen artwork in there. From there on, they will often speak in fairly broken English, and try to lead you to commission them. They will haggle the prices if they can- But they tend to be fairly steep, with them going up to $300 a fullbody, which tends to be unusual in people without a fairly established following or popularity.
They will often give you a payment method that does not allow for refunds- Such as sending the money to "Friends and Family" in Paypal. This is actually illegal for commercial work, so if you get an artist telling you to pay them through such a method, please do be incredibly wary: Professionals will use methods that do have an option for refunds.
2. How do they work? (on Discord)
On Discord, they will often enter in servers where there may be a place for them to advertise, or servers available through Disboard and other Discord-community searchable sites. Then, they will often not interact at all with the community itself, but they will jump to advertising channels and post about "seeking for work". I have found out that scammers operating on Discord do only very rarely also have socials, so look out for that. Do reverse searches if you can. Legit artists don't tend to join Discords solely to advertise, so look up "from: [name]" on Discord and check how they have interacted in the server, if they have done that in any way. See the first and second example for an example on how they behave. First example has art from @ydteus (in the second message, the dragonborn's source is unknown.) Second example is from one of these accounts who entered on a Streamers' Discord. Streamers and VTubers are very popular targets for these scammers. Third example (with art from absent_lambeth on instagram, and unknown for the second picture) shows another important point, which I'll explain below.
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Many of these scammers do not have solid commission sheets showing examples and prices for them. The third one even mentions "it is under construction", fully knowing a commission sheet is expected. Not every professional artist has them, but most do. It is often expected that people who do commissions will have some sort of Terms of Service at the very least, even if they do not have a commission sheet.
3. What do they do?
They scam you. You may never get any art from them. You may get traced art, or art that is not of the quality they advertised, because the art they used for promotion wasn't theirs on the first place. Or you may get an AI-generated picture, too. In either way: You will find yourself with +$200 less in your pocket and no way to seek a refund. So, it's very important you know how to spot them BEFORE they scam you. I have known people who have lost their money
4. How do I actually spot them?
Simply put, they do not act like normal artists would. Let's make a handy list of suspicious behaviours to look for, though.
Most people who draw commissions won't directly DM you unprompted to ask you to pay them for work. If you get such a DM- Report as spam and block.
Most of them don't act like bots, either. If you're on Twitter or similar pages, seek for extremely repetitive posts, hundreds of Replies in their Replies tab that are copypasted or very similar. If you see that, report as spam and block.
Reverse search is sadly very unreliable nowadays, but it does not hurt to try. A lot of them will modify the picture so it doesn't show in reverse search, but try it- And seek if it links to a different account with a different name.
As an ESL, I hate to say this, but the grand majority of them have really broken English, so look out for that. Not every person with broken English is a scammer, but it is something common amidst them. You will notice they fail to communicate general information. Try to ask them for Terms of Service, for example: They will probably be unable to provide you anything (if they do even understand you.)
You will rarely find them on your own unless you frequent specific tags, such as "commission" or "openforcommission". Or even using completely unrelated tags in their posts. I found one of them using a tag about someone's death to cop violence on their anime art. These people mostly only interact with their fellow scammers, but not with artists you'd find through other means.
As mentioned above, they won't provide you a payment method that allows for refunds the grand majority of the time. If someone tells you to send them money "as friends and family" in Paypal, or through something life Ko-fi's donations (although this one is rare), do not pay them. This is a general advice: Do not use payment methods that do not allow refunds for people you don't know.
Ask them for a commission sheet, a webpage, their Terms of Service and other things. Professionals should be able to provide at least one of these, usually.
5. What do I do if I find out they have stolen art/if my art has been stolen?
If you have found stolen art, let the original artist known ASAP if you can find them. Ask for help from friends if you cannot find them.
If you're the artist, DMCA claim. Every page has it, it is required for them to have it. If you search "dmca form (and the website's name)", it should show up. Bsky only has it in mail form right now, but it's there. A DMCA claim is a Copyright claim, and as long as you can show that you posted your picture somewhere before they did, you can do it. The form may seem scary, but it is not all that much. They will ask for your legal full name, address, a mail + a telephone, the url of the post stealing your art, an url to where you posted it first, and to sign/agree to some terms. DMCA claims tend to be processed swiftly (in about a day) because websites can get in trouble if they allow for copyrighted content to be stolen. And you actually do have rights to any picture you have created without needing to trademark it or anything.
You may also want to ask your friends to help you report the account and/or posts. Often, reporting it for spam will give you the best results. DMCA claims will take down the offending posts, but sadly, reports in most major places are rarely taken seriously, but they may limit an accounts' reach or auto-flag it as spam in DMs, so it is still a fairly effortless option to follow. DO still DMCA claim them though.
6. Where do I actually find real people to commission?
Your best bet is through other real people. Let me explain some good methods for this.
Do you have friends who are artists? Ask them if they have commissions open, or if they know other people who take them. Artists almost always know other artists, and they can quickly find you someone you can trust.
Did a friend of yours get a commission? Ask them who was it from if you like the style, and they may be able to get you a link to their social media!
Do you follow artists for any sort of content you're interested in? (General art, fanart/fandom stuff, people you look up to, etc). You can check their work first and see if they have commissions, or if they share art from other people, and then check those.
Scammers really don't partake in fandoms or have art-related posts go viral (some get some follower-begging bait going viral, but that's it). Chances are that, if you found a cool art in your dashboard or timeline, it is from a real artist.
I think places such as VGen need verification for artists and have ratings. I am not personally experienced with it, but you may want to check that out.
You can always ask people to double check with you if you found someone but are doubtful about them being legit. If you are part of any community, do ask there! If you have artist friends, tell them! A lot of artists are acquittanced with the scam issue.
I have seen people do lists of artists available for commissions in places such as bsky, too. These can be an option, but always do verify that the people doing the list in the first place do seem like an actual person.
Ending notes
This is a very long post, but I really wanted it to be very thorough. I would greatly appreciate if you could share it around, as it is a very widespread issue that not many know how to identify. If you do find out scammers in Discords, please DM the servers' admins and link them to this post so they can get banned, in order to prevent scamming and art theft.
If you have any question or you need someone to help you verify an artist being legit or a scammer, my DMs are open for that too. I have talked about this a bunch in other places and I am fairly experienced with these cases, and I would be very happy to be able to lend a hand and find you an artist, if you do need the help. Thank you for reading!
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savnofilter · 3 months ago
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TAROT SCAMMER
@adorastarot is a scammer, do not buy from her.
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As some of you know, I love supporting readers and people in general. If I have enough money, I'll more than likely buy from a small business or donate if I can. It's really a shame that I have to make a post like this because I have personally felt scammed by a reader on here.
I’ll try to keep it short. I have bought 4 readings from @adorastarot and have only received 2 of them. The second batch I had ordered when I knew she was on vacation (@adorastarot had even confirmed the purchase) so I expected a bit of wait at LEAST for that month, and wasn't knocking down her door for it because they were fun readings and nothing urgent. For about 2 months I would on and off forget that I purchased it and left it alone, which is a mistake on my part.
I didn't know there was a refund period (because I have never been scammed like this) so unfortunately, I missed the time to be able to get a chargeback. She has stolen $50 from me with no remorse. Typically I don't care what a reader does with the money they earn because it is up to the buyer if they would like to support them or not. But when you juke people out of their money, have no remorse and also only use your funds to go on trips (which is a luxury) is just so crazy to me. Imagine doing this while there are so many other readers out there who actually NEED the money.
I have tried contacting Kofi about this to no avail. Here are the screenshots of our last interaction. Keep in mind I have never had a bad experience with her before this.
And before anyone says anything, it's about the principle. Not only did I not receive an order, there was no communication as @adorastarot willfully posted on both her Kofi and Tumblr while not responding to my messages. I shouldn't have to do this over what is £35 to you.
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goreyskeleton · 3 months ago
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PSA FOR ALL TUMBLR ARTISTS!!!
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On Tumblr there’s these users who will private message you and pretend to be interested in your artwork just so you can tell them your personal information and then steal it from you. It’s usually blank blogs but basically if you provide an alternative way to do an art request that doesn’t involve sharing your private information THEN ITS A SCAM!!! This is the third time I got one of these mfs and the first two times I hadn’t even seen a post informing about the scam. Stay safe gang!!!
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bitchy-craft · 6 months ago
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SCAMMER ALERT
please help + update
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Hello everyone. I am here with a personal update on the scammer @ recoveringinternetaddict, who stole 200 euros from me and similar amounts from 2 other readers ( @starryfree and @tarotwithavi )
PayPal had told me 2 days ago that the chargebacks were permanently cancelled, and that I didn't need to worry about anything anymore. Yet they were lying.
When I woke up I got an email that one case I filed against was permanently chargebacked from me and given back to the scammer. 6 cases have been given back permanently so far. Meaning nothing was permanently cancelled and that I did have to worry about everything.
Please, for anyone reading this. I hate asking for help but if anyone wants to buy readings from me please do it now, I really need the help.
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local-dragon-haunt · 15 days ago
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PSA to my fellow artists!!!
With the holidays fast approaching it appears this specific commission scam is making its rounds again.
Below is a conversation I will be posting to help you all know what to look out for:
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So this account reached out to me under one of my recent posts. My first safeguard against scams like this (and just so I know the preferences of my ACTUAL clients) is to check the account that is messaging me:
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FIRST RED FLAG: No posts. No description. Default background, generic, probably stolen pfp. Robot City (But you all know this by now)
Now, I was like, 99% sure this was a scam right here. (shout out to that one twitter thread I read a few months ago. It helped me clock this account immediately)
But I decided to humor them on the off chance that this person just doesn't understand Tumblr culture. (please, please do not do this. I am petty and insane)
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RED FLAG #2: Notice the lack of references: asking me to draw something and then not sending any reference materials (something I explicitly state on my commissions spreadsheet).
This is a topic they will try to avoid (as you will see below), and ultimately what made them realize that I wasn't worth the effort. Always, always, always require references and style guides for any commission you get. Scammers' main goal is to spend as little energy as possible. they will not bother giving these to you.
Now onto Red Flag #3:
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Notice how they immediately aim for the most expensive option (which, for my commissions, happens to be fully rendered furry content). This is a red flag because not ONCE did they mention this was going to be anything other than a portrait. This is when I knew 100% it was a scam.
RED FLAG #4: Asking for personal information. I am begging you. I am begging, never EVER, EVER give out your personal information online. ALWAYS use a pseudonym. Change the subject. Do literally anything else. just DON'T. GIVE. THAT. INFORMATION. AWAY.
AND RED FLAG #5: Offering WAY more than I am asking for my services. Remember, kids: if something is too good to be true, it probably is!
it is here that you are going to want to block and report this account. Do Not Be Me. I am begging you. I am doing this for educational purposes. However. I have one more red flag for you guys:
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RED FLAG #6: Now, this very generous (/s) person is offering me $300 WHOLE DOLLARS just to draw a furry for them! That's so incredibly thoughtful!
...so why do they not care about the species, color, accessories, pose...ANYTHING about it? (It's because they don't care. They're not gonna pay you the money.)
Look, I can understand how flattering it is to be given full creative freedom on a commission, but you have to understand that this will almost never, EVER, happen to you. I'm sorry. It's the truth.
Anyways. That's all I got for you. Do me a favor, go ahead and block/report @mlaurel any any other cronies they're affiliated with. Also reblog this post if you feel so inclined. Keep your information safe. Get that bank! And Happy (safe) Holidays!
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sclappin · 17 days ago
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A Note About Scams and Commissions:
(This post is brought to you by a weird conversation that just happened in my DMs.)
I know that it's easy to get excited about receiving messages about potential commissions, and you may feel pressure, socially and/or financially, to take whatever you can get, and look past red flags if someone says they're willing to pay money for your art.
I want to remind you that if a client seems off to you, and the request raises red flags, you are allowed to say no to a commission request. (Hell, you can say no for any reason! Too complicated, too tight a turnaround for your liking, you simply do not want to draw what they're asking for! But especially if the request seems like there's something wrong with it).
I've encountered this most frequently with pet portraits, but I'm sure they can take other forms. Things I've seen in messages that raise red flags for me:
The potential client doesn't seem to know anything about you. They do not follow you, they do not know your commission rates or if you even have any. They are asking for subject matter you don't really do.
Pricing doesn't seem to matter to them. Details of the finished piece do not seem to matter to them. (This is because they do not want the piece and have no intention of paying you. I believe these are planned to be overpayment scams).
The blog they're contacting you from is very new, and has like one post.
They get very, very defensive and angry if you question the legitimacy of the business transaction. Like if you tell them you don't accept e-checks, or require partial payment up front because you worry about getting scammed, they lose their minds.
They try to make you feel insecure about your art, or remind you that you need the money. This is an attempt to pressure you into accepting the shady commission. I've never had a legit client do this.
I've never had a scam client get as far as getting any money from me, but I've fallen for one long enough that I put several hours into a drawing that I'll never get back before the "client" got really pushy about e-checks. I've had others that seem like they're trying to phish for my personal info. But mostly, it appears that the plan is to overpay the artist, demand the extra amount be returned, and then cancel the original transaction (or have the check bounce) after the artist has sent the "return" payment, so the artist no longer has the original payment AND is short whatever "surplus" amount they "returned" to the client/scammer.
Having this sort of thing happen can be really embarrassing on top of the monetary/labor loss, so people don't always speak out about it, but I feel like it's important to!
(And on that note, if you for some reason want me, an illustrator who mostly draws old-timey riffraff, video game people, and professional wrestlers, to do a picture of your cat: you gotta be normal in my DMs.)
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purplebehittindifferent · 3 months ago
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LOLLLLLL BRO GOT MAD I EXPOSED HIM AND BLOCKED ME
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scam-alerts · 24 days ago
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❗❗Scam Update❗❗
Previously on... 🔎Scam Exam(ination)🔍
Seen as: I would like a commission of my son/pet... Scam Type: Commission Scam
Please read this post for a complete rundown of this scam.
While browsing #scams on tumblr earlier today, I saw a post from the wonderful and very talented @louksna-0 where they were calling out a scam account that seemed to be running the art commission scam.
After messaging them.. I found out something... interesting.
The scammers are now changing their script.
@louksna-0 was kind enough to answer some questions and help explain their interactions with this scammer with me, and even provided me with some screenshots which I'll show you all as well.
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Part 1 - How it start(s/ed)
Note: @louksna-0 has told me that due to being blocked, they cannot access their conversation with this scammer, but they were kind enough to detail their conversation with me to the best of their ability. :)
@scam-alerts: When this person messaged you for a commission, what did they ask you to draw? What was your response, and what sort of images did they provide?
@louksna-0: They asked me to draw two cartoon portraits of a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair, it was 2 photos, but the second seemed to be taken from a video, not a photo itself. I told her alright, the two were separate drawings, one for $18, the other $20. $38 in the end. She started pressuring me for the details of the commission to get the process finished, being cold and even rude.
@scam-alerts: Did you tell them a price first, or did they offer you money first? Was this amount higher than normal, or was it the price of your commissions?
@louksna-0: I told them the price first, they didn't offer a price to pay. They were pressuring me to tell them the final price.
@louksna-0: I say them because although the profile seems like a girl. Her account of PayPal, email confirmation and Tumblr were all different. So I can't really say their gender. Her profile said Elizabeth, her email said mayes Mary, and her PayPal account said Margaret castro.
These were the screenshots provided to me:
image 1 - The scammer getting very persistent in having @louksna-0 check their spam email for confirmation that the money was sent.
image 2 - The different names that appear on the PayPal, blog, and email (in that order.)
Image 3 - A screenshot of the fake email. (the same exact one that can be seen in the previous scam exam(ination) report.
Image 4 - This one is.. odd. @louksna-0 says that this was sent to them by the same email with a request telling them to send a refund, yet it has a very odd and fishy looking link. (they did not click on it.)
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Part 2 - Examining the Evidence
From what it looks like, the scam is pretty much the same 'I want you to draw my <thing>' scam except now they've switched from:
can you draw my son / daughter / pet. to can you draw this cartoon character*
*They might look at blogs now and see what an artists 'style' is to get a grasp on what an artist can do before trying to run this scam? Since not all artists can draw kids and/or pets? So that might be worth keeping an eye on.
They've also switched from:
Offering you a very large amount of money. to accepting commission prices to seem unsuspicious.
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Part 3 - What you should do now
🚩Red flags still present🚩
Blogs sending these asks are either blank or bare in one way in another. Little to no reblogs, maybe 'one' picture or two posted. In this case the scammer just had a picture of a dog that probably isn't even theirs.
They will refuse to pay with any other method than PayPal.
The purpose of asking for your real name and your PayPal email is just so they can make a fake email to scam you.
Stop. Read the email very carefully. Think about what it's asking you.
'you are to send (name) money to expand your account.' You are to send someone money, to get money.
You can't just 'expand' your account by sending another user money. That's not how PayPal works.
Emails from these scammers will always show up in your spam folder because they are not from the real PayPal service. They are 100% fake. Only trust emails about PayPal from a @paypal.com email address. Any email claiming to be from PayPal ending in a gmail/hotmail/yahoo.com address is. a. scam.
Always check your PayPal account via the website or App for issues before responding to someone and certainly before sending anyone money. If you see no issues, there are no issues.
Never click links in an email you get during or after interacting with a stranger when money is involved. If someone asks: 'did you get the email?' Check your spam folder.' Make sure you click the link to fix your account.' It's a scam. And they're probably trying to hack you.
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Final thoughts:
Remember, take screenshots and report these users to the websites they are running these scams on. If they DM you on tumblr? Report the DM. If they do it on insta, bsky, twitter or even discord?
Make sure you report them there too.
ALSO: Beware of recovery scammers. This is anyone coming into your DM's telling you they can 'help you get your money back' after you made a post talking about how you got scammed. These scammers are just looking for a quick buck.
I've got a whole post right here talking about what one looks like.
Take care and stay vigilant.
And thanks again to @louksna-0 for being a dear. <3
Other helpful guides on spotting scams. (by @kyra45)
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temiree · 4 months ago
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Heads Up on an Art Commission Scam!
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I'm getting a bunch of scammers in my IMs trying to pull the fake cheque scam on me by commissioning me. Red flags are:
An account that's new or has no identity 🚩
They talk to you as though they're following a script (eg. I say that I'm closed for commissions, but they continue anyway) 🚩
Asks you to draw something you don't normally draw (eg. their pet dog for their son's birthday) 🚩
Offers to pay you in a cheque for way more than you charge (usually hundreds of dollars more) 🚩
The idea is that you deposit the cheque, and then they ask you to send some of it back to them or to another person. The cheque is fake, and it will bounce days to weeks later. If you send any money back, that money will be gone from your account, plus the full amount from the fake cheque once it bounces. At that point, the scammer has just succeeded in getting real money from you, and will disappear to find a new victim.
As a rule of thumb, I don't take cheques as payment for art commissions.
For more info, here is an FTC page on how to spot fake cheque scams: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams
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zephyrbug · 7 months ago
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I'm really annoyed I have to make this post but let me be very clear! I am not on discord promoting commissions anywhere! If you see someone posting my artwork it is not me!! Especially cause my username is ZephyrBug, any other name is not my account! It is a scam!!
With that being said thank you to the people reaching out and letting me know, it helps a lot! Here's an example of someone doing it in two septate discords using my old art. (I have already asked this person to stop and thus far they have been kicked out of both of these servers but considering they keep doing this I just have to warn people at this point.)
Stolen work: brought to you by user elenor_henry. on discord :,)
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Original Work: brought to you by my Instagram!
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So reminder to reverse image search people promoting random commissions who don't have social media linked or art styles clearly done by different people!
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omeletcat · 2 months ago
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So i get this one art scam a lot, a person asks if i am open for commisions and then asks me to draw their sons pet, i get these a lot, i actually got another one WHILE i was making this post, but these bots? have been getting way more advanced, so i tried fucking with it a bit.
and like, no real person would ask a pixel artist, who mostly does video game sprites for a drawing of their childs dog? especially if i give them the option to draw a sexy furry dogman. right?
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