Okay, Iâm getting a bit tired of this, so,
Itâs probably been said by someone else before, but I might as well say it again.
If youâre an artist (like me!), there are GONNA be people trying to scam and phish you. Here are the red flags for it that Iâve seen here on Tumblr.
Someone COMMENTS on your art post, WITHIN THE HOUR IT WAS POSTED, asking if youâre available for commissions. Normal people that are ACTUALLY looking for a commission will usually just go straight to messages, but scammers canât do that since you canât mass-message the same thing.
The person in question isnât following you and doesnât have anything on their blog
If you DID message them, they give you an absurdly high budget, unprompted, usually in the hundreds range
Notably poor grammar (though this isnât really a red flag on its own), and them asking for something generic like a drawing of a pet, family member, or themself
Some sort of âtechnical difficultyâ with payment that requires you to give them some sort of private information or banking info to fix. NEVER trust an email like [email protected], thatâs a SURE sign of a scam
And remember, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask for at LEAST 50% payment upfront! Itâs just good practice.
And one last thing: you donât need to feel bad about ignoring, blocking, or reporting a scammer. I know from experience that itâs a bit too easy to get your hopes up with âmaybe this actually is a real person that likes my art, itâd be so rude to just stop messaging them.â Just BE CAREFUL.
All that said, sorry for the visit to yapsville. There will probably be more in the future though (notice how this is Moth PSA #01 lol)
Stay whimsical, and stay SAFE!
This was an official message from your local Mothman.