MeowImaCow

A little bit of art, selfies, and random shit every once in a while

[qbalchemist]

Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse. Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars. Reblog & Share

[grispinne]

Might as well be on the safe side

If you’re getting out of the blue messages from “me” that ain’t me, I don’t think I’ve sent anyone a message that wasn’t in response to something they said first in at least a year

Stay smart yall

[khnart]

I don’t do comissions unless I am sought out. If I ever open them, I’ll obviously post something about it. Reblogging just in case, better safe than sorry!

[taytei]

The ONLY time I will ever approach someone about commissions is if you have already come to me expressing interest, and I’m just checking in to see if you’re still interested. No other circumstances

[faithfulwhispers-art]

I don’t ever message anyone first about commissions. If you get a random message from me, it’s really not me.

[talesofturtles]

I have not sent out any messages so if you think you’ve received one, it is fake. Contact me directly. Usually I let you guys come to me anyways.

[gorillaprutt]

I am NOT taking commissions right now. I DON’T send out messages about commissions either.

[musinvenusian]

Black people with vaginas who are pregnant I urge you to find a black doula or a midwife to help with delivery. The medical community is extremely racist and contributes to mortality of black infants and those giving birth.

There is legit a medical bias that black people feel way less pain than other races, so our pain is taken way less seriously. We could be in a life or death situation and the yt doctors and nurses will brush off our pain.

It happened to Serena Williams also (look it up).

Medical bias against black and brown people is very much real.

And I would recommend reading the Medical Apartheid it delves deeper into the racist medical community that is still prevalent to today

[chill-aries]

“According to the CDC, black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. Put another way, a black woman is 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes. ”

From this article: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why

Here’s a link to the 1a page on this subject. Has a podcast about it as well as a link to Serena Williams discussing this:

https://the1a.org/shows/2018-05-14/why-u-s-maternal-death-rates-are-so-high-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

[musinvenusian]

^^^Bless for the extra info!

[jovan]

[drakeshady]

I know most people don’t care, but here’s the real answer.

Snapchat built a shitty Android app. On iOS, Snapchat uses the phone’s camera directly to take a picture, ensuring the highest possible quality.

On Android, Snapchat opens the camera, but then takes a screenshot, instead of telling the camera to take a picture. This means that the camera never gets to adjust it’s focus and lighting, or provide stabilization to the picture. Instead, you get the best that shaky human hands can get, which means low quality pictures.

Due to the popularity of Snapchat, this difference actually spreads the superiority complex of iOS. Android manufacturers have been innovating new hardware since the creation of cell phones. Apple only upgrades when they’re worried about being seen as outdated, or they need “new features” to push their phone. It also shows that iPhones are a status symbol, that have no reason to be as expensive as they are.

To be fair to Apple, they’ve built a consistent ecosystem. If you have an iPhone, you can pick up any other iPhone and know how it works. Android is different by design however, with literally anyone free to modify it as they want to. Whether that is to fit certain hardware, or add new features, or meet a specific artistic design, Android has more total devices, support for more hardware configurations (even laptops) and is available for anyone to use however they want.

Snapchat made a deliberate poor design decision, and should shoulder the blame for their shitty app. But that would require supporting the largest userbase in the world over their elite base of iPhone users.

[jovan]

[drakeshady]

I know most people don’t care, but here’s the real answer.

Snapchat built a shitty Android app. On iOS, Snapchat uses the phone’s camera directly to take a picture, ensuring the highest possible quality.

On Android, Snapchat opens the camera, but then takes a screenshot, instead of telling the camera to take a picture. This means that the camera never gets to adjust it’s focus and lighting, or provide stabilization to the picture. Instead, you get the best that shaky human hands can get, which means low quality pictures.

Due to the popularity of Snapchat, this difference actually spreads the superiority complex of iOS. Android manufacturers have been innovating new hardware since the creation of cell phones. Apple only upgrades when they’re worried about being seen as outdated, or they need “new features” to push their phone. It also shows that iPhones are a status symbol, that have no reason to be as expensive as they are.

To be fair to Apple, they’ve built a consistent ecosystem. If you have an iPhone, you can pick up any other iPhone and know how it works. Android is different by design however, with literally anyone free to modify it as they want to. Whether that is to fit certain hardware, or add new features, or meet a specific artistic design, Android has more total devices, support for more hardware configurations (even laptops) and is available for anyone to use however they want.

Snapchat made a deliberate poor design decision, and should shoulder the blame for their shitty app. But that would require supporting the largest userbase in the world over their elite base of iPhone users.

[irosl6]

Please pray for us here in Greece.

Three different places near Athens were destroyed by massive forest fires.

• 180+ people are severely injured and burnt.

• 50 people and counting were found dead on the streets, in their cars or houses, including families that were found hugging each other.

• 100+ are missing.

This is a national tragedy. So many were lost because of ARROGANT PEOPLE.

Spreading awareness. There’s no need for such things to happen, so many lives were destroyed for no reason.

[musinvenusian]

Black people with vaginas who are pregnant I urge you to find a black doula or a midwife to help with delivery. The medical community is extremely racist and contributes to mortality of black infants and those giving birth.

There is legit a medical bias that black people feel way less pain than other races, so our pain is taken way less seriously. We could be in a life or death situation and the yt doctors and nurses will brush off our pain.

It happened to Serena Williams also (look it up).

Medical bias against black and brown people is very much real.

And I would recommend reading the Medical Apartheid it delves deeper into the racist medical community that is still prevalent to today

[chill-aries]

“According to the CDC, black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. Put another way, a black woman is 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes. ”

From this article: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why

Here’s a link to the 1a page on this subject. Has a podcast about it as well as a link to Serena Williams discussing this:

https://the1a.org/shows/2018-05-14/why-u-s-maternal-death-rates-are-so-high-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

[musinvenusian]

^^^Bless for the extra info!

[qbalchemist]

Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse. Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars. Reblog & Share

[grispinne]

Might as well be on the safe side

If you’re getting out of the blue messages from “me” that ain’t me, I don’t think I’ve sent anyone a message that wasn’t in response to something they said first in at least a year

Stay smart yall

[khnart]

I don’t do comissions unless I am sought out. If I ever open them, I’ll obviously post something about it. Reblogging just in case, better safe than sorry!

[taytei]

The ONLY time I will ever approach someone about commissions is if you have already come to me expressing interest, and I’m just checking in to see if you’re still interested. No other circumstances

[faithfulwhispers-art]

I don’t ever message anyone first about commissions. If you get a random message from me, it’s really not me.

[talesofturtles]

I have not sent out any messages so if you think you’ve received one, it is fake. Contact me directly. Usually I let you guys come to me anyways.

[gorillaprutt]

I am NOT taking commissions right now. I DON’T send out messages about commissions either.

[ugetwhatuget]

*pounding my fists on my desk*

I

love

supporting

artists

&

writers 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kewberry]

Quick unrefined headshot sketch commissions for $5 or $10 for colored to help me practice expressions and drawing faster

[kewberry]

I'm doing super cheap realism sketches:

$15 for a bust and $20 for halfbody (sfw or nsfw)

Message me if interested!!

(Also ik the examples are all female but males can be drawn too!!)

[memorian]

The theme at the Black Panther premiere was “African Royalty”.

[not-close-to-straight]

I’m sobbing at how beautiful they all are.

[kewberry]

Both of these are on my Redbubble!!

[kewberry]

Did the art meme thing from MafyPrime My phone case is clear so that's why her clothes are like that o3o

ANYWAY I would legit be willing to cut my art prices in half for someone to speak to me in Spanish on a regular basis

[kewberry]

Super inactive on here so here’s the self portraits I’ve been drawing to get me through a tough time

Songs each piece was influenced by:

If you ain’t here for love don’t you dare stay - Belong to You

Don’t choose me then use me - When We Love

Shut the fuck up I don’t want your conversation - Nights

[kewberry]

Not so much an ask... I honestly looked you up because your name came up in a post about art commissions (which I'm curious about still, but need to make a couple decisions yet first) and then I got curious and started to really enjoy your blog, so... yeah, new follower and possibly commissioner~

I hardly check my tumblr I really should be more active on here but thank you so much for your interest! I’m glad you enjoy my art

[kewberry]

Here’s some of my vent art. It’s fitting for Halloween

[kewberry]

Everything 20% off!! Need money for classes and books coming up so help a broke college student out o3o Tryna get that educationnn ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ New prices: S K E T C H <examples> • Chibi/Bust - $4 • Half Body - $8 • Full Body - $12 + Color - $4 + Lined - $8 + NSFW - $4 F L A T S <examples> • Chibi/Bust - $16 • Half Body - $20 • Full Body - $24 + NSFW - $8 C E L L - S H A D E <examples> • Half Body - $28 • Full Body - $32 + NSFW - $12 S O F T - C E L L - S H A D E <examples> • Half Body - $36 • Full Body - $40 + NSFW - $16 R E F E R E N C E - S H E E T (FRONT & BACK W/ PALETTE ONLY) <examples> • Flats - $40 • Cell Shade - $48 • Soft Cell - $56 + NSFW - $20 PAINTINGS NOT INCLUDED ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ If interested please fill out a commission form here and I will either note or email you (depending on which you selected) If you're unable to commission me please give me a shout out or refer me to others it'd help a lot!! Paying for school is no joke so anything helps Thank youu~