⚠️ ATTENTION TO ALL ARTISTS WHO WANT TO DO COMMISSIONS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT⚠️:
PSA: I don’t usually make posts like this but It’s very important for new artists that want to start commissions and are new to them to know HOW TO IDENTIFY SCAMMERS because tumblr and discord are filled with them so here are some useful tips:
One of the most clear and obvious signs of a scammer is checking their profile and seeing that it was made recently, this may not be the case for all scammers but many of them make an account the same day to scam as fast as possible. These accounts often have common names such as ‘Johnson’ or ‘Karen’.
2. THE “I want you to draw a picture of my son’s pet for 300 dollars” SCAM.
No, a parent won’t pay that much money for you to draw a doodle of their child’s pet. Many times the reference pictures provided are literally taken from google with little effort to look credible. These scammers are also very impersonal and only talk mainly about the payment and money, which is surprising for a parent spending 300 dollars worth of money for their child, parents usually like to talk about their children.
3. “HOW DID YOU FIND ME?” SCAM
The title may be confusing, but this is a very good question to ask yourself and your client whenever they approach you for a commission, it’s not that evident on tumblr but it’s very clear on discord. Scammers won’t bother looking at your posts or even check if you’ve posted anything art related, they often just join art related groups and send the same message to tons of artists in the hopes of catching one of them. Use your logic, if you haven’t posted anything art related or that could showcase your skills, a normal actual client would never ask a commission from an artist they’ve never seen the work of, art-style, skills etc.
That app/website is a scam, never use it and never feel pressured to do so. It is often used by scammers because in order to activate your account on the app to receive the payment, you have to put a certain amount of money in it, which is already a stupid concept, but it lso literally works with and helps the scammers, in no way does it benefit you. ONLY use payment methods you know are good and secure, such as PayPal, clients are not always right and you don’t have to bend to their requests all the time.
I’m speaking from experience, while I have never been scammed I have received enough messages like these and know how many artists could fall for these, if anyone contacts you whether on discord, tumblr or any other social media and behaves in the way I described, they’re probably a scammer, report and block them, they’re not worth your time. STAY SAFE
