I have been seeing warnings about bot spam comments on AO3 lately, many of them about harassment (?) but the most common type I see is "art scam." This is a real one I got:
These messages will try to excite you. But they're definitely scams.
The style aside, (adapting powerful narratives into visual formats??? GPT-ese if I ever heard any) the comment includes no details about why they liked my story. Real enthusiastic feedback I've gotten looks like this:
Real feedback will refer to elements I included in the story, like visuals or a dramatic character conflict. Even comments as simple as "AAAA!!!!" will be responding to the actual chapter where something important happens.
The suspicious instagram is full of uncredited, reposted art standing in for 'a portfolio.' ⬇️
reverse image search in BING ⬇️
The first result is a reddit thread that has a link to the original source ⬇️
Joel Furtado is obviously not "amelia joseph designs." Also, "amelia joseph designs" commented as a guest, and searching for an account one could 'message' on AO3 (You can't DM on AO3, you'd have to leave a comment on a fanwork) turns up one with zero works, bookmarks, made the same day as the comment on my story was posted.
Not very active, yeah! I'd say so!
This name is associated with a fanfiction.net account that no longer exists and has no art credits or original portfolio I can find anywhere else. But what it does do is leave nearly the same comment on other AO3 stories, which have been picked up by search engines:
This comment is a bit more 'lifelike' because it was probably generated based on the most successful versions. But the text also includes the important part of the scam: 'offering a special discounted rate.'
A scam like this will either get you to pay upfront or give you a procedurally generated 'preview' you never asked for (in the past it was usually someone else's WiPs off deviantart) try to trick you into paying for 'the final piece.' And you might bite because their offer is usually less than a real artist would ask for.
But they will run off once they get your money, or they'll use an image generator to spit out some garbage based on the text of your story. Either way, you will be paying for human labor that never happened.
A lot of people would be heartbroken to get an enthusiastic comment from a fan and then learn it's scam spam. The level of interaction with fanfic is low in general, but I've met friends and even my partner via fanwork interaction.
And if you don't care about missed connections but really do want art based on your written work, real artists take commissions, trust me! They like making rent and buying food.
