#potential scam

[downtothelandofwonders]

this is a scam, correct? (READ EDIT)

I don’t Trust it, it being on some random account with that as the only post. This happened yesterday too. Is this a scam or an actual thing? I don’t know why it would be an a fail thing, seems majorly fishy. Anyone else been getting this?

Edit: 100% a scam. The link there is fake, they put a tumblr url but linked it as something else and it’s asking for my bank data. This happened yesterday and I blocked the account and reported it yesterday but now it’s happened from a whole other account. I’m pissed. Anyways link takes you to a completely external site, if you get this notification just block and report

What happens if you click the link, btw. Notice how the irl is, to be precise, not fucking tumblr.

@scam-alerts said this in the comments, I’m adding it here

“Staff do not contact users via comments, Asks, or DM's to tell people there are issues with their accounts, so yes, this is a scam! These are scam accounts trying to get people to go to a phishing website which will steal your information. Stop and think: did you pay money when you signed up for tumblr? Does the url address say 'tumblr dot com?' Did you try googling if it was a scam? Those are the type of things people tend to not stop and think about. :)”

stay safe Gang the internet is a nasty place

[far-side-skies]

Quick PSA for Storm Hawks fic writers on AO3

I don't like to do these 'callout'-style posts, but there's a potential scammer making the rounds in the Storm Hawks tag on AO3. They're on a brand new account and have commented on two of my fics (most notably Raptor Bite which is one of my longer ones), praising them and using some specific information before immediately jumping into "this would look great as a comic, contact me on Discord if you're interested".

They've also done this on one of @ashe-alter's fics that hasn't been updated in almost a year, and it's very unlikely this person has read ~20 chapters of fic in the span of 3 hours. If I had to guess they fed the fics into an AI LLM to get a synopsis and a comment template.

This is most likely a scam if not some sort of grift. I am not calling for a witchhunt of this person, if I hear anyone has done that I will block you. I do, however, encourage you to block this person on AO3 to stop them from interacting with your fics, and don't fall for this scam. If you see 'floridamike_01' on Discord, block them there too.

Stay safe folks.

[seduce-me-with-coffee]

**Beware of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss scam!!**

I've gotten now 4 HH and HB "artists" reaching out, and I hope no one else is getting these and falling for it.

- Random new follower who messages immediately

- New follower has a HH and HB blog with a description that pretty much says they're a fan, commissions are open, and minors dni

- New follower ask almost immediately if you're a fan of HH/HB and if you like art

- Said art looks like the following with similar backgrounds, styles, and watermarks

EDIT: The goal is to offer you an HH/HB commission. I can only assume the don't intend to make good on that commission or they plan to send some AI trash. Always double-check when your money is involved, y'all! You can never be too careful.

[idkmanwtfishumanityanymore]

guys is this authentic or nah.

like is this gonna steal my ip or my account or something or is this actually from tumblr support.

@madcatdaderpydrawer-blog @chocolix76 @h-didanart @bumble-the-sun-bee @achickennamedcheese can y’all help? Have you guys gotten this? Is it a trick?

edit: Checked my email, absolutely zilch from Tumblr- I’m deleting the ask. Thanks for y’all’s help <3

[apollo-zero-one]

HEY WHAT IS THIS.

What the fuck guys. Usernames redacted because I am mildly convinced these are real people but HEY. DONT DO THIS???? Don't just??? Walk into someone's house and ask them to buy something for you????? What the fuck????

I am 75% sure this is a scam esp. since both of these relate to Hazbin Hotel and I suspect my blog was pulled from some kind of scraper for either interacting with Hazbin posts or tagging things as such.

And if it isn't a scam, it's FUCKING RUDE!!! I wrote the first one off but since it has happened a second time I am now blocking both of these people.

To potential real people who think this is an acceptable way to solicit commissions: Don't? Don't. Make a commission post and tag it and compile your portfolio and pin it to the top of your blog and link it under each of your artworks. DO NOT just??? DM people and try to manipulate them into a commission???

To anyone who receives messages like this: THOROUGHLY DOCUMENT EVERY SINGLE MESSAGE!! This feels to me like the type of scam where they make art anyway and claim you have to pay for it, or even don't make art at all but insist you owe them money for the 'commission.' Or, in the case of requesting the money upfront, no art might ever be made. Regardless, DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT you want to have records of these things in case someone tries to screw you over.

[redbayly]

Hey, I just got a message from a tumblr account called mahmoudayyad. The person claims to be Palestinian refugee asking for a donation to support their family. Now, I am all for supporting Palestinians in need of help in this terrible time, but this message felt weird. I looked at their page and there is only the identical message they sent out, a link to their GoFundMe, and a random YouTube video they reblogged. Checking their likes page, it's clear that the person has been sending this identical message to dozens of random people (as they liked each posting of their message) and have even posted it onto several random tags, too.

Of course I want to help. If someone reaches out to me with a frantic cry of distress, my natural instinct is to take it at face value and send them money or reblog the message.

But something about this feels waaaay too much like a potential scam.

This is the exact message I received:

Again, I want to help, but this is ticking off all kinds of red flags. The identical message being sent to a bunch of random people that this person clearly doesn't follow. The vagueness and very generalized information. The appeal for sympathy and subtle guilting of the reader. The overuse of emojis.

If this is a genuine Palestinian refugee seeking aid for their family, I don't want to dismiss their very real struggle. At the same time, though, I feel the need to perform due diligence and point out why I have concerns that this is very likely a scammer. Naturally, I feel awful because of my inability to confirm if this is real or fake, because I don't want to turn my back on someone if they really need my help.

Sadly, this is exactly the kind of thing scammers do. They use the anonymity of the internet to trick and exploit people; in this case, if I am correct, they are playing on people's sympathy for the plight of countless innocents who are suffering through horrible atrocities.

And that's a genuinely terrible and disgusting thing if that's the case.

That being said, if anyone can verify that this person is what they claim, I would be only too happy to send a donation and reblog their message.

As it is, though, I want to exercise caution and make sure my followers are kept informed of this in case it is a scam so that they don't get taken in by it.

If you do want to help Palestinians, please consider donating to legitimate and trustworthy groups like Doctors Without Borders, Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund, United Nations Population Fund, International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and others.

[catastrophicz]

Hello , I am Purity from Gaza-palestine and I am 21- years- old. I am diagnosed with diabetes type 1, recently I have become extremely sick and lose weight due to lack of enough money to get my insulin. The situation is getting worse day by day I really need your support argently.As a diabetic person, I find myself in a difficult situation and I'm in need of assistance for me to survive. Thank you in advance every 1 dollar can save a person's life. As you can imagine,I am really struggling to get my medication if you don't mind kindly support me🙏🙏🙏.

About time I got one of these. Let's break this down, shall we?

First off: Purity. A name that lines up with a known scammer, "Purity Sikuku."

Second: insulin. The insulin asks are almost always fake.

Third: PayPal. You know, the one that denies service to Palestinians.

Fourth: The name on the account. Who is Julius, really? This one is a bit less suspicious, since a lot of legit Palestinian fundraisers have other names under them that are helping, but still. Worth noting.

All in all: I don't trust you! There was no proof that this one was vetted, I looked just to be sure.

@anonthescambuster, if you'd like to see this and confirm?

[bluedragonfairy2000]

Hey everyone!

I know I haven’t been on for awhile. I’ve had writers block for a bit so I was taking a break. However I’ve came back to ask for some help.

Recently I was working on the next chapter of brother in a bottle and I saw I had a new message in my inbox. I was excited as I always enjoy reading my comments so I clicked to check it out, but when I did I found a really strange message.

Now I’m coming to you guys to see if anyone knows what this is. My friend @dragonpro809 and I are pretty sure that it’s a scam and this is for a couple of reasons.

First off is their user name, I can’t click on it to check their account. This is odd since most user names you can click on and see people’s accounts, their on fanfics, and any fanfics they have book marked in the past. However their are some accounts that you can’t click on since they are just guest accounts. However this accounts username is just random letters which is different to the other accounts I can’t check.

Secondly the language seems too formal for ao3 though that may just be them trying to encourage me to join.

Thirdly is the way they spelt the word discord. If you look closer the o has a slash through it and there is a weird apostrophe at the end.

Lastly they gave me the link directly rather than asking me if I wanted to join first and then waiting for my response before sending the link.

Can anyone tell me if this has happened to you and whether or not this is a scam? In the meantime I’m not planning on checking out the account since it seems pretty sketchy at the moment. I would advise other people to do the same. Keep yourself safe out there everyone!