How to avoid art scams! | Artists beware: Art scams on Instagram, NFT scams | Scam targeting artists

unfortunately scams targeting artists are becoming more common so it's very important that we all know how to stay safe [Music] hello everyone Welcome to our business fitness I'm Ness and I'm a professional illustrator today we're talking about art scams I'm sure you have all encountered at least once in your tenure and they're not going away anytime soon in fact they're becoming more and more common sometimes the scammers are trying to get some money out of you but other times they could be after your personal information or simply trying to get free art but no matter which one it is let's talk about how we can recognize these scans and keep ourselves safe but right before we get started if you're new here and you'd like to see more videos like this then don't forget to subscribe to this Channel and hit the little bell the Bell sends you notification every time I upload a new video and this way you're sure that you won't miss any of the advice alright so let's talk about art scams first of all let's cover some red flags that you need to watch out for whenever you receive a message from a potential client or customer red flag number one the rewarding is very vague most of the time when these lowlives get together to create these scams the wording is going to be very very vague because they want to be able to copy paste it to a bunch of different people nowadays they don't even have to send them out manually they can send them out automatically with Bots and so they target a large large amount of people knowing that most people won't respond but maybe a tiny tiny percentage is going to be caught unawares when you know what to look for you'll find that these scam messages all sound kind of generic and super copy pasty they'll say that they're very impressed with your work or your artwork but they won't talk about specifics like a painting a drawing a sketching they won't mention anything specific about your art that caught their eye or a specific piece that they would like you to emulate nothing like that while not all potential customers get really specific in that first email still when they're so so vague that it could apply to almost any artist in the world that's where it gets a little bit fishy because that's just not how real people talk in real life red flag number two they offer a high price right away if your potential client mentions their budget in the very first email that they send you this might be a little odd normally a client would get the conversation started first ask you about your availability or if you're interested in the project and then we all play the pricing game where they will ask you what your rate is and then you'll be trying to test out where their budget is so if a client just straight up offers you this is how much we offer it's a little bit suspicious especially if that budget is really high not that high budgets are impossible but clients will always be trying to save money so instead of telling you we have twenty thousand dollars they will ask you how much do you charge for this although it sucks that we all have to play this game that's how normal clients would act however scammers will offer you a very large price right away to hook you and I've seen many examples in the past cast of artists asking around about a message that they thought is fishy but then they're like they're offering a very large amount of money though so maybe I should make sure and so this amount of money really hooks you in because you think um that kind of money would be life-changing though I need to make sure that this is really a scam before I refuse it and that's what they're trying to do they're trying to catch you with the hope you have of having this great gig because these people are really despicable and they play with our weaknesses and our hopes in order to make money off of us red flag number three checks money orders and Bank drafts this is a very common scam that happens in many different Industries where your client will send you a very large payment using a check money order or a bank draft now checks aren't used very often nowadays so you'll be forgiven if you don't know exactly how they work but basically the check takes a number of days before it actually really clears before someone at the bank can look at your check and figure out if it's real but for convenience sake as soon as you deposit your check the bank is going to make your money available so you can use it right away they're basically loaning you the money until the check clears although this is convenient this is really not safe at all because scammers can really hone into this period before the check is actually verified by someone to try to get some money out of you so the scammer will send you a fraudulent check a fake check basically and before it's cleared by a real person they will say oh there's been a mistake I sent you too much money can you send me back the difference or maybe I changed my mind I want to cancel this commission can you refund me my money on your side it looks like you have the money in your account and so you can send their refund but the money isn't actually there and once the check is actually verified by someone it's going to bounce and the bank is going to take back this money then you're going to be in the red because you actually send them your own money this is a common enough scam that is really not safe at all to use checks for freelance anymore thankfully legitimate companies are really really phasing them out I only was paid by check by a legitimate company since I started one time and this was an established publisher so I accepted to be paid by check but even then a couple years later that same publisher transitioned to bank wire which is really the the more accepted payment method now there are so many better methods safer methods to transfer money now that companies really don't have any excuses anymore not to change their payment methods and it's really not safe for you to keep accepting checks Bank drafts or money orders it could be real every once in a while but it's really not worth the risk red flag number four nfts there is really did an increase of nft scans lately they're everywhere which is really weird to me because it's not nft's Heyday anymore we've way past the peak but these scams are just now starting to Surge very odd recently whenever I post a new artwork on Instagram I'll get a bunch of comments and DMS asking me if I want to turn my artwork into an nft collection they will often offer astronomical sums to be paid by cryptocurrency which is really not very safe at all and forces you to create a crypto wallet in order to be paid I heard someone say they were offer eight ether for you know a collection of nfts which is something like twenty thousand dollars it's it's really it's a lot of money something that is really maybe a little bit suspicious for what it is and again I want to mention big budgets do exist but it depends For What and in what context there are few different types of nft scans sometimes they will ask you to go to website and pay to Mint your own nft in exchange for a sort of reward that then never comes they may send you to a fraudulent website where you pay to Mint your nft but in fact you're just sending them your money other times they might be after your personal information which you might enter on their fraudulent website in order to Mint your nft anything like your name address social security number credit card numbers all of these can be stolen the world of NFC is rampant with art thieves and scammers so it's really really unsafe most of the time these are not legitimate so whenever someone approaches you with something like that be very careful you want to be in the video again the people love you just remember that if you are actually interested in making nfts you don't need anyone to do this you can create and mint your own nfts without anyone else's in involvement red flag number five free art test potential clients will sometimes ask you to do a free art test in order to determine if you're the right fit for the job this is called spec work short for speculative work and it's really really frowned upon in the world of illustration design Etc a client really should be able to determine if you're good enough for the job simply on the strength of your portfolio and as Freelancers we don't have time to make free art every time we're applying for a job we don't owe anyone any free labor just to prove our skill that's why we have our portfolio for in the very rare occasion where an art test may actually be necessary to determine if you're the right fit then the art test should be paid so you're still compensated for the time that you put in now sometimes these are actual job offers but you still risk doing work for free if you decide to create this art test and then aren't taken to do the rest of the projects other times it might be there's actually no job that really exists and the person is lying to you just to get some free art out of you so basically anytime someone asks you to do an art test just tell them I'd be happy to do an art test at my usual hourly rate of 60 per hour red flag number six refusing a down payment almost all artists that I know have been burned at some point or another by a client who did not deliver the pay that they promised even after they received the art to protect ourselves it's commonplace to ask for a down payment to be paid in advance before we start working on their commission or contract it doesn't even have to be that big of a down payment even a small sum can still reassure you that the client is serious and does really intend to pay to the end Bottom Line This is a reasonable thing to ask for and if your client refuses to do any sort of down payment that could be a red flag the only clients that you don't have to ask a down payment from our big companies that have a good reputation with those the risk is really much much lowered but even then even if the risk is lower you can still ask for a down payment if you would like to have one especially if the project is a long one having a little bit of money in advance so you can keep going while you're working on the project and pay your bills that can be very helpful but for sure with individual clients like for personal commissions for instance or ND projects you really should always ask for a down payment it's just much safer that way red flag number seven they're refusing to get on a call not that it's always necessary to do a zoom call or a phone call when you work with clients I know personally I hate doing calls and I just do everything by email all of the time however if you like Zoom calls personally and you want to get in touch with your clients we can discuss the project unless there are really difficult time constraints or maybe time zone difference or anything like that if they refuse adamantly to get on a call this could be a red flag again this is a reasonable thing to ask and so unless they have a very good reason that they can provide for why they can't get on a call refusing that is suspicious red flag number eight fake website some commission offers at first glance can seem very legitimate especially if the person accepts to pay you to the payment method of your choice one that is safe like PayPal for instance however scammers are very crafty and even if they say they're gonna pay with PayPal they might actually send you to a fake fraudulent website that just mimics the look of PayPal some of these scammers have been known to send you a fake email supposedly from PayPal that tells you to click the link to go collect your money if you enter any of your personal information on this website such as your login credentials and your passwords to get in then and they have your PayPal password and they now have access to your PayPal account including any bank account or credit card that you have connected to it thankfully these phishing websites do look a bit more shady and suspicious the longer you look at them they're not quite right if you're not sure just open the real website and compare them you never have to go to PayPal through a specific link you can simply open paypal.com and sign into your account and if they have sent the money it will be there even if you haven't gone through their link so it's better to check this way if you have really received the money if you see anything that looks suspicious about their emails or websites that they send you to sometimes the logo might be just a little bit off or the colors or the layout something will be just a little bit wrong that's not exactly like the original website or email so be careful and give it a second look and make sure red flag number nine they're trying to get you to divulge personal information a potential client will of course need some of your information to proceed like they need your name and maybe even your address for the contract for example they will also need your payment information in order to send you your money such as your PayPal address or maybe your bank account information for a wire transfer but that's about as much personal information as they need and they shouldn't ask for more if they do that's a big red flag if your potential clients ask anything else they might be phishing to either steal your identity or sell your private information to third parties for example recently an artist reached out to me on Instagram to let me know about a weird interaction they were having with a client and asking me if this sounded legitimate this potential client was asking them for their social security number a utility bill and they were even asking them for thirty dollars in order to create an employee key card for them there is absolutely no reason that a freelance illustrator working remotely would need need an employee key card a key fob or anything like that and you definitely shouldn't give your social security number or provide a utility bill utility bills will show a lot of your personal information and also include your account number they can use this to contact the utility company and with your personal information that they've gotten like your address they might be able to verify their identity and get some more information for the poor Customer Service employee if you have a credit card on file they might even be able to get your credit card numbers we should always be very careful with our personal information identity theft is nothing to laugh at and lastly red flag number 10 Common wording as I've mentioned before some of these scams are literally copy paste messages that they are sending out to thousands and thousands of people therefore there are scams that are becoming really well known in artist circles and you might even receive one scan more than once so if you receive a message that doesn't feel quite right for some reason always feel free to Google it or ask around in Facebook groups or forms or to your artist friends just to make sure maybe they have received the same one too here are some examples of some common scams with recurring wording that are going around and I've seen personally many times so the first is this one and it seems very Bland and generic it says hello this is William from Boston USA I have gone through your work and I must say I am impressed by your work your artwork speaks for themselves anyways I would like to purchase a piece of your artwork to present as a gift to my wife for a wedding anniversary she is an art lover looking forward to see suitable art kindly show me the ones available for immediate purchase and location thanks so this message really checks some of the boxes for the red flags that we've discussed but partly this is very vague he says work or artwork multiple multiple times but I've seen the specific word in thing for my wife for our wedding anniversary she's an art lover I'm very impressed by your work your artwork speaks for themselves this very exact text it's copy pasted there's also another version of this that's going around lately and this one is often sent by Instagram VM and it's a woman inquiring for artwork for her son's birthday here is another common one and this is one that uses apraxia or hearing impairment so this one says good day my name is kaisen pettyfield I'm an academic event organizer and I'm hearing impaired I hope you treat me like any of your other customers and my disability doesn't affect our dealings I got your contact details online I need the service of an artist or illustrator cartoonist to work on a project for an upcoming workshop I'll give the idea of what I need to be Illustrated drawn and you can get back to me with the prize to get it done I'll pay your fees up front if you want please get back to me for more details warm regards Kaizen I've seen this word forward from many different artists some of them the name is changed one of them the guy went by Gilbert Barillas but it's always the same thing they present themselves as an academic event organizers and they say they are either hearing impaired or have apraxia and so this really threw me at first I didn't know why would you say that and it actually sounds very suspicious because someone who is hearing impaired why would they lead with that when it's not even relevant to the situation at hand when you know anything about the hearing impaired Community they don't consider themselves disabled so they wouldn't they wouldn't talk like that it's just it sounds very very odd I've learned the reason for this either apraxia or hearing impairment is because it's an excuse for them to not get on a call and waste time with you if you're going to call them out I have to say this one really really pisses me off because using the apricia and hearing impairing Community for this use is really just despicable and it's awful and I cannot imagine if anyone that is legitimately has those conditions and it just so happens that it comes up in conversation and then they would be doubted which is really awful I have never responded to these but I've seen artists who have and they sent through this follow-up which they explained the project as a pandemic precaution and prevention program with a large list of illustrations to show things like getting vaccines washing hands or maintaining safe distance this is actually quite an old Scandal it started at the during the middle of the pandemic but even now in 2023 we're still seeing it so these scammers really are not changing their tune they're continuing with this copy paste version even now that the bigger part of the pandemic is over with so these are just a few of the common scams going around lately I really hope that this information was helpful and might prevent one of you from falling victim to these low-life scammers whenever you're receiving a message that you're not sure is legitimate just remember the best thing you can do is ask around and a great place to do that is my Facebook group that I run it's called the freelance illustrators Cafe of course it's perfectly free to join and it's a really nice Community there of over 8 000 people very professional group over there that has always a ton of great advice on how to further your career improve your art and of course art scams It's a Wonderful peer-to-peer advice group that I'm very very proud to admit and so if you're interested I will leave the link down below where you can go and join that up I hope to see you there but for now that's it for me today I really hope that you like this video and if you did don't forget to like comment and subscribe to help our small Channel grow thank you for being here I appreciate you and I will see you in the next video bye bye thank you

Channel: Art Business with Ness

Views: 35,983

Keywords: How to avoid art scams, art scams on instagram, Scam targeting artists, Art scam emails exposed, scams that target artists, Art scams exposed, Art commission scam, nft scams, Artists beware of scams, Art commission scams, Art scams, is this a scam, art business with ness, art business tips, selling your art online, art commissions, art commission tips, art commissions for beginners, get started with art commissions, getting started with commissions

Id: hIBfc28qtfE

Length: 20min 22sec (1222 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023