Scam?

[Bartc]

Skeptical about a request via my website for a commission. The person "adores" my style, but is actually vague about it. There are some pink flags, but no bright red ones just yet. Stopped myself from responding.

Yes, a commission to do a portrait would be nice, but there's very little on my website to suggest that I do portraiture.

I've seen too many scams lately for creators (artists, writers, etc.) Hate to pass up something, but feeling a bit queasy here.

Your thoughts?

 

[brianvds]

Sounds very scammy. Ignore for a while; they often go away.

 

[laf.art]

Yep I concur - scam alert.

 

[snoball]

I usually lead them along for a bit, asking questions about the commission, etc. It generally comes out in the wash.

 

[Bartc]

I usually lead them along for a bit, asking questions about the commission, etc. It generally comes out in the wash.

Had started to do that and stopped. Wasn't sure my questions were good enough to smoke them out. What questions do you use? I did use some about commission.

 

[snoball]

I just ask about what they had in mind, just like I was interested in the commission and talk about prices, sizes and so forth. You can pretty quickly tell from their side of the convo about what is going on.

 

[LizC]

I had a similar request recently, they said they loved my work, when I asked what they had in mind, they said they wanted a portrait of their Dad, even though I give no indication anywhere that I paint people. This same person was on another art forum commenting in threads how they loved the artist's work and wants to commission artwork. Their posts were soon deleted and they were banned

 

[Bartc]

I had a similar request recently, they said they loved my work, when I asked what they had in mind, they said they wanted a portrait of their Dad, even though I give no indication anywhere that I paint people. This same person was on another art forum commenting in threads how they loved the artist's work and wants to commission artwork. Their posts were soon deleted and they were banned

Thanks! That sounds exactly the same. It's a scam for sure.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I had someone "loving" my work, too, and wanting to add something of mine to his "collection" but that was just a scam. I suspected something was fishy because I'm no great shakes as an artist. Then he wanted to discuss it in SnapChat or some such so I just reported it and blocked him. I'm 80 years old and a lukewarm talent with art so give me a break.

I asked him what art piece he was referring to because as everyone can see, I don't post much of my art. I'm just not a very prolific artist. He mentioned a sunset or cliff I had posted and that one was a very fuzzy amateurishly photographed one I did for a challenge. It wasn't framed or anything, either so that and wanting to take it to SnapChat confirmed my suspicions in short order.

 

[txomsy]

Yuk, probably an AI-driven scam. With the advent of generative AI, most scammers are switching to AI bots instead of plain e-mail to refine their scams. Cost is minimal for them and greatly improved chances of someone falling for it.

 

[Nerys]

I had a
buy request on another forum , but same as here have posted often enough that I am just a hobby painter. Not selling anything.