Potentional commission on Instagram or is it a scam?

[sushy00]

Hi there, someone seems to be interested in my artwork on Instagram. However, I heard some things about commission scams on Instagram so I am cautious. The person first wanted me to draw them. Then they changed it to their husband and child. I ask in what style they want it (I provide quotes for those) but now they say they would pay $300. (which is not what I quoted, I quoted a lower amount for both options that I mentioned)
Now they ask if I use PayPal. It really sounds like those scams going around...
They are following a lot of accounts (around 6000, while they have around a 1000 followers). They have only uploaded 4 images.
What do you think? Is this genuine or a scam?

[Legendofgenii]

Are they following you, or liked any of your posts?

1000 followers for 4 images is a red flag to me already.

[sushy00]

they are following me but have not liked any of my posts.

Yeah, that's why I am suspicious.

[Kelheor]

Yeah, it's a popular scam going around. If they have a lot of subs and barely any photos, saying they will pay a particular amount and saying they want it for their husband/kid's birthday/an art of kid's pet right upfront, it's most likely scam.

[BlairFujin]

Sounds like your talking to a bot rather than with a real person to me... My guess would be it's a scam.

[SoftWonderBun]

There was someone who made a youtube video about a similar situation but I can't seem to find them now. What's going on with your DMs sounds very similar to what they went through. If you can't get a clear answer out of them it's likely a bot scam. The fact that they changed who they even want you to draw is a big .

[Bella_Artz]

OMG this sounds like the commission I accepted a few days ago. I've already started drawing and I let them know. What to I do?

[SoftWonderBun]

If you haven't received payment because you probably won't, back out now. It really depends on how your back and forth went up to this point.

[Bella_Artz]

Pretty much the offer of their specified amount and one word answers. I didn't think much of it then but now it's making sense.

[SoftWonderBun]

I find it's best practice to get partial payment upfront(not everyone is the same). That way if you're left on read or never paid you at least got paid something. I would try to get more specifics out of them. If they can't give it to you back out.

[moontokkym]

As a rule scammers generally are payment averse because they don't want to pay you. If you offer to do what they want you to do but you'll need partial payment upfront they'll usually squirm and try to back out of it. It's quite common for artists to charge a "booking fee" upfront which just means that the commission is confirmed and that the artist will be working on it (and the final price will be whatever the commission price is minus what they payed for the booking fee). For the people around me it's usually 10-50% of the total price depending on how big the total is (for something like 300 it'd be more around the 10-20% range).

It's a win-win situation because it ensures that you get at minimum a portion of your money if the client ghosts or just disappears, it tends to scare off scammers and on the client side it allows them to split payment up into a usually more managable sum over a couple of weeks or even months depending on commission size.

I'd personnally advise only allowing full payment after completion for people you are both close to and who know are punctual with their money (because if they're a friend and they don't pay you it's even more awkward). I have a couple of regulars I allow it for but other than that it's booking fee, 50% after sketch is complete and whatever's left to pay upon validation of the final piece thumbnail.

[inf1565]

Scam, its too much for a picture and they ask for paypal cause they want your email address for advertisement. i got this one a couple of weeks ago:

Hi. Fine work! ****** brings you to a new project.Open positions:Junior/Middle/Senior 2D Artist;Junior/Middle/Senior 3D Artist;Senior/Middle Concept Artist;Art Director;Lead Artist;Senior/Middle UI Artist. I request that you review the file containing examples of our company's work to assist in determining your qualifications and compatibility with our company's projects. Download: link The password is set as: password Reply here for to apply.

They ask me to download some random stuff of course its scam... This guy is still active in the community...

[TheDoublekey]

Happened to me a bunch of times and it's definitely a scam. An account once asked me to draw their kid's pet, another one asked a drawing for themselves. I checked the latter's profile and it was similar to the one that contacted you.

The only difference was the fact that they had only posted two photos and the first photo dated all the way back to 2017, which I found to be very suspicious. In my opinion those are either bots or hacked accounts. Truth is, most of the time I don't even bother with them cuz they start sending me DMs right after I post something (and there's loooots of bots in the comments) and more often than not they end up talking about NFTs soooo big no no from me.

[RedLenai]

Sounds like a scam to me, always remember to check for these signs.

Typical "hello are your commissions open", no question mark, just blunt
Ignores your actual prices, doesn't bother to ask about your ToS, TaT and other stuff
Probably over flatters your art
"Hey I'm willing to pay you (Usually is $300) so it isn't stiff"
Wants to know your name and which country you're from
Wants your email and would likely ignore a Paypal.Me, you asking for THEIR email or an Invoice link
Would claim there are issues with their bank or Paypal if you insist in sending them those instead of your email to them
Pfp that are selfies or typically some white woman in a minivan?
Few photos on their account, be it of children, selfie or a pet?
Following a lot of accounts but not many actually follows them?

How does the scam work?

They want your email so they can send you a fake “invoice” from Paypal.
They'll show you a screenshot of the money being sent
You'll see no money in your account
They'll claim they did the invoice and to check your spam folder since Paypal "does that sometimes to them as well"
Then they'll try to make you panic through them accusing you of scamming them
If you check the "Paypal" spam email, you'll see it's not well written, refers to you as Dear Costumer or your name (In case you gave away your real name to the person)
Basically there are two alternatives to the scam: One is about your account having money on hold so you have to send money in order to "unlock it" and receive it. The other one is about having to upgrade your account to Business in order to be able to accept the payment.

The most common Scams are

“I want a drawing of my daughter”

“I want a picture of my son and our dog”

“I want you to draw my 25 ocs”

“Hi my team and I analyzed your work you’re growing fast and developing fast”

“My team saw your portfolio and considers youre have a lot of talent and we'd like tu support artist and allow them to have real payment”

Yet another type of scam

There is also another type of scammer which is about some stranger coming and claiming to be some kind of Art Manager, they make artists and clients connect with one another through them but honestly. Just by looking at the conversation you can get all the red flags of the world.
I would put it in a Summary but it gets broken from time to time, so not to flood with screenshots, check it here

NFT Scam

This is already a bit common, is the typical of someone once again coming and flattering your art and being so in love with it, or totally talking as if you have some kind of "gallery" thus want to buy your work, and ask you to put it on a platform so they can bid for it and buy it, also trying to lure you there with the "Oh is a crypto currency, is really expensive, you'll have lot of cash <3"

[joannekwan]

Yeah I encountered a similar person asking about a commission through Instagram dm's before. Definitely a scam, especially since I insisted on sending them a paypal invoice from my end, but they were very persistent in sending the money from their end first. They ended up sending me money since I gave them my email to communicate through, but instead of receiving the amount as normal in my paypal account, I got a suspicious email instead so I immediately wrote it off as a scam.

Set boundaries! Insist on your way of payment (like sending an invoice) and communication (like through email instead of dms) and you can weed out a lot of suspicious people just from that.

[Bella_Artz]

The dude that contacted me offered to pay with Binance. Has this ever happened with anyone?

[abigaillmartin]

Some asked me to draw them and be my girlfriend like what the f*ck?!

Anyway yes I’ve had suspicious DMs before it’s no surprise to me to be honest. I just ignore it because it’s not worth my time or my account getting hacked and all that stuff.

Yeah I just ignore it and I don’t trust anyone on Instagram. I just post my art and that’s it.

[joannekwan]

Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange. I think that's a big enough of a red flag haha

[Katzalcoatl]

As a general rule always charge at least 50% upfront before starting any commission. Make no exceptions. Charge the rest upon completion.

This is the best filter against scammers.

Why 50%, isn't that a lot? Many people back out at the last second. Meaning you had completed the drawing and they refuse to pay the rest. 10-20% will normally not cover your time wasted. Having 50% as a set rule also makes it more likely for a person to pay the rest.

Let's take the $300 commission as an example. It hurts much less for a person to lose $30 bucks than losing $150 bucks. Let's say you did start a $300 commission and they payed you $30-60 bucks. On the hypothetical scenario that you completed the drawing and they backed out. You would of spent many hours working. Basically wasting your effort for only $30-60 bucks. That is nowhere near enough to cover any resource you spent on a $300 drawing.

The 50% rule is not only used by artists but also by other people who do any type of commission. Whether you charge 50% or less is your personal choice but I highly suggest you do it that way unless they are a frequent client you know that always pays or something like that.

On the internet and against strangers I don't recommend going any lower than 50% upfront.

P.S. Never accept cryptocurrency. This was mentioned multiple times but that's how important it is to follow that rule.

[Fuzzyman818]

I get that. I once got a private DM for a commission that wanted done on Christmas eve!