Are these guys AI?

[Cardon]

Posted my novel like 2 days ago but been receiving odd DMs from people and they sound suspiciously like AI.

I asked 3 of them if they were AI, two denied it. One didn’t response.

and like one of them (last picture) is just posting like the same comment on different stories. So it definitely smells ai

These days it's more likely to be AI prompters trying to sell you their 'skills'. Some of the forum's members' rabid hatred of artists and wishful thinking they were being starved by AI notwithstanding, they are scammers who aren't artists themselves. Before AI prompting became the favorite tool of dipshits and scammers everywhere, they would take your order and then relay it to a cheaper artist, likely through services like fiverr. They often give you examples of 'their' work which were images simply grabbed from deviantart in wildly different art styles. Some even have highly official looking contracts they have you sign for the order.

This type of resale isn't new, in the software sector it happens, too, where someone would take a well-paid consultant job and then in turn hire someone from India to do the coding for 1/10th of the price. The people who did this probably just vibe code with AI these days as well.

The hollow praise for your writing, especially the comments under your chapters, is definitely AI generated however. Since most people nowadays are aware that these are scams, they are mass producing these messages to get that one odd person who will bite.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

Never ask an AI bot if it's an AI bot, because this is one of the first things it was programmed to learn, to reply that it's not an AI bot. ?

 

[LewisBerneu]

I got this under the first chapter of my latest upload:

Hey! I came across your Wattpad and couldn’t help but imagine it as a comic or webtoon. You’ve nailed the story beats and the world feels so visual already.Would love to discuss it more DM me:Discord: ******** Instagram: ******** Twitter: @********

Looks very suspicious. I don't have a Wattpad account and I don't do comics or webtoons!
Someone who appears to have only joined this site a few days ago.
Question is: I've deliberately hidden the suspect's details in the quote - but should I name and shame?

[edit] Just checked profile of the person in question, and they've posted 23 almost identical comments on other stories, all within the past hour. Reported. Ignore anything by "falica_spicer".
and another: "alexander.vallery430"

Are there a lot of these lowlife around?

 

[Piisfun]

I got this under the first chapter of my latest upload:

Looks very suspicious. I don't have a Wattpad account and I don't do comics or webtoons!
Someone who appears to have only joined this site a few days ago.
Question is: I've deliberately hidden the suspect's details in the quote - but should I name and shame?

[edit] Just checked profile of the person in question, and they've posted 23 almost identical comments on other stories, all within the past hour. Reported. Ignore anything by "falica_spicer".
and another: "alexander.vallery430"

Are there a lot of these lowlife around?

A new crop pops up every day or two. Right now, all we can do is crush them as soon as they are spotted until they decide that there is no profit to be found in scams (if that ever happens).

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

I got this under the first chapter of my latest upload:

Looks very suspicious. I don't have a Wattpad account and I don't do comics or webtoons!
Someone who appears to have only joined this site a few days ago.
Question is: I've deliberately hidden the suspect's details in the quote - but should I name and shame?

[edit] Just checked profile of the person in question, and they've posted 23 almost identical comments on other stories, all within the past hour. Reported. Ignore anything by "falica_spicer".
and another: "alexander.vallery430"

Are there a lot of these lowlife around?

The account will be deleted or abandoned in a day or 3 then they will just make another and keep fishing.

Report and move on with your life... maybe play Kingshot or RAID :Showdow Legends...much better use for your time

 

[LewisBerneu]

Yep I understand now. And I see this is going to be a hell of a nuisance!

So the next question is, could Scribblehub admins possibly pre-moderate the first few comments from a new account? I believe other sites do that.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Yep I understand now. And I see this is going to be a hell of a nuisance!

So the next question is, could Scribblehub admins possibly pre-moderate the first few comments from a new account? I believe other sites do that.

add that request in the top threads in this forum. The feature request...it might be a good idea that they havnt thought about yet.

 

[Corty]

I think I just got the next level bamboozle. I had a comment discussion with someone who had no punctuation, grammar mistakes, talking about the potential in the new story I released, sounding genuine… actually asking what my plans are and mentioning the characters… then bam, 5 comments in brought up the idea of illustrations.

I honestly did not expect it.

 

[Our_Lady_in_Twilight]

Maybe we should take to loitering around artist communities.

'Hey, that's some really awesome artwork you've got there. You know what'd really take that picture to the next level? A webnovel!'

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I'm pretty sure there's a real person on the other side of those accounts. Here's how I deal with them:

THIS is where that link takes them.

Also, block and report.

 

[Hads]

I've had 4 so far, one even asked to switch to email, so I created a throwaway email account and continued the conversation. They claimed to be from the US, but are actually for Pakistan, so extremely high odds of a scam. What frustrates me the most about these comments, it makes me second guess any positive feedback I may receive.

 

[DireBadger]

I'm pretty sure there's a real person on the other side of those accounts. Here's how I deal with them:

THIS is where that link takes them.

Also, block and report.

I prefer to Rickrolll them.

 

[LewisBerneu]

Could I ask, how long has all this cr@p been going on?
I believe I had something similar on RR - more than a year ago - but I can't remember the details.
I ask because I've only just uploaded the first part of a story here, after a gap of over a year ... and now this flood of spam comes pouring in: comments and PMs both.
So is this something new?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Could I ask, how long has all this cr@p been going on?
I believe I had something similar on RR - more than a year ago - but I can't remember the details.
I ask because I've only just uploaded the first part of a story here, after a gap of over a year ... and now this flood of spam comes pouring in: comments and PMs both.
So is this something new?

Relatively new to this site (maybe six months or so?), but been going on for years on other creative sites.

 

[Alski]

I've had 4 so far, one even asked to switch to email, so I created a throwaway email account and continued the conversation. They claimed to be from the US, but are actually for Pakistan, so extremely high odds of a scam. What frustrates me the most about these comments, it makes me second guess any positive feedback I may receive.

Just ignore everything that isnt giving you specifics about your writing or your story.

 

[JenniBee]

I received one for both of the stories I am working on so far, so two in total. I joined the first one on discord, but the second one was so similar it has to be AI generated spam.

 

[Ai-chan]

You get DM's?
Lucky

You just don't get DMs... yet.

 

[jefish003]

I am immediately sus of any account with 2 numbers at the end of the name....

Yes but what if they have 3 numbers at the end?

 

[elmerstories]

I think I just got the next level bamboozle. I had a comment discussion with someone who had no punctuation, grammar mistakes, talking about the potential in the new story I released, sounding genuine… actually asking what my plans are and mentioning the characters… then bam, 5 comments in brought up the idea of illustrations.

I honestly did not expect it.

Had this happen to me yesterday on AO3, although it thankfully didn't go past 2. Thing is, I stared at it for too long, debating whether it was genuine or not. It sounded like they plausibly read the chapter and asked a question, so I replied. Follow up was, of course, mentioning their Discord username.

Those are minutes I'll never get back. I'd rather have a dumb scammer that immediately raises flags than one who tries to slowly engage.

 

[Rachel_Leia_Cole]

Not on here, but I get those a lot on other platforms. Even my email. My rule is, if they don’t mention the title of the work, it’s most likely a scam. They use generic language so they can mass send out their scams. I’ve even asked what chapter or character someone may have liked and gotten silence back. That’s a big tell. Now I just delete and move on. If you are worried about upsetting a real person, ask them questions…which chapter did you like best? What character did you relate to? Someone who genuinely likes your work will be happy to discuss it.