New Scammer Tactic Dropped!

[RainyLiquid]

Just got a PM from another art scammer, but this one is using a new method. Instead of throwing the title of your book out and saying they want to make you a cover art, this one actually talked about a chapter in my book.

They tried to claim the moment in question was beautiful and emotional, but it was a literal nothing burger of a scene that they picked that involved two no named characters who had never been seen before that was placed just for background filler.

He claims he wants to draw "art" of the story and since he likes it he'll give me a discount. Naturally I still have to pay for his time and effort though.

 

[Lysander_Works]

Scam or no scam, I don't have the money for such things anyway
Guess the joke is on them

 

[GreenLemonShark]

Honestly, I gotta give them 'some' credit, at least the bots are putting in a little more effort these days. Imagine a scammer skimming through random chapters like, “Ah yes, these two irrelevant background characters… such emotional depth… perfect place to pretend I care.” ?

At this rate, next they'll be writing full reviews just to sell you a fake cover.

 

[RainyLiquid]

I should also mention, the scam in question is they claim they want to make you "fanart" and then once you agree they suddenly turn around and say you have to pay for it and since they already started you have to pay for the time they spent no matter what.

Obviously just block them, they can't do anything about it, but they'll try to use that to get into the door now.

Don't worry everyone, detective Rainy is on the scenes, I'm in deep into the trenches.

 

[Lysander_Works]

I've seen far scarier scams cropping up recently

 

[RainyLiquid]

I've seen far scarier scams cropping up recently

Care to share with the class?

 

[GreenLemonShark]

These kinds of art scammers aren’t just on writing sites, they’re all over Twitch too. Back when I did a bit of streaming, I’d get hounded by bots trying to sell me banners, emotes, even channel icons. Honestly, the funniest part was just wasting their time and getting them to follow me out of sheer desperation. ?

 

[Lysander_Works]

Care to share with the class?

Crypto job scams. Not all of them are obvious to people new to them. They bait people by actually earning them a small amount to get them comfortable first...

 

[AnonUnlimited]

It seems like scammers are more desperate than ever. I get more phone calls now a days than I have in years trying to get money for something or another. Some of them say they are police and want your credit card over the phone.

 

[Dec]

Hope you reported them too, apart from blocking.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Just got a PM from another art scammer, but this one is using a new method. Instead of throwing the title of your book out and saying they want to make you a cover art, this one actually talked about a chapter in my book.

They tried to claim the moment in question was beautiful and emotional, but it was a literal nothing burger of a scene that they picked that involved two no named characters who had never been seen before that was placed just for background filler.

He claims he wants to draw "art" of the story and since he likes it he'll give me a discount. Naturally I still have to pay for his time and effort though.

Yeah I get these all the time, they usually AI generate a reaction to a chapter and the bot gets the names wrong too.
They also sometimes pretend to be your fans by giving you small talk first like saying they really love your book and then they ask you to become their friends on discord

 

[TheBestofSome]

Got one of these just yesterday. They claimed to love my story, which raised an eyebrow when I looked at their profile and saw it was made literally a day ago. Still, they could've made the account to tell me they liked the story, so I decided to humor them, even gave them my discord (an alt account, anyway) to see where they'd go with it. They wanted to draw my characters, and for a 'concept' gave me a spiel ripped right out of ChatGPT, getting multiple details wrong in the process. I told them that they should at least try to hide the ai, and they tried to claim it was because they were from Italy and using a translator.

They waffled around for a bit, but eventually I told them that if they wanted to draw me fanart, they could go right ahead, but I wasn't going to pay for it. Then they wanted to share some other pieces of 'their' artwork to maybe change my mind, and when I didn't respond, they did. Generally mediocre stuff, nothing that would stick out much, so who knows where they found it. Wasn't ai generated though, so points for that.

Anyway, I felt I'd gotten as much amusement out of them as I could, so I blocked and reported them both on discord and scribblehub. One interesting detail is that they pulled the name and race of one of my characters that doesn't show up until the sixth or seventh chapter. They're getting cleverer.

 

[Deleted member 211393]

Just got a PM from another art scammer, but this one is using a new method. Instead of throwing the title of your book out and saying they want to make you a cover art, this one actually talked about a chapter in my book.

They tried to claim the moment in question was beautiful and emotional, but it was a literal nothing burger of a scene that they picked that involved two no named characters who had never been seen before that was placed just for background filler.

He claims he wants to draw "art" of the story and since he likes it he'll give me a discount. Naturally I still have to pay for his time and effort though.

My favorite is the ones that just send you a message saying they like your book in hopes that you'll thank them. After a little more dialogue back and forth, they'll make the offer.

 

[Xcalibur_Xc]

Not new. They have been going around for years. First fanfiction site and now here.

My favorite is the ones that just send you a message saying they like your book in hopes that you'll thank them. After a little more dialogue back and forth, they'll make the offer.

Oh yeah. Already got 10 PM this week. ?? And let's just say, I had fun tormenting them.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Had one that I reported not long ago.

 

[Valmond]

They’ve been a lot more aggressive lately. I wonder why.

 

[CrimsonGenius]

I’ve been getting them on Fanfiction and fictionpress, never here. same bull

 

[JayMark]

Did someone say bull?

The next scam will be that your story violates a government law and you need to call them to get it sorted out or you'll face jail time.
Or they'll pretend to be the site and say your story will be removed if you don't go to 7-11 and buy a gift card for them.

 

[WhaleSprite]

Just got a PM from another art scammer, but this one is using a new method. Instead of throwing the title of your book out and saying they want to make you a cover art, this one actually talked about a chapter in my book.

They tried to claim the moment in question was beautiful and emotional, but it was a literal nothing burger of a scene that they picked that involved two no named characters who had never been seen before that was placed just for background filler.

He claims he wants to draw "art" of the story and since he likes it he'll give me a discount. Naturally I still have to pay for his time and effort though.

Oh yeah, had that happen to me at least 3 times over on Wattpad. The first 2 I thought they were legit and actually liked my story, but then they kept trying to sell me their skills as artists. A third person tried to do the same thing and commented on my story about how great it was, then I noticed that on her Wattpad profile she said she was an artist, and so I ignored it. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame of you, and ain't about to fall for it three times!

 

[istryj]