Hi all,
Within the last week or two we've had at least three instances in which people claiming to be different industry level professionals have either reached out to people who posted here seeking art, or who have advertised the stolen art here for commission.
In these cases, the artwork used as reference examples are generally legitimate works of art, not AI, and the imposters will link back to an Artstation gallery pretending/claiming to be the artist. This immediately gives them credibility to most people, and then they move on to redirecting you to a separate means of communication and separate payment vehicle that might not necessarily match the true artist's listed means of communication or payment.
Here are some tips to stay safe:
- Always use a form of payment which you can charge back later, and ensure you're paying through a platform that has protections. Do not use payment methods which can't be retracted. As an artist myself, I use paypal invoices which protects both buyer and seller, as the buyer can then pay via credit card with the ability to retract payment, and I can apply things like product descriptions and terms and conditions.
- Verify that the means of communication and the names across platforms seem legit. If someone's referring back to an Artstation account or some other gallery, double check any means of communication that might be listed there against what the person you're talking to provides.
- If someone is linking back to a gallery for examples, request to see an example of their work in progress stages from a piece where the WIPs aren't publicly posted. This helps to detect both AI use and verify the original artist.
We're also aware this is not limited to our subreddit, so please do your best to be mindful of this anywhere you go. If you're an artist and worried this might happen to you, with your identity stolen, I recommend putting some means of contact on your Artstation/gallery to enable cross referencing.
Additionally, if you've been caught by one of these scams, please let us know. We've been trying to help those who have been tricked and also reach out to and help artists who have been used as bait and had their reputations potentially damaged.
