Scamming in Art

Annalie, you are so not alone in this. The red flags I keep seeing: no mention of a specific piece they liked, wanting to take the conversation to email or WhatsApp right away, and any kind of shipper payment situation. Trust your instincts. If it feels off, it is off.

Annalie, the scam emails targeting artists have gotten really sophisticated over the past couple of years. From what I've seen discussed in this community, a few patterns come up consistently: overly effusive praise with zero specific reference to your actual work, requests to move the conversation off platform immediately, and any mention of a 'shipper' handling both logistics and payment. You're absolutely not alone in dealing with this.

Hey there! You're not alone in this, scam emails and fake NFT offers hit every artist with a public website. The good news is they follow predictable patterns, so once you know the tells, they're easy to spot and ignore.

A few red flags that almost always mean scam:

1. They offer to buy your work "as an NFT" or for a suspiciously large sum but can't pay through your website with a normal credit card. If someone genuinely wants your art, they'll buy it the way you sell it. Insist on payment through your site, period. Real buyers say yes. Scammers vanish.

2. They ask to overpay and have you send back the difference, or they want to use "their own shipping company." Both are classic fraud setups.

3. Emails from "Stripe" or "Google" or "Square" saying a payment is waiting or a customer left negative feedback. Check the sender's actual email address, not the display name. If it's not from the real company domain, delete it.

4. Vague flattery with no specifics about which piece they like or why. A real collector names the work. A scammer says "I'm interested in your art for my wife's birthday" and never gets more specific than that.

The simplest filter for any inquiry: reply with your website link and say "here's where you can place your order." If they push back, want to pay by phone, want to wire money, or suddenly have a complicated shipping arrangement, it's not real. Block, delete, move on.

On NFTs specifically, the entire "I want to buy your art as an NFT" pitch is almost always a scam designed to get you to connect a crypto wallet or pay a "minting fee." Unless you're actively choosing to enter the NFT space on your own terms, treat every unsolicited NFT offer as junk mail.

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I will copy their ip address and ask grok or Google if this is a reliable address & tell them why? It helps!

The NFT scammers are the worst. The second you see the word (technically an accronym) just delete and ignore.

This is 100% scam. NFTs are dead. I got these too before. They're all trying to rip you off, and will spend considerable amount trying if they think they may get paid. Plus, that's just not how a legit buyer would approach you. Be careful, direct everyone through your art storefronts website where it is safe. Best,