Art commission scam, contacted me through Artstation. Thought I'd share this for any other freelance artists out there.
Had someone contact me through artstation, asked me if I can draw his kids. We then talked through Email and he wants to quickly do the payment, asking me for my PayPal Email address. Gave it to him because I used to have clients that pay it that way, but then he claimed to have paid it and to check my spam folder for any Email from PayPal.
Then I found this Email from "PayPal" telling me that I need to upgrade my account to a business account as the transaction is above my limit. This is my first red flag as I've had clients that paid more than that and have no trouble receiving their money. He then "paid" $200 and I got another Email from "PayPal" that my account has been upgraded to a business account and that I need to refund $200 back to the sender to get my money or else I'll get reported to "The Law Enforcement Agency" (lol)
I decided to stop engaging and I got the last Email this morning informing me that I'll be arrested by the Authority (lmao) and that I'll probably go to jail (lmfao) if I don't immediately refund the money back. Just thought I'd share this here in case any freelance artists or other people who work with commissions will come across this scam in the future.
Posted Sep 14, 2024, 9:19 AM UTC