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#scammers
waluigis-biggest-fan · 20 hours
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Hello, I am from Gaza, due to the shortage of medicine in Gaza, my mother who is a type 1 diabetic and was supposed to undergo urgent eye surgery, has not been able to get insulin or any medical care for the past three months. . Some members of my family fled to the southernmost part of Gaza (Rafah) in tents. But my parents and sisters have nowhere else to stay. They are forced to stay in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which has been bombed since the beginning of Christmas. "I am on my knees asking for your donations. Please help me. where you can.
Goal: $700
I need everyone to know this is a scam.
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maikaartwork · 8 months
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Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers
There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.
How they begin
Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.
What to look out for:
Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.
Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 
They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.
They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.
Where the scam actually happens
If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 
Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.
A few things can happen here:
They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 
They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.
The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 
You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 
Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.
You can find more info on that method HERE.
What to do when you encounter a scammer:
Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.
Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 
Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.
Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 
Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 
Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 
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Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!
Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.
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atavist · 9 months
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His mother got duped by a man who claimed to love her—so he headed to Nigeria to find the con artist who broke her heart.   The Romance Scammer on My Sofa. The latest incredible true story from The Atavist.
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dduane · 29 days
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"Since the Wonka fiasco, Coull has taken steps to scrub various social accounts, taking down both a LinkedIn profile and a YouTube channel where it appears he presented himself as something of a business guru and life coach. His personal site, also deleted, touted a number of dubious academic degrees and said he worked as a “consultant” for a brand called Empowerity, which is now defunct. As of 2021, he was co-directing a Glasgow foodbank that he claimed fed thousands of families a month — that, too, no longer exists, and some Glaswegians suspect it was not entirely above board."
And also:
"The 16 books on Coull’s Amazon author page were all published in the summer of 2023 — some of them on the very same day. The synopsis for each is AI-generated, according to GPTZero analysis, and so is the text between the covers, as one irate reviewer has complained. Coull couldn’t even be bothered to pen his own author bio..."
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red-hydra · 2 years
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So there's a scam/bot spam going around. Almost fooled me, but I got the same exact message on two seperate accounts.
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I haven't put in the link into anything just in case. So yeah, be aware lads.
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fvck-you-bitch · 19 days
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THIS PALESTINE SCAM BLOG IS ALSO GETTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 100 NOTES!!! LET'S FIX THAT BY REPORTING THEIR ASSES!!
DO NOT DONATE TO @rashidoraq!!!! AMONG THE OTHERS LISTED IN THIS POST!!!
THEY ARE A SCAMMER TAKING AWAY LITERAL LIFE SAVING MONEY FROM ACTUAL PALESTINIANS!!!
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pinkwritings · 1 month
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DISCORD HACK BULLSHIT;
SO, today I got a message from a friend on discord saying the following;
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immediately sus, no? well, I got panicky and then played into it because scammers deserve to be fucked with. so, they ask me to add this person and I do.
and then this.
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long story short, be careful. check in with your friends. make sure your account is safe, don't give out your personal info and most definitely DON'T change your email to the one they asked you to changed it to.
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8pxl · 5 months
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🗣️ PSA
if ur a pixel artist or u use instagram please be wary of this account @pixel___art__._
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they’ve not only stolen pixel art from a LOT of artist (including myself and @waneella) but they’re claiming to be the artist behind the artwork. it’s just so wildly cringe lmfaooo but please block them so you don’t accidentally interact with this account, thank you!! 🖤
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wyomingweasel · 3 months
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Posting this here too because fuck ‘em and they advertise everywhere: do not buy from or support @strikegentlyco . They’ve been caught using generative ai for a handful of their blanket designs. “By independent artists” my ass. They’ve since removed the ‘in collaboration with Dalle’ from the capybara blanket btw, this is 100% intentional.
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gloopqueen · 4 months
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These pendants are sold with bunk science claims, but we can use real science to prove how dangerous they are.
By filling a chamber with supersaturated alcohol vapor, any ionizing radioactive particle that jets through will cause a cloud to condense. And these "health" products pack thorium & burp radiation constantly. Yikes.
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How the Hazbin cast would react to spam calls:
Angel Dust overdoing it on purpose; "I'm supposed to send you 1000$? How about we spend a night together and call it even, no Extra charge ;*"
Husk: "Fuck off"
Vaggie: doesn't pick up unknown number
Charlie: "1000$? Oh dear, that's a lot of money, you should really get a lawyer instead - I could ask my dad, he's the king, so he'll probably -" disconnect
"Odd..."
Pentouis: "I don't have this kind of money! Who do think you are?! A prince? Well then ask the princess, I'm sure she-" disconnected
Nifty: sends dead bug crown instead
Alastor: "Are you sure you're not a baker? No? Why, it seems like you're awfully keen on collecting more dough!" Canned laughter "It looks like I have guest for my radio show!"
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cacodaemonia · 9 months
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Heads up y'all
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atavist · 8 months
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His mother got duped by a man who claimed to love her—so he headed to Nigeria to find the con artist who broke her heart. A rare look inside the world of the so-called Yahoo Boys. The Romance Scammer on My Sofa. The latest incredible true story from The Atavist.
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neechees · 3 months
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Signs that a scam might be run by Laura Deramas & her common behaviors:
So as we know, that despite making herself famous as one of the most deranged, notorious scammers & perpetual liars on tumblr, its likely that Laura Deramas hasn't actually gone away, and is likely running several scams at any given moment at tumblr, as she's admitted to running multiple (on both twitter AND tumblr) not long ago. With these, we've seen her frequently have the same patterns of behavior on pretty much all of her scams, be it when she's using her own name & face, or someone else's (& she frequently uses other Filipinos' info, but she has racefaked or pretended to be different sexualities/genders/ethnicities multiple times as well).
So with that in mind, in addition to the usual red flag lists for scammers (ex: new blog suddenly asking for money, spamming asks, turns off /hides replies, changes url multiple times suddenly, etc), below are some common red flags to look for in "donation" posts/blogs that indicate this blog is likely a scam and specifically being run by Laura for the following behaviors:
She tries to send you a video or photos of some kind of a flood, a fire, or an old house in poor condition, but usually there's no proof that this is HER or her family's house, that it's HER footage, that it's not old, or that she actually lives there, and she never shows her (or the posters', whoever she's pretending to be) face. This means that the footage is most likely stolen, she isn't actually affected by that situation, & she's trying to pass it off as her own footage.
Uses the phrase "please, sir/maam" a lot. And i don't just mean saying "maam" to women & then "sir" to men, I mean as in sending everyone an ask/message with the phrase, quote, "sir/ma'am" unquote regardless of your gender
Is new to tumblr but somehow knows exactly which popular users to ask to reblog their donation posts, and usually they're Black. They may also target people who were previously victims of Laura's scams.
The user asks you to talk off of tumblr, especially if it's facebook.
The user is reluctant to give out their paypal and doesn't list it on their donation post. They may also use a knockoff fundraising site.
She starts showing you photos of things like a sad family or broken down house unprompted (or on her sockpuppet scam accounts, she uses stolen photos specifically instead) and starts talking about how much she's "suffering", often even if you've never interacted with her on her blog. She does this to manipulate people into feeling bad for her and will often repeatedly harass people this way.
She uses the ❤😩 😭🥺🙏 emojis approximately 50,000 times every sentence. Obviously that's a bit of an exagerration, but her scams DO use these a LOT. Her tumblr asks tend to also use a combination of these specific emojis when asking people for money or to reblog their donation post/scams, especially the crying & praying emojis.
Asks you to make or boost a donation post for her on other sites like twitter or instagram
Will allege that she can't speak English very well, but is only using English for her donation posts. She uses this lil nugget a lot in her other scam personas where she's pretending to be someone else, including ones she's literally admitted to. Laura can actually speak English very well. She's also used this even for accounts where her scamsona allegedly speaks a language that is widely spoken & has their own large presence on tumblr (like French or Arabic), so it doesn't make sense that someone who apparently has a lot of trouble with English ONLY uses English for their posts and ONLY follows English speaking users, & will sometimes use a shitty google translate if soneone who's a Native speaker in that language tries to talk to her in that language.
Might say something like "if you have any questions, ask me!" But then as soon as you ask questions that question whether or not its a scam, even if you ask very nicely or don't outright imply you think she's a scammer, (or even ask like. ANY question at all), instead of answering any questions or addressing any allegations or proof she's not genuine, instead she'll redirect, self victimize, and say that you're "attacking" her, and never actually provide any answers to the questions she said she was open to answering.
If you call her out, she'll keep insisting she's not lying, even if you have very explicit, hard proof that she's lying and that you know where she's stolen the "proof" documents from (like vet bills or xrays) or that her information is incorrect. If shes pretending to be someone else & is using someone else's photos and you say you know its actually her (Laura), even if you show HARD evidence that it's a Laura sockpuppet scam account, she'll continue lying and acting as if she doesn't know what youre talking about. She's done this with scams she later admitted to running.
Below under the cut is tactics/behaviors Laura usually displays when she's either been caught, or she's openly using her own name & face. Her scam sockpuppet accounts might do some of these things too, but the ones below are a bit more specific to when she's been caught, has admitted to lying and admits she is Laura behind the account, and/or when she's using her own name and face.
Might bring up her neighbors if you catch her in a lie and say something like "my neighbors will kill me" or being afraid of her neighbors & using that as some kind of excuse related to the lie/scam
If you catch her in a lie, she might say some story about "the police" or something along the lines of "the police" raiding her home or being afraid they will, and she usually brings this up to beg you not to tell other people she's scamming (she's used this story at least 4 different times and she's never been arrested or had any run in with police.) She's counting on people not knowing a lot about the Phillipines or its geography unless you live there (& this is a predominantly American site), so if she makes some claim about a law in the Phillipines, and it sounds wild, look it up, there's a good chance she's bullshitting you.
she'll start begging you to talk to her family via facebook, and specifically facebook, to "prove" shes not lying (note that her family knows she scams & is in on it, and several of her friends are also scammers on here, so they're there to backup her bullshit, but in cases where she's pretending to be someone else, it's likely one of her scammer friends pretending to be the family members of her scam persona to look more legitimate). She doesn't do this as much on her sockpuppet accounts, but if she does also take it to be suspicious.
If caught and Laura admits to it, she might try to discredit scam busters, specifically me, Kyra45, or mangocheesecakes by saying something along the lines of us allegedly being "bullies" or "targeting her for no reason" or that we are "racist" & alleges we only accused her of scamming because she is Filipino (this is incorrect, we accused her of scamming because we have hard proof she is a scammer & has been doing this for at least 3 years, and mangocheesecakes is also Filipino. Laura being Filipino is incidental.). Obviously her goal in doing this is to victimize herself and demonize us with the hopes that people will not believe us, and will donate to her now or her future scams. You're free to be skeptical of us, but if not us then you can ask the dozens of other people Laura has manipulated, harassed, and tricked into helping her to see that shes a serial liar, scammer, and a bully.
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vaspider · 21 days
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Hello sorry for tagging. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging
Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.
Account less than 12h old
ESL/doesn't talk like a "typical Tumblr user"
Melodrama. Most of them are far more melodramatic than this, even.
Userpic, header or both have pictures of kids in them
Donation links are only PayPal, never GFM or any other US-only service
Any one of these on its own doesn't mean it's a scammer, obviously. A lot of people are ESL or not in the US or have a lot of shit going on that sucks, but by the time you go down the list, if you've got a lot of 'em... yeah.
The brand-new account plus melodrama is usually the big giveaway, tbh.
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awesomecooperlove · 3 months
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