crashgall:

bbsartboutique:

ruef:

dripponi:

sugaryviolet:

qbalchemist:

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers.
For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of

“Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune.

Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected.
Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action.

Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately.

So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated?
Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people.

We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care? It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post.
I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them.

Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect.
Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse.
Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars.
Reblog & Share

I’m horrible at replying to IMs as is, so the probability of me actively reaching out to anyone and offer cheap commissions is zero to none. The only times this happens if if you’ve already asked me to contact you when I open up for more commissions.

So yea, if you get any IMs from someone claiming to be me, please drop me an email at violetcommissions@gmail.com or message me on my discord server. If it’s legit me talking to you I’ll confirm it there, and if it isn’t, you’ll help me find out faster so I can warn people.

Boosting this message. People, be careful about who you share your information with online, please! Don’t share nudes, home addresses, personal account information or ANYTHING of that sort to ANYONE you don’t truely know and trust– let alone to random artist accounts.

If you are approached by any account that looks like it could be me or any other well known artist in the community– CHECK THEIR URL, IGNORE and/or REPORT the account for impersonation! More than anything, please don’t share your information with anyone you don’t know.

Always remember to check the URL, cuz it could save you from a lot of headache.

Stay safe friends. A close friend of mine got impersonated yesterday by the scammer and is being harassed on her Picarto and social media’s. I don’t think I’m as well known as the other people being affected but he does target friends of people he’s already harassing. I just want to stay safe.

MY ONLY ACCOUNT IS RUEF. My commissions are closed.

If any other “Ruef” account pops up please let me know. My public email is Rueftimmington@gmail.com.

Please keep an eye out for this nonsense, too many good people have been harassed already! I almost never send out tumblr messages, so if you see one from me, double check! My name is kinda funky, so make sure boutique is spelled right, all lower case!

MY ONLY ACCOUNT IS BBSARTBOUTIQUE. I only make commission announcements on my blog!

If any other “bbsartboutique” account pops up please let me know. My public email is bbsartboutique@gmail.com.

Ooooh…
I agree with all, and please, be careful in internet and always check information.

MY ONLY ACCOUNT IS CRASHGALL. 

If any other “crashgall” account pops up please let me know. My public email is crash9902@gmail.com.