It's a shame, lazy people want freebies

Not only freebies, but to scam others while exploiting the work of real artists :I

Did you paid that "artist"? If so, you should file a PayPal dispute to get your money back if you haven't already.

Unfortunately it was through Boosty because of course it was.

Echoing others to know what that scammer is.

Can you DM us who it was? I don't wanna toss money at them by accident.

Same here 😬

DMed.

Seconding.

Done and done.

Messaged!

Please DM us the artists in question. I do not want to fall into the same trap.

As you wish.

Gotcha, Kamp.

I'm sorry you fell into this situation. :(
Also the worry you punished the wrong person who didn't use AI is very thoughtful of you. <3
I think you did everything well to minimize the misjudge while keep under judge those who deserve it.
I wish you luck to keep this right as much as you possibly can.

Thanks, I have the smallest worry that I'm wrong but when I saw like... THREE DIFFERENT suspicious things come up, and 4-5 people message me that their artwork is AI... egh. I couldn't ignore the signs, as much as I didn't want to admit I had been tricked.

'as much as I didn't want to admit I had been tricked.'
*hug you*
It's okay. Even I've been tricked in my life. Much more than I though could be healthy.

What I only learned is that I'm going to be always tricked because just as I try to be smarter to avoid being tricked, people who want to trick me also try to be outsmart me.
It's a never ending b####t. :(

Sorry for the swearing word. Even I censured it. 😞

there are some words i don't like, but swearwords aren't among them ;)

yes... unscrupulous sorta are always coming up with new ways to take advantage of others...

Oh no, this situation is so sad(

Yeah! Hate to say it, but you gotta be extra vigilant these days (i'm taking my own advice now lol). I used to only be paranoid about scam artists just stealing someone else's art, recoloring it lazily, and passing it off as their own... now there's actual AI art scams to worry about.

quite a long time ago, a crazy story happened to me, how an artist stole my ych, made a multi-slot ych and sold it for each 60 $
I wouldn't have found out about it until she wrote to me with an offer of collaboration, but the story didn't end there
and she didn't draw it herself, on Russian websites she found artists who were ready to draw it completely for 2-3 dollars XDDDD
to my great regret, I don't have any screenshots left, but I'm still laughing at the fact that my ych became part of the furry-mafia xdddd

holy crap, that is WILD. furry mafia... i'm sure at the time it was frustrating but in hindsight it does sound funny ;)

not quite the same, but another anecdote an artist told me about is that they raffled off an adoptable to someone for free... then the winner sold the adoptable to someone else right after P: so now i understand when artists talk about "making their sure their adoptables go to a good home (and don't immediately get re-homed!)"

Ugh the worst part is that its getting more convincing so its gonna be harder to tell the scam artists.. i feel like id be bad but asking for at least some sort of time lapse now to just make sure which sucks

I know what you mean. I think at a minimum it's reasonable to ask for WIPS of sketches, linework, flat coloring... pretty reasonable requests I think.

Yeh! At least wips and such should be normal. Idk i feel a bit paranoid these days

I very much agree that furry in particular must be kept AI free.

Aye, aye.

Please DM. I comm a lot ;;

sent!

Fuck, so sorry my friend. Not your fault.

Hello, would it be possible to dm me the name of the artist(s)? Also, it sucks that it happened to you.

Aye sure thing... and thanks ><

can i have the "artists" name

thank you

honestly this is a big reason i tend to commission the same handful of ppl

Valid, also like... if you have good rapport with them and they already draw your OC in a style you like it's just better all around.

could you dm me the name of the artist so i dont end up doing the same. I have a few artists i have been thinking of get art from who work from boosty so I am curious.

HATE AI so much. Sorry you had another run in with them. x(

Artists are always dming me wanting me to hire work. Generally ignore it now. But appreciste knowing so i not get fooled. Happened a few times already.