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Scammers, FA, and You
4 years ago
Giving folks a head's up, as I've seen a very small, but noticeable pattern of an imposter pretending to be well known artists trying to scam people out of money.
The scammer is sending notes which look like this:
"Hey, I am writing about this auction - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/XXXXXXXXX/ (This link won't work)
The winner can't pay, so I move on to the next bid. If you are still ready to buy, then give me your character refs and paypal email for invoice. If you change your mind, I can restart the auction."
First and foremost, before sending money to any account ALWAYS check their registration date. Are they new? Was the account just created and they're contacting you about art that's years old, or requesting money? Are they posting YCHes or commissions that seem just a bit too good to be true, but they don't have an established submission history of finished works in their gallery? Always exercise caution, and always check out the account date to verify they are who they say they are.
Every profile on FA has a user's reg date, which looks like something like "Member Since: Dec 4, 2005 05:32". Check the date!
Additionally, NEVER pay for anything as a gift, only a service. Paying as a gift waives your right to request a refund from the individual.
We unfortunately live in a world in which scammers, scalpers, and con artists exist. It's a problem that dates back to the earliest points of humanity, and people have been fighting back against it since the dawn of time.
If you are contacted by somebody who appears to be promoting the above scam DO NOT respond to this individual. Please immediately open a ticket to report them, and feel free to DM me the ticket number.
Always exercise caution, and never be hesitate to reach out to us to be sure.
The scammer is sending notes which look like this:
"Hey, I am writing about this auction - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/XXXXXXXXX/ (This link won't work)
The winner can't pay, so I move on to the next bid. If you are still ready to buy, then give me your character refs and paypal email for invoice. If you change your mind, I can restart the auction."
First and foremost, before sending money to any account ALWAYS check their registration date. Are they new? Was the account just created and they're contacting you about art that's years old, or requesting money? Are they posting YCHes or commissions that seem just a bit too good to be true, but they don't have an established submission history of finished works in their gallery? Always exercise caution, and always check out the account date to verify they are who they say they are.
Every profile on FA has a user's reg date, which looks like something like "Member Since: Dec 4, 2005 05:32". Check the date!
Additionally, NEVER pay for anything as a gift, only a service. Paying as a gift waives your right to request a refund from the individual.
We unfortunately live in a world in which scammers, scalpers, and con artists exist. It's a problem that dates back to the earliest points of humanity, and people have been fighting back against it since the dawn of time.
If you are contacted by somebody who appears to be promoting the above scam DO NOT respond to this individual. Please immediately open a ticket to report them, and feel free to DM me the ticket number.
Always exercise caution, and never be hesitate to reach out to us to be sure.
It's always Russians.
Further, Russians are one of the biggest communities in the entire fandom and one of the largest supporters of the site. By and large, most of the Russians don't want to be associated with that kind of thing, too. There's a lot of amazing Slavic artists on the site who just want to do commissions, get paid, make some great art.
On the subject of bad apples, people will think that Furries will always be predators and animal diddlers, but from the time I first joined the furry community, I've seen the majority actually speak out against these kinds of people, condemning them. That was proof enough to me that certain individuals are the problem, and not that entire community. And it should be for everyone else. (Unfortunately, there will be some hard-headed people who won't pay attention to that and will look at the bad apples as the front cover for the entire group.)
Ea-Nasir has entered the chat
Thanks for the heads up. <3
Had trouble with one that usurped my friend but he's currently pending deletion.
Thanks Dragoneer and FA Team!
Anywho, thank you, 'Neer and Fa admin team, for being on your....paw pads(?) about this and for informing all of us about it. It's a shame folks are out there trying to take other people's hard-earned money while they...basically don't do anything.
It takes a lot of time, effort, energy, and learning to create a skill. It takes almost no effort to pretend to be somebody else.
The fact that they delete the submission before contacting me is what made me skeptical.
I would have reported them, but whenever I try and report, nothing ever seems to work. :/
It's an art and skill to deal with fraud and scams these days, its everywhere; unfortunately ignoring it very rarely works as they just go to the next victim... Never really a win.
Thanks for the heads up though
Hopefully spreading awareness will go a long way to making the scammers work unprofitable, at which point they'll go away.
Banning YCHes, adopts, or auctions is not a great idea as that would punish artists in the thousands. People rely on them to pay bills, buy food, make rent. And it wouldn't solve the problem at all. The scammer in this case did something no rule can cover: they lied. They impersonated somebody else and attempted to fleece people with the lure of faux commissions.
No rules can stop that from happening. No site can stop that from happening. Bad actors, scammers, liars, cheats, and thieves are a problem as old as time. In fact, that's specifically why I wrote that in the journal.
People like this? They don't care about rules, policies, or even getting banned. The only thing they care about is trying to hit as many targets in a short amount of time as they can before they get caught. Us adding new rules or preventing unregulated sales wouldn't stop that because people will always look to abuse any system. Just ask anybody trying to buy a GPU right now. Assholes ruin everything.
So its hard when the account is like, still around and has been around, but keeps doing stuff? Even linking to their off site stuff to DO most of their scamming of stolen stuff?
I didnt report because they user had already deleted their stolen adopt by the time I saw it, so I figured it was too late.
I can however DM you the name, the cache version that I found (if it still works?) and a page showing everything that is going on though!
I've been personally digging through every scam account when this happens and sending notes to people to get them to issue a refund or attempt to get their money back. Sadly, it's incredibly difficult to stop things like this before it happens, but periodical reminders to alert people is never a bad thing.
If there is a distinct sound before a voice on the line, it's definitely a scammer.
also, it is sad because both people have continued to accept and work on commissions.... and at some point everything was stopped...
so sometimes it is not so easy to detect a fraud... when everything always worked before
I have already written to both of them... and from both I get neither my money... nor the ordered art... and paypal does now also nothing more...