WARNING TO THE FURAFFINITY COMMUNITY

Dear FurAffinity community!
Artists and commissioners, I am addressing every one of you to warn about a serious issue we are currently facing. Please read this message carefully until the end.

Unfortunately, scammers have gone completely out of control and are impersonating artists in order to steal money from commissioners. As far as I understand, they operate using multiple methods. I am personally aware of two of them:

• They contact auction participants from fake Discord accounts pretending to be the artist and attempt to collect payment for a YCH.

• They message people from fake artist accounts and try to sell YCHs that are supposedly “unwanted” or “not getting bids”.

They also very often request payment via cryptocurrency.

As a result, absolutely everyone is at risk. These methods can lead to commissioners losing their money. Artists, in turn, risk having their reputation damaged, even though they may have nothing to do with the situation and may not even be aware that it is happening. This is disgusting from every angle and completely unacceptable.

Instead of working on commissions, I am now forced to spend my time writing this post, which has also taken a serious toll on my nerves.
We must push back against these malicious individuals who believe it is acceptable to profit from kind, honest people and to tarnish the reputations of artists who have spent years building trust.

What we should do about this
For artists:

1. Maximize the spread of this information. Share this post and retell this information wherever possible. Being warned means being prepared. Everyone needs to know that this problem exists.

2. Warn people directly in auction descriptions.
When announcing an auction winner in the comments, explicitly remind them to be cautious.
I currently suggest using wording like this:
“Slot is yours! Thank you for your bid. Please DM me. Due to the increasing number of fraud attempts, please note that our communication will only take place through FurAffinity notes, and only via Discord or Telegram, the contacts for which you will receive directly from me in notes.”

3. List your Discord in your bio so people can verify the authenticity of accounts.

4. Verify Discord chats through FurAffinity notes, confirming their legitimacy to the client.

5. Only share your Discord via private notes on FurAffinity.

For commissioners:

. Do not trust everyone who messages you on Discord (or any other messenger) using a familiar name. Always make sure the account you are communicating with is legitimate.
Ask the artist to verify the chat via FurAffinity notes. Do not hesitate to do this. A reasonable artist will not be offended - this is a completely normal request given the current situation. It benefits both parties to avoid misunderstandings or scams.

For commissioners working specifically with me:

1. I always reply to the auction winner publicly in the comments from my FA account. I will never message you on Discord claiming you won before the auction is officially finished.

2. I never message the winner first. I ask the winner to contact me.
Previously, this could be done via notes or social media listed in my bio. From now on, only via FurAffinity notes, except for clients with whom I already have an active Discord chat.

3. I never message people to push unwanted YCHs or offer commissions out of the blue. I am against aggressive marketing and believe that if someone likes my work, they will reach out to me themselves.

These steps are more than enough to prevent scammers from causing chaos on a platform we all love and care about. I strongly encourage everyone to follow these recommendations. Ideally, everyone should make their own warning post. These measures may seem excessive, but they reflect the current reality.

A message to the scammers (yes, I know you are reading this):

Instead of impersonating artists and exploiting other people’s work, invest your time into learning an actual skill.
Many commissioners are ordinary working people who save money to support real human artists rather than using AI-generated images.
Taking advantage of their trust and harming artists’ reputations is unethical and unacceptable.
This community is aware of your methods, and we will actively work to prevent your scams.

link to the original post:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/63371253/