Protect Yourself and Your Art
Scams,
phishing, malware, fake invoices, bogus art buyers, and email security
are things even artists in an art group MUST educate themselves on. A
recent email scam came to at least several of our PWAS members (if not
all). In this day and age, we ALL must be prepared that there are people
that want to 1. get your money and/or 2. get your art not by legitimate
means.
Protect Yourself From Scam Email
Here is a recent email you may have seen come into your Inbox. I forwarded the email to Sandra to let her know about it. I'm not sure how our emails were targeted and may never know. But for your benefit, I'm going to point out the obvious flaws that raised my spidy-senses.
The Flaws in this Email and Beyond
- Junk Folder
-This email landed in my Junk folder. I have email from Sandra come
into a designated PWAS folder, so this email address was obviously
unknown to my email provider.
- Wrong Email - Sandra Lewin's email is totally wrong. Look it up! That was the most obvious tell of this fake.
- A Sense of Urgency. The scammer wants you to spend your money quickly - and it offers to reimburse you...Yeah, right.
- Money. Asking for you to purchase something, anything - out of the blue. Or send money. Always a huge red flag.
- Recognize the Spoof. Sandra was definitely NOT out of state. You could call her to find out.
- Why YOU?
Why would someone (even if a friend or family member) be contacting YOU
to purchase something for them for something that happened years ago?
The email doesn't really make sense at all.
- Misspells. Often scam emails have misspells, do look for those, although this one as far as the English isn't too bad.
- Laying on the Buttering Up. This one has the "absolute confidence in me"...yeah, right.
- Generic Salutation.
Yes, this one does say "Dear Donna" but that isn't how she addresses
me. An alarm should go off if it says "Dear Sir, Madame" etc.- its too
generic.
- If anything says your account will be suspended - did you even have an account with the subject? Again, an alarm.
- Anything
that asks for your social security, private info - probably a scam
unless you are specifically ON an IRS or government site. But they ARE
NOT asking you via email.
- Watch the Attachments!
Anything ending in .exe, .iso, .zip are always suspicious. IF YOU go to
Microsoft or something like Zoom and need to do an update - YOU are
initiating the update, not clicking on something in an email. Be aware
of these.
- If
your gut, your intuition alarms go off, PAY ATTENTION! Remember the
saying of if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is?
- If
there is a URL (a link) in the email - don't click on it immediately!
It is far better to manually go to the site in your browser than to
click in the unexpected email.
- YOU CAN
contact your friend either via phone, text, or verified email (check
previous emails from the friend) and ASK if the email is genuine.
- YOU WILL KNOW
as an artist, if there is a legitimate Call for Art coming from the art
group. You can check the art group's website and this blog to find
further info on it almost always. The PWAS Member meetings will have the
Secretary's meeting minutes that should include what is coming up.
- CHECK OUT THE LINKS
- Take your cursor and place it over any links in the email - WITHOUT
CLICKING ON IT. When you do that, the link will show in the bottom left
corner of your browser - check if it matches where you expect the link
to go. The domain name should be spelled correctly!
- DON'T RESPOND to the email. If your email allows you to report the email as spam do that and block / delete the garbage.
- CHECK YOUR ADDRESS BAR.
In your browser is an important part of confirming a page is
legitimate, as is https:// in the beginning of the address. (https =
usually good, http = not so good) Web addresses must be typed exactly
right for you to go to the correct place on the internet as it is the
Location Address. Much like if you mistyped your home address to
someone, they are not going to the correct house.
Legitimate
https://www.facebook.com/princewilliamartsociety/ account for PWAS. If
it was something like http://placebook.com or http://facebok.com there's
your red flag.
We
are seeing an ever increasing amount of scams! Obnoxious, I know. Here
are some very, very common scams and often they can be combined.
- You've Won! A Sweepstakes or Lottery or iPhone - just send the shipping fee
- Bank Warnings - so many variations to get your data so they can get your $
- Suspicious Activity or Login Attempts
- Copyright
Infringement Claims - they claim to be a copyright holder, an artist or
photographer and you or your website is infringing on their copyright.
They want you to go to something like Dropbox or Drive and click on
something...and there's your bug. Or they're phishing for your data.
- Fake Political Groups
- NFTs
Scam - someone wants to purchase your art as a NFT (Non-fungible Token)
or get you to "mint" your artwork. This sounds all kinds of dirty to me
and I steer clear.
- Fake Job Offers
- Collaboration / Pay to play - I'm not working with any of these out-of-the-blue and part-with-your-money schemes.
- Shipping Notifications
- A Problem with Your Payment Info
- Government Refund
- Fake Invoices
- Fake Reset Password Requests
- Romance and Family Member Scams
- You Owe Back Taxes
- "I need to use your phone number to break into my Facebook Account"
- Student
Loans - just got this one again. Urgently trying to contact me, time
sensitive, final warning, flagged, blah-de-blah-blah. Right...I don't
have a student loan.
- "You'll
get exposure"...even your local businesses or events may say these
words. Just pay attention to how much work you will have to do and what
they are offering in return. Actually, how much traffic is actually
coming through to potentially help you make sales to make it worthwhile
for you.
Other Scams
I've previously written blog posts called "Art Scammers are Everywhere" and "Spammed as an Artist"
which the email described periodically makes an appearance. Well worth
reading because many of us as artists have received a version of it.
Basically you are contacted that the person wants to purchase a bunch of
your artwork...have you seriously EVER had this happen?! And it
snowballs drastically after that.
Phone Calls
If
an odd call comes in beware that these days they can fake voices. I
know, this can be horrible. Again, is there a sense of urgency, a
something terrible will happen if you don't send money - CALL, text or
email your friend or family member and see what they say when you get
ahold of them.
"Hi
Grandma, my phone isn't working and I'm on my friend's phone. Can you
send me $____?" - I had a version of this once and I'm not a grandma.
Also, be careful of using the word "Yes" in a call you are realizing may not be legit.
I
often do not answer any phone call that I do not recognize the number.
In my contact list, I have the names of the person so I know who is
calling. I figure if its that important, they will leave a message.
As
you know, in our art group there are a LOT of emails. You know not to
click on links in messages from people you do not know. But as you can
see, this one faked that it was from someone we did know. In your head,
do you hear that thought that says, "this is weird". Do NOT ignore your
voice!
Someone
got hacked, hence the need to FIRST have a look at your email to see
WHAT is going on with it. If there are those red flags, take the step of
texting the person and ask, "Did you send me an email asking for money,
gift cards (whatever)?"
AGAIN...you need to IDENTIFY the SCAMMER and you can't rush answering the request.
1. Stop - don't rush your reply! Verify, verify, verify.
2. Do Not Click - definitely don't click on a link or download any files unless you KNOW it is legit and you are expecting the info.
3. Check the Source - contact directly using other means like their website, contact page or phone number. For a friend you can call or text.
An Ounce of Prevention...
- Never pay for anything upfront.
- Conduct all of your business and sales through legitimate resources.
- You
must protect yourself with detailed and signed contracts, terms and
conditions, a payment and payment process, etc. For Commissions, I get
half upfront and its not refundable. This is especially important when
working with someone the first time.
- Beware of emails with unclear, unusual, vague, "out-of-the-blue" requests especially from people you do not know.
- Trust your instincts - if it feels weird, check and verify for legitimacy.
- If someone gets angry, aggressive, starts to pressure you - walk away. Be done with them.
What to Do If You've Been Scammed
See the section on What to Do If You've Been Scammed via Email
Go to https://www.identitytheft.gov/Info-Lost-or-Stolen When info is lost or exposed.
Do the homework, read more here What is a scam and how can you protect yourself?
8 Common Art Scams
Watermark Your Artwork Online
And finally...its up to YOU to protect yourself, I can only make the suggestions listed here. It's up to you to apply them.
Use security software
Use mult-factor authentication where you can.
Set your phone to automatically update
Back up your data
Have you been a victim of a scam? What can you share about scams you have seen?
Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge,
VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes,
animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings. __________________________________________________________________________________
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Let me know if you like my paintings and if you need a handmade, original painting for yourself or as a gift for a friend or family member. If you want to commission me to do a painting for you, please contact me through this blog, on Facebook, My Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com, or go to Donna Liguria Art on Etsy at https://donnaliguriaart.etsy.com to shop my available Artwork.
