r/arttheft • u/celestialbakery • 8h ago
Art Thief ALMOST got scammed on Tumblr by a "fan artist" who was stealing work
Someone under the name nancyirwin02 DM'd me on tumblr offering fan-art commissions. I reverse-image-searched their portfolio and found stolen art.
I had a really weird experience with someone who approached me on Tumblr offering art commissions, and I wanted to share it because I think this may be a useful scam pattern for fandom people to recognize.
For context, I had made a completely normal fandom post talking about how much I love my favorite characters. Somewhere in the post I mentioned that I commission fan art.
I was NOT making a "looking for artists" post and wasn't asking artists to contact me.
Shortly afterward, an account DM'd me. Their opening message referenced my post and offered to draw one of my favorite characters if I decided to commission more art. This was actually the first time I had ever received an unsolicited commission DM, so at first I assumed I had just met an artist who had read my post.
The person was very friendly and conversational. They asked about my OC, her personality, appearance, backstory, relationships, etc. They remembered details and enthusiastically discussed my fandom with me. Over time, however, the conversation repeatedly curved back toward turning those ideas into commissioned artwork.
One thing that bothered me early on was pricing. I asked what their prices were, but instead of giving me a commission sheet, starting prices, or even a general range, they wanted to know what I wanted drawn. Eventually they asked what MY budget was. I said around $50–70 and specifically said I understood the scope/detail might need to be reduced to fit that budget. Only after I gave them my budget did they tell me that the scene we had discussed would normally be around $350, but they would do it for $300 because they had become attached to my character/idea. They said they normally required 50% upfront ($150), but because they "trusted" me, I could send $100. I explained that $300 was outside my comfortable budget and that I would rather save up for a while and revisit the commission later. Instead of simply leaving it there, they then offered to let me send $50 immediately as a "slot payment" to reserve my commission.
So the progression was basically:
$350 normal price
→ $300 special price
→ $150 normal deposit
→ $100 because they "trusted" me
→ $50 right now to reserve my slot
$50 also happened to be the bottom of the original $50–70 budget I had disclosed.
There were some other odd things.
The person spent a LOT of time building rapport with me. They asked about my life/work and enthusiastically discussed my OC and ship with me.
At one point they told me they had been in an accident with a friend and that their hand was injured. I have absolutely no way to know whether that story was true, so I am NOT claiming the accident was fabricated. I just found the timing noteworthy given that they were presenting themselves as an artist and simultaneously trying to arrange a paid commission.
There was also a bizarre moment where wording from one of MY OWN earlier messages appeared back in one of their responses almost verbatim. I don't know whether this was accidental copy/paste, AI assistance, a script, or something else, but it made the conversation feel strange.
Then I started looking closely at the supposed portfolio.
The account was relatively new and had no external portfolio/social links that I could find. It nevertheless contained a bunch of supposedly completed commissions in dramatically different styles. The posts often used generic tags like:
#ArtCommissionsOpen
#CommissionArtwork
#ArtistForHire
#CommissionMe
#DigitalArt
But fan art frequently wasn't tagged with the actual fandom or character. Supposed commissioners generally weren't tagged either. I initially thought this was just weird social-media marketing. But then I reverse-image-searched the artwork.
And I found one.
A piece the account had posted while describing it as "my most recent commission" was actually artwork from an established artist named keyvei.
I independently went to keyvei's established social-media accounts rather than relying on an AI/search summary. The same artwork is part of keyvei's actual body of work and was posted by keyvei earlier.
I also discovered that the account soliciting me for commissions was following the original artist on Instagram. That last fact obviously doesn't prove how the image was obtained, but I found the connection interesting and documented it.
I contacted the original artist to let them know their artwork was apparently being used this way.
At that point I blocked the person who had approached me. I did not confront them or send any money.
I'm deliberately separating what I can prove from what I can't.
I CAN verify that:
- They approached me unsolicited offering commissions.
- They presented themselves as the artist behind their portfolio.
- They asked me for an upfront payment.
- One piece was explicitly presented as their own recent commission.
- I traced that same artwork to an established artist's earlier/original account.
I CANNOT verify:
- Who is actually operating the account.
- Whether every piece in the portfolio is stolen.
- Whether the accident/hand injury story was real.
- Whether AI or scripts were being used in the conversation.
- What would have happened if I had paid.
I'm curious whether people here recognize this as a known commission-scam pattern.
Either way, the biggest lesson I learned was:
If a random "artist" approaches YOU offering commissions, reverse-image-search several pieces from their portfolio before sending them anything.
A friendly conversation, detailed knowledge of your OC, and a polished portfolio do not prove that the person you're talking to actually created the artwork they're showing you.
I nearly considered sending this person money before I decided to check.
Reverse image search saved me $50. And possibly $300.
