Art Commission Scams: The Red Flags Every Artist Should Know

Commission scammers target artists for a simple reason: artists are approachable, deal with strangers by design, often handle payments informally, and really, really want the client to be real.

The good news is that scams are scripts. The people running them send the same messages to hundreds of artists, which means the patterns are recognisable once you’ve seen them named. Here are the ones that account for nearly all of it.

The classics, by script

The overpayment “mistake”

The oldest one in the book. The client agrees to your price quickly (redflag one: no questions), then sends more than agreed — via cheque, bank transfer or a payment account — and asks you to kindly refund the difference. Days later, the original payment bounces, gets reversed, or turns out to have come from a stolen account. The refund you sent was your own real money.

The tell: any overpayment plus a request to send money back, ever. Real clients who overpay ask you to credit it or fix the invoice — they don’t need you wiring anything anywhere.

The fake payment screenshot

You’re sent a convincing screenshot or email “confirming” payment, sometimes with a story about the transfer being “on hold until you confirm shipment/delivery”. You deliver the work; the money never existed. Some versions fake a PayPal email address; some fake your own invoice back at you.

The tell: money that can be seen in screenshots but not in your actual account balance. The screenshot is not the payment. Log into your payment platform yourself — never through a link in the message — and believe only what the balance says.

The NFT “collector”

An enthusiastic stranger loves your work and wants to buy several pieces “as NFTs” for eye-watering sums. You’re directed to a marketplace (theirs) where you must first pay a “minting fee” or “gas fee” — usually a few hundred dollars — to list. The site keeps the fee; the collector evaporates. It’s an advance-fee scam wearing a lanyard.

The tell: you have to pay money in order to receive money. That sentence is the entire scam category, in any currency.

The exposure merchant

Not technically theft, but a scam on your time: “we can’t pay, but it’ll be great exposure”, “you’ll be our featured artist”, “our brand ambassador program” (which, on inspection, means you buy their product at a discount and advertise it). Exposure doesn’t render pixels or pay rent, and legitimate features don’t require you to purchase anything.

The impersonator

Two directions, both ugly. Scammers impersonate known artists to take commission money for work they’ll never do — and impersonate companies or well-known figures to give fake commissions credibility (“I represent a studio; we’d like concept art”). Verify independently: contact the studio through its public channels, check the artist’s real accounts. Impersonation preys on excitement; a two-minute check dissolves it. And if someone’s impersonating you, our guide on what to do when your art is stolen covers the takedown process.

Habits that make you a hard target

None of these require paranoia — just process, the same process that makes commissions run smoothly anyway (we’ve written the full opening-commissions checklist separately):

• Deposits, always. Half upfront before any work starts filters out nearly every scammer, because scripts depend on you investing before they do. This is also just good pricing hygiene.
• Invoices, not favours. Goods-and-services invoices through your payment platform create records and dispute rights. “Friends and family has no fees though” — correct, and no protections either, which is exactly why scammers request it.
• Watermarked, reduced-resolution WIPs until the final payment clears. The finished file is your leverage; keep it until the ledger says zero.
• Keep everything in writing. If a conversation happened by voice, summarise it in the thread afterwards. Disputes are decided on records.
• Distrust urgency. “I need this by Friday and I’ll pay triple” is designed to bypass your process. Real deadlines survive a deposit invoice; fake ones never do.
• Trust the pattern-match. Perfect English suddenly breaking, prices accepted without a single question, sob stories arriving with payment complications — when three small oddities stack up, that’s the script showing through.

If it already happened

No shame — these scripts work on smart people, which is why they persist. Move quickly:

1. Document everything: usernames, messages, payment records, the lot.
2. Dispute through the payment platform — this is exactly what invoice records are for.
3. Report to the platform where the contact happened, so the account gets actioned.
4. Report to your national service — in Australia that’s ReportCyber, in the US the FTC and IC3. Individual reports rarely bring money back, but they build the case files that get scam networks acted on.
5. Tell your community. Scammers rely on artists staying quiet and embarrassed. A quick warning post protects the next ten targets — the kind of thing artist communities are for.

Final thoughts

Every scam above fails against the same three habits: deposit first, invoice always, deliver nothing until paid. Set those as policy and you can be as friendly and open with genuine clients as you like — the process does the suspicion for you.

Commission work is better with a community around it, too — for referrals, second opinions and the occasional “is this message a scam?” sanity check. That’s the kind of place artbase is built to be, and it’s open to everyone now.

Frequently asked questions

Is the "I want to buy your art as an NFT" message a scam?

Almost always, yes. The script offers a large sum in crypto for existing pieces, then routes you to a fake marketplace where you must pay a "minting fee" upfront. Real collectors do not need you to pay anything to be paid. Treat unsolicited crypto offers as spam.

Why should commission payments go through invoices instead of friends-and-family transfers?

Friends-and-family style payments have no buyer or seller protection and are a favourite of scammers precisely because they are irreversible and undocumented. A goods-and-services invoice costs a small fee and buys you a paper trail and dispute standing.

What is an overpayment scam?

The "client" sends more than the agreed price — often by fake cheque or a compromised account — then asks you to refund the difference. Later the original payment bounces or is reversed, and you have lost both the refund you sent and the artwork time.

What should I do if I've already been scammed?

Gather everything — messages, usernames, payment records — then report through your payment platform's dispute process and to the platform where contact happened. Report to your national cybercrime service (in Australia, ReportCyber; in the US, the FTC and IC3). Speed helps, and so does warning your community.