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Even artists are not immune to constantly being solicited my scammers.  Honestly, it is endless and exhausting.

A group of art friends and I have a text chain and we like to play a little game called "Real or Scam."  We play this game several times a week.

From our experience, here are the Top 13 Ways to Spot an Art Scammer: 

1) On Instagram you get a message that says the person wants to buy your art but they have 1.3K followers with only 5 posts.  Something is fishy with that ratio.

2) Asks if you have anything for sale $5000 (or any large amount).

3) Instantly asks if any of your artwork is for sale, even though any reasonable buyer would have looked at your website.

4) Says he/she only buys artwork directly from the artist and will not deal with your gallery.

5) Wants to purchase your art but does not follow you on social media.

6) Any message that says they caught wife/husband looking at artwork and wanted to surprise him/her with a gift

7) Anyone who says they love your work and their social media feed mentions NFTs.

8) Multiple misspellings in the message.

9) Any mention of something not related to your artwork.

10)  Wants you to represent their brand.  No legitimate business would contact you out cold to represent their brand.

11) Needs a commission quickly and offer you a budget upfront.

12) They will pay you $10,000 (or another large sum) for multiple artworks.

13) Asks: "Can you draw a picture for my son?"

Have any more to add to the list?  I would love to hear them.  Plus, my hope is this helps you successfully play your own version of "Real or Scam."

To conclude thought I would share my latest request.  Have they seen my art?