I always request an invoice for that very same reason! Saves me a lot of hassle in the long run. And artists I commission too! So, while PayPal is not the safest for commission transactions, it does provide some tools to mitigate scams. As limited as they are.

When I had working paypal I used only invoices too, but for last 3 years I can't use it directly, so I don't. PayPal is buyer friendly so here is hoping money will be returned soon

Then make PayPal officially no longer a payment method for you. Publicly speaking, and warn your clients about receiving money requests. Prevention is often the best way to not let scammers get away with theft.

I hope so too, but without a paper trail, I have my doubts.

That is not fully correct to make such statement for now. Direct paypal use was restricted for me and many artists from my area 3 years ago. Of course everyone updated. But since then Paypal is available only through services, for now is LavaTop. And I warned about this through last years several times and on auction info of course, I always update what is actual. It won't help if I spam with it everyday. I will make it more clear in auction description tho, nothing more I can do here.

I meant using PayPal directly. Other services are more restrictive on scam usability because there's more resources available to identity verification than PayPal has, since it's pretty easy to usurpt anyone's likeness and identity there. PayPal is the basis that many payment services like hipolink and boosty are built upon.

Hope things work out for you as best they possibly can. 🤞🤞

I've heard similar stories from artists and commissioners I watch. It seems like this scam is very common. I think furaffinity should add warnings about this.

Yup, got scammed by someone under your discord tag, but display name of Pak009 (another artist).

I’m out by $735. Attempting dispute now.

That's ridiculous 😔 All accounts with my (similar, not exact, if they use it as tag it's always with a silly spelling) name I've known was reported and taken down successfully, I can't believe they still going. I'm very sorry about this situation, hope you'll get your money back, be careful 💓🙏🏼

Artists
* Don't contact the winner first. Tell the winner in the YCH comment to contact you.
* Use FA Notes for the payment link / address.

Buyers
* Remove your discord / telegram from your FA profile if you're actively buying YCHs.
* Always verify in Notes with the artist, if someone initiates contact with you on discord / telegram.


These steps will stop 99% of the scam attempts. The only time I had scam attempts was when I had contact info on my FA profile. I have not had a single scam attempt since I deleted them. Scammers will watch popular YCHs, and if the buyer has usernames on their profile, they will try to get the buyer to pay them. Artists should let the buyer contact them; scammers don't want to pay money for art, so they have no incentive to contact an artist. Using FA notes for the payment link is the easiest way for the buyer to verify they're paying the artist; FA notes is clunky, but more secure than discord or telegram. Then use messengers for discussing the art.

That is the most effective advices, I agree.

For artists - they making new fa accounts or using some old, with display name future they can name as an artist, no realistic way to prevent that, only for buyers to pay attention and double check who note them.

I'll consider what to change for future auctions. For me personally I'd like to contact first more because I can gather all info and questions in one message instead of going back and forth. Asking all in comment first would not work because it would be too massive and kinda part of personal conversation imho.

But hey, no one stopping me do the same but in first reply *intensive thinking activated*

Yeah, whatever works best! I know for some artists those steps can add more work.
But I think if frequent YCH buyers remove their discord / telegram from the public profile, they'll usually be safe enough. I had received two scam attempts in my first month when I first started on FA. I have had 0 scams in 6 months since I removed those from my profile. If scammers can't contact you, they can't steal your money!

That is perfect tactic Thank you for sharing!

On the other hand, while I sit and wait for note they can be scammed (like it was on last situation), if they didn't pay attention for comment or simply forget to message, I like to communicate first for those reasons too😔

Some scammers hate invoice.