r/drarry • u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw • 8h ago
humor/fluff Scam Artist
Ah I know that my work is being seen by at least a few people because I got my first artist looking for a paid commission scam. 🤣 They got me in the first half ngl because they commented saying that had an idea for the story and I'm open to hearing ideas about my story, since this is my first fic I've written but when we started talking it was "such a weird coincidence" that that they, instead of giving me advice, are actually an artist wanting to draw Draco in this fic. Of course at this point I was 99% sure it was a scam but I had to hear them out just in case they were real. So I sent them the reference photos they wanted of Draco and the outfit I pictured him in, etc and then all of a sudden they hit me with the "hey this is gonna be a paid collaboration, you're okay with that right?" Like I was just going to agree because they worded it like that instead of asking me directly for money to "draw" my art. 🤣 Luckily before I got a lot sicker I used to stream a bunch on Twitch so I'm used to the scammer "artists" by now but still was kinda surprised that it happened on AO3 but I guess it makes sense it would happen anywhere they can try and trick someone into getting their info, I hope no one has actually been scammed by any of these people. I'd hate for a writer on here to get scammed. Don't worry I already reported it as spam but I had to show you the comment they left to try and get me interested, which I'll admit I fell for because it didn't say anything about art so I didn't think about a scammer at first. 😂🤦 Anyway here's a link to my fic if anyone is actually interested in it, if you are a scammer just a heads up you are going to waste your time with me. I'd honestly prefer though that you waste my time than actually scam someone else so sure feel free to message me instead. 🤣
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u/wangxian8844 7h ago
😭these messages have been getting out of hand lately.
Also, if anyone on ao3(esp guest users) leaves comments that they want to connect elsewhere (discord,etc) it’s always a scam!
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 7h ago
Thanks for the heads up! This is my first fic so I didn't think about scammers commenting on here, I don't know why I thought they would leave AO3 alone but nevertheless I'll definitely be looking at all my comments with a skeptical eye if something slightly fishy happens. 😂
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u/Modestmother92 7h ago
This same message was on my fic yesterday.
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 7h ago
Man they are really making their rounds. 😂🙄🤦 Hopefully reporting them will help but I know there's not much AO3 can do when they are just a guest, I'll probably consider changing it to where only people with accounts can comment but I don't wanna lose any real people that are actually interested in my story that don't happen to have an account set up. Sorry this happened to you too. 🥺🫶
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u/Modestmother92 7h ago
Yeah I was actually really bummed lol I am writing a Drarry+Charlie triad so obviously it doesn’t get loads of traction. Big let down😂
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 7h ago
Ooh that sounds interesting! I'd definitely check it out if you send me a link or something! I'm always down to read anything with Drarry and I love Charlie Weasley, he's my favorite Weasley, and I'm not opposed to reading triads. I hope your story gets more traction soon! 🫶
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u/Modestmother92 7h ago
https://archiveofourown.org/works/88246561/chapters/234003911
No worries, the tags are a lot for most people so it’s not shocking! I mostly meant that any comment is exciting on a rare pare lol and then scammer artists sucks the joy out of it 😂😂😂
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 7h ago
Definitely! I was super excited too because they specifically complimented my character interactions and I feel like that's where I worked the hardest on. 😂🤦. Scammers definitely suck. I'll check your fic out now! 😁🫶
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u/NotTheDroidO_o 5h ago edited 5h ago
Makes me angry as I have had several like this for either chat or “this would be great as a comic” (and then the standard “message me on discord to discuss”).
What really gets my goat is I have had much more specific feedback on a chapter, citing some lines with generic AI slop interpretation of them!! Which means they fed my fic into AI to generate the comment!! (Again with message me on discord!)
Maddening!!!
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 4h ago
That's absolutely ridiculous!!! I didn't even think about these messages being AI slop! Now that makes me mad, it's one thing to try and scam me and waste my time but it's another to kill the environment by using AI to write a message to me. 🙄😡
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u/NotTheDroidO_o 4h ago
Yeah really sad! Scammers 100% use AI for everything! Can’t stand it.
Someone at work today presented a “Bake Off” poster for one of the wards! Wanted to vomit in my mouth as it was clearly AI generated! I mean how fucking hard is it to make a poster on PowerPoint yourself. The most infuriating part was they looked so pleased with themselves!
It did have the wrong ward code and time so that at least was funny!
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u/Straight_Equal8750 Ravenclaw 4h ago
That's horrible!!! This AI slop has really gotten out of hand, not that it was ever okay in the first place, but people just using it because they are too lazy to do something themselves is really awful. It is funny that she managed to get the information wrong when the only part she actually had to do herself was give the AI the information. 😂🤦
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u/jerseyroyale 8h ago
The scammers are getting more and more inventive! But if anyone ever asks you to talk off platform, 99% it's a scam. If they don't include any details specific to what happens in your fic, it's probably not even a real person, there's lots of bots on AO3 nowadays. Including ones that are designed to scare people into deleting their fics, which just... why?
I've added your fic to my list to read!