Every Scam I Faced (As A FREELANCER)

Summary

This video script discusses common scams targeting young artists online, including offers to buy art with cryptocurrency or NFTs, requests for custom work with payment via checks that later bounce, and job scams that ask for bank account information. The speaker emphasizes the importance of vigilance, sharing personal experiences, and seeking advice from trusted individuals. The key message is to stay optimistic and cautious, and to use community support to avoid falling victim to these scams.

Takeaways

• 🚫 Be wary of sketchy emails and offers that seem too good to be true, as they could be scams targeting new and inexperienced artists.
• 💡 Recognize that scammers often target young, aspiring artists who are desperate for work and may be more susceptible to fraudulent offers.
• 🔍 When approached with an offer, verify the legitimacy of the interested party by asking for specifics about the work they wish to purchase.
• ❌ Refuse to engage with potential clients who insist on payment methods that are not secure or standard, such as cryptocurrencies or NFT sales.
• 💼 Establish a system for payment that requires an initial down payment before starting work to protect yourself from scams.
• 🎨 Be cautious of scammers who may be after your artwork rather than your money, and ensure your work is protected from unauthorized use.
• 📧 Never provide your bank account details to anyone online, no matter how legitimate they may seem, to avoid potential theft.
• 🔑 Consider using a separate bank account for remote work with no money stored in it, to add an extra layer of security.
• ⚠️ Be aware of fake job scams that mimic real companies and job applications, and always verify the authenticity of job offers.
• 🏥 Reach out to trusted individuals or communities, like Discord servers, when you're unsure about a potential scam to get a second opinion.

Q & A

What is the common scam the video creator frequently encounters?

The video creator frequently encounters scams where someone pretends to want to buy their art but then tries to convince them to accept payment in cryptocurrency or create an account on a suspicious website.

Why are new and young artists often targeted by scammers?

New and young artists are often targeted because they are likely inexperienced, desperate for work, and may not have the knowledge to identify scams, making them the perfect targets for scammers.

What advice does the video creator give to avoid falling for scams?

The video creator advises to be cautious, to only deal with trusted payment methods like PayPal, and to never accept arbitrary forms of payment such as cryptocurrency, NFT sales, or checks from unknown sources.

Why does the video creator refuse to promote or advertise crypto or NFT content?

The video creator refuses to promote or advertise crypto or NFT content because they do not believe in it, do not trust the people using it, and want to avoid any association with scams that often use these methods.

What is the 'birthday card or wedding card scam' mentioned in the video?

The 'birthday card or wedding card scam' is a scam where someone commissions an artist to design a card, then claims they can only pay by mailing a check. The check bounces after the artist has already completed the work, leaving them with no payment.

How does the 'art asset scam' work as described in the video?

In the 'art asset scam', scammers ask artists to create something and then refuse to pay, instead taking the artwork and trying to sell it as their own on various websites.

What is the 'remote job scam' and how does it operate?

The 'remote job scam' involves fake job postings that lure applicants through a fake interview and onboarding process, ultimately asking for bank account information for direct deposit, which is then used for fraudulent activities.

What happened in the 'anti-cam scam' that the video creator fell for?

In the 'anti-cam scam', the video creator was tricked into sending money as a test for receiving payment in Zel, a cryptocurrency. They then contacted a fake customer service number found through a Google search, which led to them giving out their bank information.

Why is it recommended to have a separate bank account for remote work as suggested in the video?

Having a separate bank account for remote work is recommended to keep personal finances safe. This account should only be used for direct deposits from verified sources and should never store significant amounts of money.

What is the main takeaway from the video regarding scams and online work?

The main takeaway is to be vigilant and cautious when dealing with online work and payments. It's important to surround oneself with supportive people, share experiences, and be aware that even if you're just trying to find honest work, you can still be a target for scammers.

Outlines

00:00

🚨 Scam Awareness for Artists: Protecting Your Work and Wallet

The speaker addresses common scams targeting young artists online, emphasizing the vulnerability of those new to the field and financially desperate. They recount their own frequent encounters with scammers and stress the importance of vigilance. The first scam discussed involves potential buyers who express interest in art without specifying a particular piece, often steering the conversation towards payment in cryptocurrency or through sketchy websites. The speaker advises against engaging with such offers and highlights the predatory nature of scammers who exploit artists' desperation.

05:01

💸 Beware of Payment Scams: Crypto, Checks, and More

This paragraph delves into various payment-related scams, such as requests for cryptocurrency payments or the creation of NFTs with upfront fees. The speaker shares personal experiences with scammers attempting to convince them to accept these dubious forms of payment. They also discuss the 'birthday card' or 'wedding card' scam, where artists are asked to create custom cards and then tricked with bad checks. The speaker insists on the importance of only accepting secure and verifiable forms of payment and shares their own policy of requiring an initial down payment before starting work.

10:01

⚠️ Advanced Scams: Art Theft and Remote Job Scams

The speaker warns about scams where scammers are after the artist's work rather than money. They describe a scenario where an artist is asked to create an asset, which the scammer then steals and attempts to sell. Additionally, they discuss the 'remote job' scam, where fake job offers lure in desperate job seekers, only to request bank account information for direct deposit, leading to potential theft. The speaker advises creating a separate bank account for job-related deposits and to be skeptical of job offers that seem too good to be true.

🛡️ The Anti-Scam Scam: A Personal Tale of Caution

In the final paragraph, the speaker shares a personal story of falling for an 'anti-scam scam,' where they were tricked into providing bank information after an initial scam attempt. They describe the fake customer service numbers and websites that scammers use to appear legitimate. The speaker emphasizes the importance of verifying the authenticity of any contact information related to money and advises contacting banks directly for assistance, rather than relying on online search results.

🌟 Stay Positive and Stay Safe: A Message of Hope and Vigilance

Concluding the video script, the speaker offers a message of hope and encouragement, reminding artists that despite the prevalence of scams, it's important to maintain a positive outlook. They stress the value of community and sharing experiences to help one another avoid scams. The speaker invites viewers to join their Discord community for support and ends on a positive note, wishing viewers well and encouraging them to stay vigilant.

Keywords

💡Scam

A scam refers to a fraudulent scheme designed to deceive individuals, often for financial gain. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses various scams targeting young artists, such as fake job offers and requests to create art for payment that never materializes. The video serves as a warning to artists to be vigilant against these deceptive practices.

💡Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank. The video mentions cryptocurrency as a common payment method proposed by scammers, which the speaker advises against accepting due to its volatile and often unregulated nature.

💡NFT

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, a unique digital asset that represents ownership of a specific item or piece of content, often art or collectibles. The video describes a scam where artists are lured into creating NFTs and paying for their creation upfront, with the promise of future sales that rarely materialize.

💡Direct Deposit

Direct deposit is a method of electronic payment where funds are transferred directly into a bank account without the need for a physical check. The video warns against providing bank account details for direct deposit to potential scammers, as it can lead to unauthorized withdrawals.

💡Remote Job Scam

A remote job scam involves fraudulent job offers that require应聘者 to provide personal or financial information, often under the guise of setting up direct deposit or onboarding procedures. The video describes how these scams can be sophisticated, mimicking real job applications and interviews to gain trust.

💡Art Asset Scam

An art asset scam is a type of fraud where scammers request artwork to be created and then refuse to pay, instead using the artwork for their own gain. The video emphasizes the importance of protecting one's creative work and not providing assets without secure payment.

💡Ethical Hackers

Ethical hackers are individuals who identify and fix vulnerabilities in computer systems to prevent security breaches. The video references ethical hackers who expose scammers, suggesting that viewers can learn from their tactics to better protect themselves.

💡Desperation

Desperation refers to a state of extreme need or urgency, often leading to hasty or ill-advised decisions. The video highlights how scammers target individuals in desperate situations, such as struggling artists, by exploiting their vulnerability and desire for work.

💡Psychopath

A psychopath is an individual with a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. The video uses the term to describe scammers as individuals who lack empathy and exploit others without remorse.

💡Dummy Account

A dummy account is a bank account with minimal funds, used for specific purposes such as receiving direct deposits from remote work. The video suggests creating a dummy account for work-related deposits as a security measure to protect one's primary account from potential fraud.

💡Anti-Scam

Anti-scam refers to measures or actions taken to prevent or counteract scams. The video shares personal experiences with scams and provides advice on how to avoid them, thus serving as an anti-scam resource for viewers.

Highlights

Common scam targeting new, young artists looking for honest work online.

Scammers often target those who are desperate and inexperienced in selling their art.

Scammers are likened to psychopaths who prey on the vulnerable.

Ethical hackers' videos can provide insight into how scammers operate.

The first scam involves receiving an email from someone wanting to buy art without specifying a piece.

Scammers may request payment in cryptocurrency or through creating an NFT.

The speaker emphasizes not promoting or endorsing cryptocurrency or NFTs.

The 'birthday card' or 'wedding card' scam involves non-payment after artwork delivery.

Scammers may use checks that initially clear but later bounce, causing loss for the artist.

The speaker advises against accepting payment methods that are not traceable or secure.

The 'art asset' scam involves scammers taking artwork without paying for it.

Remote job scams involve fake job offers and interviews, potentially leading to financial loss.

The speaker recommends using a separate bank account for job-related direct deposits.

The 'anti-cam' scam involves scammers posing as a client and then a fake customer service.

The importance of verifying the legitimacy of any contact information found online.

The speaker shares a personal experience of falling for a scam and the lessons learned.

Encouragement to stay optimistic and vigilant, and to seek advice from trusted sources.

The value of sharing experiences to help others avoid scams and support each other.

Transcripts

so a lot of you guys really like that

video on how to actually not starve to

death as a game developer and on Discord

one of you who is on your way to trying

to make a living online with your

artistic skills was asking about a

sketchy looking email you got about

somebody asking to buy your art and as

soon as they described the email I

immediately recognized it because it's a

very common scam that I probably get

about two or three times a week and

luckily we were able to nip that

potential catastrophe early but today I

decided it'd be really good to take a

minute and talk about some of the scams

that I have encountered as a starving

artist online and what you can do to

avoid them or better yet spread

awareness to help other people avoid

them the first thing you need to

understand is there is an entire

business model of scam companies

designed specifically to Target you and

when I say you I mean generally new

Young Artists looking for honest work

who probably have no real experience yet

finding or selling their services and

are probably poor and struggling to pay

rent yourselves which means you're

probably desperate you're just trying to

find an honest way to make a living and

want to meet people who might need your

skills and this is exactly why you are

the perfect Target the most important

thing that I've learned while trying to

find work online is that nobody needs a

reason to screw you over and when you

are at your lowest most desperate point

in your life just looking for a way to

make a little extra honest change with

your skills that is exactly the point

where these pieces of will come out

and Target you and you have to

understand these people are psychopaths

I would say they're not really human

they pray on the week and they give zero

shits about the terrible situation

you're going to be in when you have zero

dollars in your bank account if you

doubt anything that I said just go watch

some of the videos of ethical hackers

fighting scammers like kid Boga or

scammer payback watch them interact with

these people who are praying on you

because they literally say and I qu

quote if you are dumb enough to fall for

the scam you deserve to have your money

stolen just because you are minding your

own business doesn't mean people don't

have any reason to with you and

unfortunately it's because you are a

nice person looking for work that people

will try to with you so here are

the most common ways that I've seen them

with people the first and most

common recent one that I've seen these

days is you'll get an email and it'll

say something like hey I like your work

I'd like to buy your art now the first

time I saw this I didn't think too much

of it but where it started to get weird

was literally right after I sent a

response email asking thank you for your

interest which pieces are you interested

in buying and when I asked this question

they couldn't list the name of a single

specific piece they were interested in

and when I asked them to clarify they

just said oh well I like your artwork in

general any piece you are willing to

sell now at this point I was pretty sure

this was but I entertained them

anyway and said sure you can can send

the money to the following PayPal ID

once I have confirmed the payment I will

send you the commercial license for the

piece you want and here they said oh

well I can actually only pay you in

cryptocurrency after that I told them

sorry I don't really accept or work with

crypto and then they said oh that's all

right you can just sign up to create an

account at this website and it's really

cheap and really easy and immediately

after that I told them listen I only

deal with PayPal and I only deal after

I've have confirmed the payment has been

sent then they got mad and tried to

convince me that I was making a mistake

and missing out on a lot of potential

opportunity and I just blocked him from

there now there's an alternate variant

of this scam where instead of offering

to pay in crypto they offer to pay you

the sales made from nfts but just like

every other scam you have to sign up and

create an account but you need to pay

for the creation of the nft in the first

place it's a load of BS and for the

record I just want to say that you will

never ever ever ever ever in the history

of this channel see me recommend or

advertise crypto or nft content on my

platform I don't believe in it I don't

believe the people use it and if you

ever find me promoting that you

should assume the channel has been

hacked and seriously start asking

YouTube to check the IP addresses of my

latest videos now the next scam that you

need to look out for is the birthday

card or wedding card scam this is

usually targeted towards 2D artists but

basically someone will reach out to you

and tell you that they will pay you x

amount of money to design a wedding card

and if you create the card and ask them

to pay they will tell you that they can

only pay by mailing you a check due to

their country's laws or something and

when you get that check and you depos

deposit it into the bank it will appear

normal you will see new money in your

bank account but after a few days the

check will bounce the bank will retract

it and subtract the amount it added

leaving you with the amount that you

started in the beginning and those last

three scams are exactly why when anyone

contacts me about hiring or buying any

of my services I do not accept any

arbitrary forms of payment like crypto

nfts sales percentages Revenue splits

favors trades checks or other random

forms of transaction when I deal with

the potential client now I only start

working on a project unless half of the

total is made in an initial down payment

and anyone unwilling or unable to comply

with that is simply welcome to take

their business elsewhere obviously you

are free to find out your own system

that works for you but that's what works

for me now the next scam is a bit newer

and more devious but it's becoming more

and more popular recently which is the

art asset scam some scammers are not

after your money they are after your

work similar to the wedding card scam

they'll ask you to create something and

then when you send it to them to no one

surpr R they don't pay you and instead

they just take your asset upload it to a

website somewhere and then try to sell

it as their own and it sucks because

most of these people operate in

countries where our laws cannot touch

them so even if you do somehow manage to

take it down or file a report it's going

to pop up somewhere else again and

you'll be stuck in a wild goose chase so

remember sometimes they're not after

your bank they are also after your work

itself now the next scam you have to

watch out for which in my opinion is the

most dangerous is the remote job scam

now I went through a phase where I

probably sent out about 500 resumes in

applications to try and find some remote

work that I could do in order to pay off

some of my student loans and for months

and months and months I was desperately

looking for a job it didn't really

matter if it was local or remote I just

needed something and this is where I

encountered the job scam now these are

fake jobs and they are very intricately

made to appear real they create job

applications on real sites like Zip

recruiter and they often look and sound

like legitimate companies some of them

even pretend to be famous companies and

when you apply to them they have you go

through a big fake interview process

where of course at the end of it once

they have determined that you are dumb

enough to fall for their tricks they

tell you that you are the perfect

candidate for the job and if you're like

me when you hear that you start to

become a little suspicious because you

are painfully aware of just how average

you are and there's no way that

you're the perfect applicant for any

position but if you go along with the

process and see where it goes what's

going to happen is they will move you

through a fake onboarding process and at

the end of it they'll get you your

schedule and your first assignment and

all you need to do now is set up your

bank account so that they can direct

deposit each month now I think you see

where this is going please don't ever

ever give your bank account number to

anyone online no matter how legit you

think they are like yeah some companies

do actually use direct deposit but if

you are constantly looking for remote

work please for the love of God go get a

second bank account that is basically

just a dummy account with nothing in it

and this account only exists to take

direct deposits from your job never

store money in it and when money gets

into it you withdraw it immediately and

you be sure to tell the bank that you

create this dummy account with that you

work remote and this account will never

have money withdrawn from it unless you

are there in person and if money is ever

withdrawn from it and you are not

physically in the building then the

account should be presumed compromised

and should be reset with new information

and new passwords now the last scam that

you need to know about is the anti-cam

scam and this one I actually fell for so

this one's real this was many years ago

when I was starting out I didn't know

what I was doing but long story short

someone pretending to be a client was

going to send me payment for some work

that I did they said I'll pay you with

zel can you send me like $5 then once

I've confirmed your zel I will send you

the payment with your $5 refund now I

was young and dumb so I was like sure

yeah that sounds fine I sent five bucks

and then when I asked for payment back

they disappeared now of course I was

pissed and when I realized I just got

scammed I I went to the bank and said

hey is there any way you can reverse

this Z and they said unfortunately there

really isn't anything they can do

because zel is a separate thing from the

bank and then I would have to call zel

myself to see if they could look into it

so then I went and found the zel

customer service number at the top of a

Google search called them told them my

situation they had me describe the case

describe exactly which bank account was

affected and what day that transaction

happened and it turns out that the

customer service number for zel that I

found at the top of a Google search was

actually not zel at all it was actually

a scam company pretending ending to be

zel that for some reason appears as the

top search when you Google it everything

was fake even though the website looked

real the logos looked real they had

someone with an American accent

pretending to be the customer service

representative so when you called that

number you had no idea that you were

actually in a scam site but in reality

they are just collecting your bank

information so that they could take

money out of it later now I figured this

was a scam when they started asking me

to send more money out of my account to

quote unquote see where that money went

and follow it and after that I felt

uncomfortable I went to my bank in

person and and described what was going

on and then they said yeah don't ever do

that and luckily I was basically

completely broke anyway so there was no

money to steal but just in case we had

my old account scrapped and created a

brand new one since obviously the people

who were posing as zel had literally all

of my bank information so never assume

that anything that pops up at the top of

a Google search is legitimate fake scam

companies can easily pretend to be the

top search results and look legitimate

and the only people that you should ever

call regarding money is the number

directly on the back of your physical

credit card that is the only number you

should ever call if you're going to call

about money cuz if you call a number you

find online you are rolling the dice

these traps are everywhere and if you're

a starving artist who's really desperate

you really really have to keep your eyes

open for this now I know after hearing

this you might feel really demoralized

because the shit's kind of scary and

that's not the lesson that I want you to

take from this video I'm generally a

very optimistic positive person and just

because I've been over a few

times doesn't mean that I want to start

to see the world as a terrible place

because it's really not the key takeaway

from all this is just to truly

understand that just because your

minding your own business doesn't mean

you're not a Target just because you're

a nice person who's looking for honest

work doesn't mean people are not going

to try and destroy your life and that's

why it's really important for you to

surround yourself with people who do

care about you and if you're unsure

about something you should talk to those

people get their opinion on it but the

point is you're not alone and that's why

it's really important for us to share

our experience because we could

potentially save each other a lot of

wasted time a lot of wasted money and

just make the world a better place so

don't lose hope you're going to be fine

just be careful and again if you're

unsure feel free to drop by the Discord

we'd be happy to see what you're up to

and help you out if we can and as always

hope you have a fantastic day and I'll

see you around