None of us want to be scammed or taken in by an art thief, and I'm pretty sure we all hate art thieves with a passion. I'm also very fond of everyone here, and I really hate to see someone get scammed and lose money to an art thief.
So I thought it might be good to have a thread with tips on how to spot art thieves and what to do when you think someone is stealing art. I hope Raesha doesn't mind. ^^
One good thing to know is that it's not just directly taking or modifying other's art that is art theft. Copying and eyeballing is also not accepted on gaia for selling, posting in picture post, or posting in the AA. The use of commercial art for selling also isn't allowed. (but people can use it to make banners for personal use or to give away).
And in the end, the ultimate rule is simple, if the artist doesn't want you to use it, you can't.
In the art discussion forum there is a sticky to post if you suspect that someone in picture post, mini shops, or the AA is stealing art, the AIR.
I'd advise that it's best to use that thread mostly for the AA and picture post, and for art theft in the mini shops forum and subforums it's better to PM a mod.
Now the informal stuff! (R&C oriented, of course ^^ )
As a mod I have a few more tricks than you do to check out a suspicious artist in R&C, although not too many. But before I can use them I still need to have my little mental radar go off and make me be suspicious.
There are a lot of really basic things that show up a lot with art thieves in the R&C that are good to look for.
Look for combinations of these. No one feature is probably going to be really good evidence, but these are things that are worth dropping a note to a mod about when you find them occuring together.
*New accounts or accounts with low post history (especially if the post history is mostly spamming in CB or trying to get gold)
*The set up of the shop and/or banners associated with it do not match the artwork. So if someone has amazing, clean cel shaded art, but then their banner has crappy MS paint lettering smacked on it, that's a good tip off that their skills are not up to the level of the art.
*Lack of links. Lots of artists have links to either personal websites or deviant art sites. If their art is all from photobucket but you know that the art comes from a dev art site or elfwood or such, but they don't have the link in their profile, that's a big tip off.
*Japanese artists. As much as we'd love if some amazing japanese anime artist joined gaia one day to offer art, it's probably not going to happen. If the art is off of a japanese artist's website, big hint.
*Ultra cheap! Scammers want to get gold fast. So even if the art would be worth 20k, they may sell it really low, for 4 or 5k, and laugh off being told that it's worth more. this is generally combined with..
*Insisting on payment upfront or partial payment (context dependent of course). If the person is really really insistant about getting payment up front and/or they offer incentives, like those who pay up front are bumped to the top of the list, that's suspicious.
*Inconsistant art. If the samples all look like they were from different people, they may very well be.
*Bad edits/art that doesn't match the description given. If that picture looks like someone just slapped on fox ears onto an anime chick, they probably did.
*Offering to take commissions outside of an auction, or contacting the second highest bidder in an auction and offering to do something for them too. Lots of people do this, but if things seem off already and then the artist does that, it's worth taking note of, since scammers are greedy.
So for a lot of these, they are things that happen that are legitimate. So please don't think I'm saying that anyone who does these has to be an art thief. And whatever you do, try and avoid calling them out in public. If you suspect someone, PM a mod and keep it quiet. The only exception I can see to this is if you have 100% positive proof (like the source of the stolen art and knowledge that the artist isn't on gaia) and people are actively sending them money. Then it's a bit more reasonable to want to warn people off. But to avoid possibly accusing and angering someone who is legitimately selling their art, PM a mod the link and any evidence you have of your suspicions and let us go from there.
I know we all want to jump at the chance for really good, really cheap art that seems too good to be true, but there's a chance it may very well be too good to be true. Don't be greedy for art, so use common sense first before giving anyone your gold.
If there's anything I've left off that you use to help spot art scammers, please post! I'm always looking for new things, and the more we know about this, the less likely we'll be scammed. ^_^
hope this is okay, i've never made a thread here before @_o
Official Gaian Art Whore Guild
