Today I received a message in my email from my website’s comment form. Now, I do absolutely get cold contacts through this form that are absolutely legit and lead to perfectly good projects. Some of my favorite projects have come from cold contacts from that form. However, it’s the internet. Not everything on the internet is safe or true. Just for self-preservation, I’m always just a little suspicious of new inquiries that come to me this way.
The message I received today read:
Name: Joan
Joan
Email: joanfallk@gmail.com
Message:
Hello,
I am Joan. I got your contact details online. Can you work on an illustration project and get it ready before the due date? I have prepared the scenarios to be illustrated. I just need an illustrator or cartoonist to draw the images. . Please get back to me for more details. I prefer email and text correspondence for record purposes.
208-505-8842
Warm regards.
Now, this message isn’t glaringly wrong but just seems a little off to me.
She got my contact details online? Well, sure. She contacted me through my website’s contact form. That seems a little odd to mention.
Can I work on an illustration project and get it ready before the due date? An unspecified due date. Again, seems a little obvious. Of course, if I take a project, It’ll be done by the due date. I won’t take a project if I don’t believe I can meet the due date. It’s surprising she’d mention that because it’s just a part of the job.
Saying she’s prepared the scenarios to be illustrated is fine, but an awkward way to state it.
At this point I’m pretty sure this is a scam, but I can’t put my finger on exactly why. Maybe I’m overreacting. It could be legit. I figure I can spare a couple more minutes to respond just to verify one way or another. So, I said:
Hi Joan,
Karen B. Jones
Thank you for contacting me. Depending on the details on the illustration project, I can probably help.
Can you tell me more about your project?
Thank you,
Illustrator
She responded fairly quickly with:
Hello Karen,
Joan
Thank you for your interest in this project. The illustrations/images are to be used for a presentation in a Workshop coming up soon. The title of the workshop is FAMILY – THE NUCLEUS OF THE SOCIETY. We have broken it down into Phase 1 and Phase 2.This is Phase 1. The attendees are students between the ages of 17 and 25. I require your service to illustrate the under-listed scenarios. Please make it a horizontal (Landscape) presentation, Cartoon styled (2D images),full illustration ( head to toe), colored (CMYK) but a plain white background. The illustrations should fit on a standard letter size – (8.5 x 11″) and be delivered in PDF format. I want 1 year exclusive right to the images. Also, note that these illustrations will be handed out to the participants in printed form. I just want the illustrations to paint a vivid picture of the theme of the workshop. The delivery date for the images is January 27, 2024. This is the outline of the scenarios to illustrate:
* A Caucasian Family : Father, Mother and their 2 teenage children (any gender) all standing and clothed.
* A Black Family : Father, Mother and their 3 teenage children ( any gender) all standing and clothed.
* A group (not more than 5) of young and middle aged guys with the caption ‘Uncles’
* A group (not more than 5) of young and mid aged ladies with the caption ” Aunts”
* An elderly woman and an elderly man standing by side with a caption “Grandparents”
My budget for the job is $700 per piece( Total is $3500 for the first phase). Let me know if that’s fine. If it’s not please get back to me with the price quote and what would be your preferred mode of payment? I’m proposing a certified bank draft, a cashier’s check or bank certified check considering the amount involved. I look forward to reading from you soon.
Warm regards.
So, this client sounds rather corporate (AI generated?) compared to the typical legit client that contacts me through my contact form. Usually corporate-sounding clients come in through my art rep and the contact form brings in mostly self-publishing authors. So, right off I’m skeptical.
However, she wants head-to-toe cartoon figures drawn isolated on white. Lately I have been posting art samples of just such images. Maybe that’s why she contacted me. It’s certainly something I could do. So that’s a point in her favor. Maybe she’s for real.
She already knows exactly how much she wants to pay without feeling me out at all on how much I’d want to charge. To be fair, I do have clients come to me with a set budget, but they’re generally publisher clients coming in through my art rep. Also, without getting into my pricing structure, this is suspiciously high for what she’s asking for.
Her target audience are people aged 17-25. She wants cartoon art from a children’s illustrator for an audience of young adults? That doesn’t seem to fit. Now, I will happily illustrate for all ages, but cartoons showing simple happy families just don’t seem to match the audience.
However, nothing for sure. Any of those details might be absolutely fine.
To me, the big red flag is that she’s really quick to suggest a certified bank draft, a cashier’s check, or bank certified check. This indicates it’s probably a fake check scam. More on that here. Usually, I use Paypal when accepting payments from clients that cold contact me through the internet. It’s safer for both parties that way.
She also hasn’t told me anything at all about who she is or who her organization is, or even very much about the purpose of this family values themed workshop.
So, I decided to bait her one last time. I considered just telling her to contact my art rep, but I don’t really want to make Janet deal with her. That seems mean. So, instead I asked her:
What organization do you represent? Is this a church workshop?
Karen B. Jones
Thank you,
Her response was:
Hello Karen,
Joan Falken
I am an independent academic consultant. I work part-time as a researcher and I also teach music on the side. That is how I earn my living. From time to time I organize seminars and workshops to educate the younger generation on chosen subject matter and hire professionals to give speeches at these seminars. This is absolutely free at no cost whatsoever to the participants of the workshop. I approach well-meaning individuals, organizations and large corporations for sponsorship of these programs and present proposals to them. As a giveback initiative, most sponsors want to be part of it. I do not source clients from any online platform. I organize, get a sponsor and meet deadlines. Below is my contact information:
Joan Falken
1210 E McKinley St
Boise, ID 83712
208-505-8842
The illustrations will be used in a slide lecture and the sole aim of the workshop is to enlighten the younger generations on the importance of the family as the single most crucial foundation of every society. To teach them family values and impact them with adequate knowledge about family and the role of the family in the society.
We cannot over-emphasize the need to teach the younger generation the importance of the protection of the family, themselves and appropriate social interaction.
Warm regards.
Hey, lookey there! We’ve got an Academic Event Organizer! Ding-ding-ding! That cinches it.
Definitely a scam.
(More on the Academic Event Organizer scam here.)
Did you notice her email was joanfalk@gmail.com but she finally signed her full name there at the end as Joan Falken, not Falk. I’m not sure if that means anything, but given the rest, I don’t like it.
Oh, and I looked up her address on google. Now, this isn’t definitive, but in today’s world, google can pretty much always find an address, if it’s a real address. In this case, it found a crossroads, but none of the buildings around it have that house number. So, I’m pretty sure the address doesn’t exist.
Did you notice she’s supposedly a freelancer, but didn’t link to a website for her freelance business? She’s also not on linkedIn.
And then the whole emphasis on traditional family values for young adults bothers me. I don’t want to get too political on this blog, but the phrase is so often a dog whistle. Even if it’s not a scam, I don’t want to do a project for a seminar that’s going to turn out to be some sort of anti-LGBTQ, purity culture event.
So, yeah. You all be warned. Stay safe.
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 
Hi Karen!
I was also contacted by “Joan Falken” with the same messages starting on November 28th. Thanks for posting this and backing up my suspicions and concerns. Despite my red flags I was thinking of making a contract and seeing if they would sign it! Glad I picked up SCBWI’s The Book and read the section on scams again and then googled the keywords involved!
Best of luck to you!
I’m so glad you didn’t get scammed! It makes me feel absolutely sick thinking of some innocent freelancer getting conned by these trolls.
Thank you so much for posting this; I did a Google search for the email address that reached out to me and found your post. Saved me a lot of mental effort!
Glad to help.
I just received this same email. The odd wording and vague information was a huge red flag for me.
Yup. I wasn’t 100% from the first contact, but it didn’t take long to confirm.
Thanks for writing about this! I just got a very similar reply from this person and then googled the e-mail address. I already knew something was up though because this person ignored my reply when I said “hey I’m a PORN ARTIST?” and got no reaction. I’ll be tweeting about this!
LOL!
🤣
Thank you for posting this! I received a similar email just yesterday from a Joan Goldberg with the exact same initial email. As I was drafting up a contract I thought to google her phone number and your post came up. You’ve saved me alot of headache.
That’s great to hear! So glad to have helped.
Thank you! I got the exact same email a day or so ago. Was wondering how to handle it, since the phrasing was quite similar to another scam art email I got a year or so ago.
Glad I could help!
Glad to have found this post! I nearly got hooked by this scam. I got an email from a Renato Bezos regarding an academic workshop on Monkeypox. They’re really angling with the phase one / phase two timing component, cancelling only the second phase at first to reduce suspicion. This also serves as a good reminder to always, always use a contract—had this been a legitimate scenario, a signed contract with a non-refundable deposit and a kill fee can save you from unpaid labor and huge headache.
I’m glad this was helpful, and I agree that a good contract is well worth the time. However, I don’t think a good contract is going to help much if they pay with a stolen bank account.
Good luck and stay alert.
I received the exact same email from Joan Goldberg on Dec 13, 2023. I noticed many suspicious details, but wasn’t sure if it was a scam, so I decided to go forward and see. They ended up sending me a check of $3050, way over my price quote. I thought: now I have to reimburse the difference? I immediately smelled something fishy, so I googled their name and phone number, and found your post. Thank you so much! Thanks you your post, I could be certain it was a scam!
Wow. Yeah, that’s probably not a good check. Either an entirely fake check or a sort-of legit check from a stolen account.
What did you do? Did you take it to your bank or the police?
If you haven’t already, I’d suggest taking it to the bank and telling them what you suspect. Make it clear that you’re not actually trying to cash it. Then let the bank handle it.
Good luck!
Hi Karen,
I’m a political cartoonist. Thank you so much for this post.
I got the exact same thing. The first email from “Joan” is exactly the same as yours, as is the description of the assignment. I too asked questions as in, who is this for? Everything smelled off, but I gave her my physical address anyway and figured if Nazis with baseball bats came to my door, well then fool me once.
I got a check. I didn’t know it was in my mail box until “Joan” emailed and told me it was, as she/he/it tracked it. She asked me to deposit it immediately and let her know when I had done so. The check was double the original amount. She jumped from $3550 to $6550.
The bank was in Georgia. I looked it up and it’s real. The check was from a company in Florida. I looked it up and it’s real too. The envelope was mailed from a trucking company in Mississippi. Yup, it’s real too. The check was mailed with two-day priority.
But…the put the wrong name on the check. I let them know this and “Joan” replied that their secretary must have messed up.
I called the bank on the check (I found the number online). They confirmed that the account is real and the funds are there. Of course, I couldn’t cash it without my name on it.
I didn’t hear anything back from”Joan”….until yesterday. She wrote again to let me know that another check was in my mail box. Guess what. This check was from a bank in New York, from a company in a different city in New York, and mailed from Manhattan….KANSAS. The check is also on a full sheet of paper that needs to be torn off. “Joan” once again implored upon me to deposit it immediately and let her know when I did. I didn’t do it. Today, she wrote, “I haven’t heard from you.”
I went back and saw that “Joan” included a phone number in the very first email, I googled it tonight, and I found this page. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing all these details. I’m glad my post helped.
From what I’ve read, I think the deal is that the bank account is real, but “Joan” isn’t in any way connected to it. She has acquired the account number and routing number and everything else necessary to print a check. She’s sending out checks that, at least initially, can be cashed.
Since it’s double the amount, she’ll notice the “mistake” and ask you to refund the overpayment. Which, if you didn’t suspect anything, you’d do with your own check. (Now she has YOUR account and routing numbers!) If that went well, she’d string you out awhile and then something would come up causing her to cancel the project. She’d, naturally, request a refund, which you’d give her, at least as much as your contract requires. Then you’d never hear from her again.
At this point, your not out any more than she put in, so it doesn’t seem too bad. Just a waste of your time.
That’s when the rightful account owner notices the unauthorized transaction and their bank claws it back from your bank. Now you’re out $6550.
So, I’m really glad you didn’t fall for it.
I’m not sure what you do now, though. Are you supposed to report this to a bank or the police or FBI or what? It feels like you should tell someone official, but I’m not sure.
I’m taking this to the FBI. I’m hoping I can put an end to “Joan’s” scheme. I just a text from an “attorney” who wrote that one of my “clients” told him to contacct me. I told him I know it’s a scam and I’m taking this to the FBI. He ignored that and asked “Did you not get paid?” I again told him I know it’s a scam. We’ll see if he texts me again.
Good for you. I wish you luck. I’ll be curious to know what happens. Don’t let the “attorney” intimidate you. You haven’t done anything wrong. You didn’t even cash the check.
That’s what I figured, Karen. It was a basic template. I wonder who’s photo she used for herself.
I’m saving both checks and the envelopes in case authorities request them. I just filed a complaint online with the FBI. No, I will not let this “attorney” intimidate me. He didn’t give his name or law firm. I also googled his number and it too is on a site warning about scammers.
I’ll keep you posted. Karen, you’re awesome. We have to look out for other artists. When this is done, I’ll create a similar post on my website.
Update: The “attorney” who never gave me his name or the law firm he works for stopped texting me after I told him/her/it I was taking this to the FBI, which I did. That was over two weeks ago. Yay. I’m still waiting to hear back from the FBI.
Glad to hear they stopped bothering you. 🙂
What is this? https://szait-hypuarty-friuff.yolasite.com/
Well, the one I got was Joan Falken, not Joan Goldburg.
But having this up doesn’t prove she is who she says she is any more than having a gmail account with her name proves anything.
Without researching it, this looks like it’s probably one of those template-based website generators. They’re typically fast to build and free so long as you’re only using the basic features. Probably very similar to the wordpress that my site runs on. However, her site is clearly unfinished. In fact, it’s barely even started. It does not use a custom domain and has no real information about her business other than just some basic contact info. Basically, she’s but very little time and no money into this site.
Were she legit, I’d expect it to be finished, more than one page, mapped to a custom domain, and contain months if not years of at least sporadic blog posts on what she does and past events she’s put on.
None of that is there. It proves nothing.
Hey Karen! Thank you so much for posting this correspondence! I got contacted on my own work website with a very similarly worded message today using a different name and email, but the same phone number. I googled the phone number as I was a little suspicious of the wording and the fact that I am a costume designer, not really an illustrator, so I don’t typically do this type of work. Thankfully, this post popped up, so now I can just ignore it. Good luck with future projects!
Thank you. Glad to have helped.
Same phone number, same request, but now it’s from “Grace Moosely” gracemoosely@gmail.com
👍
I’m a freelance writer and got an email offering me a $4,000 assignment yesterday. I was excited but started looking at some possible red flags, including:
The budget for this project is $1.50 per word, totaling $4,050 for the 2,700 words. I believe this is a fair offer, but please inform me if it does not meet your expectations. Payment will be made by one of the program’s sponsors. (No client has ever offered this high rate and said they believe it’s a fair offer. They ask my rate or just tell me the rate without telling me it’s a fair offer.)
I would love to provide you with more details. I prefer to communicate through email. (true for some clients but raised a red flag for me). Also, it’s a gmail address.
Ask me whatever you’d like to know, I will answer to the best of my ability. As per where’s going to appear, it’s just for the webinar. It will be sent to the email of the participants for reference and further reading. I will be waiting to hear from you. (“answer to the best of my ability” sounds like an AI bot. Too vague about where it will appear and the mysterious webinar.)
I sent “Grace an email asking the payment method, her company and location. Will update if I receive a reply.
But I have no doubt this is a scam.
Sorry to hear a probable scammer got your hopes up. I don’t know a lot about the norms from the writing side of things, but I’d say go with your gut. If it feels suspicious, be suspicious.
Good luck!
thank you so much for posting about this, you confirmed my suspicions and saved me from making a serious mistake today. so awful that people are using artists like this. stay safe and cautious out there!!
I agree! That’s why I’ve decided to take the time to post these, complete with any contact info the scammer gives up, whenever I get one. It makes me so happy to hear that I’ve helped some other artist not get scammed!
Thanks for posting this! it is nice to know my gut was right. That it was a scam. I mean if it seems to good to be true…
I wonder if they are U.S. Based? I’m planning on turning over the “check” they mail me to the US Postal Police for Mail Fraud.
The old adage that criminals are dumb is partially true. Using the same phone number for all of these??? Wasn’t that hard to google and find y’all.
I had gotten a similar email. Different name though: ‘Juliet Simon’. Her email was weird: jujulietsimon@gmail.com
Anyway, it was a feeler type email. Sounded like a newbie as she thought illustrations were billed hourly. After this influx of artist scams, I started billing out jobs via Square. (if any good came out of this, I learned you can email invoices and contract pdf’s using square.)
I gave her the usual rundown that I only accept payment via square and do not accept checks of any kind. She didn’t bring up payment yet or how she would pay.
After that, I googled the phone number ‘she’ listed which actually brought me here. It’s a bummer but I’m willing to see how this plays out.
Glad to help. Sounds like she didn’t get far with you at all. :)
I mean… you could bill hourly I suppose. Freelancers can bill however they like. But, yeah. I don’t personally know of anyone who does it that way.
Square sounds good. I might go take a look there to see how their fees compare to PayPal, the service I use for most private commissions that come in cold through my contact form. I set up PayPal invoices for all payments and attach the signed contract to the invoice in case there’s a disagreement on the terms that the PayPal admin has to sort it out. I’ve never had a problem, but I want to be as clear as possible just in case. So far so good. I hope Square works as well for you.
Thanks for sharing her name and email. Now, hopefully, someone getting a slightly suspicious email from jujulietsimon@gmail.com might find this and, maybe, won’t get scammed. You’re helping. Thank you.
Hey Tom,
“Juliet Simon” emailed me last week. It’s a scam.
I’ve had some artist pals who unfortunately have had their Paypal account randomly frozen, so I only use Paypal as a back up or alternative payment. It’s a minimal transaction fee with Square and the money goes into your bank account within 24 hours or next bank day. There is a new additional fee with Square if you want them to immediately dump it into your bank account. I’ve never had to do that.
I’ve never had trouble with my PayPal account getting frozen, but that does sound concerning. Do you know why that happened? Maybe there was a reasonable explanation?
I’m glad you haven’t. It completely caught them off guard. No warning. Maybe some sort of transaction Paypal didn’t like. It’s why I keep my Paypal down to under $100. Eventually they got it unfrozen but it was a pain in the ass.
Correction. At the end of February, PayPal did freeze my account for a week when my incoming payments went past a certain threshold that they deemed unusual activity for my account. And, because of the nature of my product, it’s an electronic delivery. No third party tracking number to point to to verify delivery of the product. Which was a reasonable concern from their perspective, actually. It unfroze after the week and I transferred the money as usual, merely a bit late. It was mildly annoying, but if it keeps fraud down, I guess it’s okay. It’s only happened the once.
I looked at the fee structure and it looks like PayPal is generally a better deal for me than Square, but they’re both pretty similar. Since neither have a subscription fee, I suppose I could set up a Square account as a backup if the PayPal account hold gets more frequent.
I’ll think more about it once I get through with my current project.
This is how I found this blog – I received an inquiry via my contact form from this email address too! Then I googled it and found this page. Ugh so sad!
So disappointing. You think you maybe got a new client and instead it’s… This.
Glad you didn’t get scammed.
I was contacted by “Juliet Simon” last week with this (almost) exact email. My Spidey-sense told me something was off about it immediately when someone WNTED to pay fairly for art. (I mean, we all know that nobody ever truly values art and never offers to pay what it’s worth) Plus the “email correspondence preferred” and cashiers check were Red Flags.
I’m in need of work badly this year so I went through the motions. Sent “her” a comprehensive contract which was returned signed. I Googled her, the email for a week before finally stumbling across this blog. If I receive a check I’m going to report and hand it over to the US Postal Police. They are hound dogs, and this is a federal crime since they are using the Post Office to send the checks.
I’m not going to alert “Juliet” that I’ve reported her, just string her along and hopefully get these creeps busted.
I figure the more we include the contact details, the easier we can quash this.
jujulietsimon@gmail.com
Juliet Simon
1210 E McKinley St
Boise, ID 83712
208-505-8842
Thanks. :)
Eh… sometimes clients come in with a realistic idea of cost, but you’re right. Often not. And they never lead with an offer unless they come in through my art rep, and then those are corporate clients and she’s done the legwork to ask for their budget. Different animal in that case.
As for the only corresponding by email… I’m conflicted on that. Frankly, I only want to correspond by email too. It leaves a paper trail to refer back to if there’s ever a disagreement on what was discussed. (I was trained as a coder, and documentation is extremely important. Also, we hate talking to people.) But the way they phrased it was definitely suspicious in a way that’s hard to put my finger on.
Cashier’s check, yes, definitely a red flag. There are situations where a check is appropriate (and even then I have to be VERY careful) but a cashier’s check? No. Who does that?
Good luck playing with her.
In my 20+ years as a designer/illustrator clients offering to pay appropriately (and in this case more than what would be necessary) can happen but rarely is offered right off the bat. (And, lets be real. illustration is an EXTREMELY undervalued artform)
Additionally, I also hate talking on the phone and use email throughout a job. However, offering to send someone $3300 without ever having talked to them, is super Sus!
I’m old, so checks are a thing. But a Cashiers Check is unheard of.
I just watched a movie about Coupons where the Postal Police busted them. I hope my tip to the US Postal Police leads to an arrest for these hacks.
I went to my Bank today with the check. (It wasn’t a cashiers check as they said, so I’m thinking the contact person/people are not in the US) and they verified it was a fraudulent check. Close to the real thing, but not quite. I’ve registered a complaint with The US Postal Inspectors and hope they will be able to track down the person mailing these from a small town in California called Lee Vining, despite the address on the stamps.com label reading Waltham, MA.
I’m leading the perps on day by day, I’ve been pretending I haven’t checked my mail for days with the big Superbowl weekend we just had, and am making them void the last contract and sign a new one with the new amount they sent (double the $3,330, $6,660 – Creepy 666 number too!) I’ve been thinking of making a lil’ comic of my adventure trying to ensnare these a-holes.
I’ll keep y’all posted with what happens next! 🙂
That’s awesome! Good luck!
jujulietsimon@gmail.com
Juliet Simon
1210 E McKinley St
Boise, ID 83712
208-505-8842
Ah, so glad I googled the address and info above – I got the same initial introductory email as everyone on this thread. It all seemed quite odd. Especially since I couldn’t find any professional listings for this person on LinkedIn or anywhere. And I knew best to trust my gut.
But in the process I requested a much higher rate – their response, yep no problem (and that’s before discussing usage)
And when I requested usage as it pertains to their exclusive rights request, if it was for print, digital, etc, and what the circulation was for usage, and if this was for a for-profit or non-profit organization – their response “The images will not be printed or published and they’re not going to be used for generating profit. The program is a give-back initiative, I am not doing it for profit.” – Red flag. Who requests 1 year exclusive rights, and pays for legit illustrations with these “usage” parameters in a PDF deliverable.
When I suggested a specific style from my samples they sent over pretty poor treatment options back. 100% red flags since if you are a legit art buyer requesting exclusive usage – you would not send these samples.
I was going to write a formal contract, but nah, all my suspicions were confirmed with this thread. Total time invested about 20 minutes over 2 emails. My ability to tell a funny story about this later, 100%. The hope that this thread saves someone else 20 min of their time, or worse financial entanglement – solid.
Wishing all the creatives on this thread creative prosperity and fulfillment 🙂
I just got a very similar email. A “Chris” reached me from my personal website with similar wording. Illustrations for kids in Boise with 2 phases and what not. I was kind of suspicious from the start and further inquired details. I asked a lot of questions and I mentioned I do not reside in the States. They immediately replied they can’t pay me via cashier’s check and did not provide any more information. Glad I found this website to confirm my suspicions.
Chris
Chriscasscamp@mail.com
208-505-8842
Thanks for your post! (Glad I googled the phone number!) I just got contacted by someone using the same contact. This was the message/contact:
Chris
Chriscasscamp@gmail.com
208-505-8842
Project/Subject: Illustration commission
Message:
“Hello,How are you doing today?. I am seeking a talented and creative Illustrator/Cartoonist to draw some images for my upcoming program (a workshop). I’ll describe the characters and be as detailed as possible so that you’d get a vivid picture of the images you’d draw. How much you charge per hour or per image. Please respond for more details.. Email correspondence is most preferred.
Cheers.”
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for posting this! I just got an email from Chris Camp with the same phone number as your original post.
You’re welcome. Glad to help.
The “two-stage project” is also a red flag with blinking lights and a siren. As soon as that certified check is in the bank (and my bank branch’s manager told me frankly the check was a pretty good fake that might have fooled her) you’ll get a notice — maybe within hours — that owing to some sort of emergency, the project is being scaled back to one phase and could you refund half the payment, please (electronically is fine, all of a sudden)? And of course the money you’re “refunding” never existed and you’re on the hook.
Yup. Anything to make the need for a refund seem reasonable to those without enough experience to know better.
I got an almost identical email through my portfolio contact page. The email was from Grace Moosely. Although I was pretty sure it was a scam, I’m glad I found your post to confirm what I suspected.
Love your work, by the way!
Thank you. Glad you didn’t get scammed.
This page saved me from taking on one these Scams.
Thank you so much! I recently graduated and have already begun freelance work with different companies, so when this email came through I was excited. Before getting to the “payment” section.
Thank you all for sharing these!
From “Josh”
Hello Stephanie, Thank you for your interest in this project.
I am an independent academic consultant from Richmond, Virginia, I work part-time as a researcher. I organize seminars and workshops to educate the younger generation on chosen subject matter and hire professionals to give speeches at these seminars. This is absolutely free at no cost whatsoever to the participants of the workshop. I approach well-meaning individuals, organizations and large corporations for sponsorship of these programs and present proposals to them.
This workshop, titled “Combatting Monkeypox: The Importance of Vaccination and Immunization”, aims to educate young people about the risks of not taking preventive measures against monkeypox.
The illustrations will be used in a lecture to show the consequences of not protecting oneself from the infection. We aim to emphasize the importance of new ways to safeguard health and promote social interaction, especially among younger generations.
The participants are students aged 15-18, and we need illustrations for two parts of the workshop. Each phase requires four illustrations, to be completed within six weeks, for a total of eight illustrations.
Outline:Brief overview of the illustration title and description.
Part One: Understanding Monkeypox and Vaccination
1. Diagnosis and Treatment Discussion
Illustration: A doctor discussing diagnosis and treatment options with a patient.
2. Health Workers in Action
Illustration: A gathering of male and female health workers wearing medical face masks.
3. Vaccination Center
Illustration: A bustling vaccination center with healthcare workers efficiently administering vaccines to a diverse crowd.
4. Community Engagement
Illustration: In a crowded urban setting, people of diverse backgrounds and occupations navigate the streets, each adorned with various styles of nose masks.
Part Two: Promoting Preventive Measures and Healthcare Access
1. Virtual Consultation
Illustration: In a cozy home setting, a person has a virtual consultation with a healthcare professional using a computer or smartphone.
2. Emergency Healthcare Response
Illustration: At the hospital, the ambulance pulls up to the emergency entrance, where a dedicated nurse awaits.
3. Critical Care
Illustration: A patient, connected to a ventilator, lies still, surrounded by a symphony of medical equipment.
4. Mass Vaccination
Illustration: A large sports stadium transformed into a mass vaccination site, with numerous vaccination stations set up on the field.
Illustration Preferences:
Size: Landscape orientation to fit standard letter size (8.50 x 11.00 inches) paper.Color: Vibrant, coherent, and clear color scheme.Style: Cartoon style emphasizing expressiveness and appropriate detail level.Text Titles: Each illustration will feature a text title to provide context. Titles should be clear and legible, enhancing understanding of the depicted scenario.Text Placement: The text title will be positioned strategically within the illustration to ensure visibility without obscuring key elements. Ideal placement will be determined based on the composition of each illustration, balancing readability and aesthetic appeal.
Review and Draft Submission Process:
Review: Draft illustrations will be provided for review and feedback before finalization. Feedback will be incorporated to ensure alignment with project goals and preferences.
Draft Submission: Draft illustrations will be submitted electronically via email. Drafts will be submitted separately for each part of the workshop to facilitate focused feedback and revisions.
Deadline:Part One: July 20Part Two: August 20
Budget:$1,200 per illustration, totaling $9,600 for all eight illustrations.
Payment methods: certified bank draft, cashier’s check, or bank certified check.
Confirmation Requested: Please confirm the proposed cost per illustration or provide a counteroffer for negotiation. Upon agreement, a contract will be sent to formalize the agreement.
Looking forward to your acknowledgement and cooperation.
I just got an email from ostensibly from a woman I never heard of — Grace Moosely — implying a closeness that was unwarranted. She wanted an article about juvenile and adolescent depression. Says she needs us to “stay in touch” and it has to be by email because she has Apraxia. Like so many of you, the message made me uneasy, so, also like many of you, I Googled it and this was my first search return. Thank you.
An article, not an illustration? So, this scam isn’t even specific to the artist community. They’re trying it on writers too. Interesting.
Thank you for sharing and I’m glad I could help confirm it was a scam.
Wow, thank you for this post! And for continuing to comment on it.
I too got the “Monkeypox” proposal though this time from ‘Christian Rowland’ via the email addy chris526rowland@gmail.com
Maybe I should give out the phone number as well?
I was only offered $4000 for all eight illustrations – I feel insulted! But I was told when I asked that I could do monkeys as the characters, so that got me excited about it.
So the $4000 check came via Priority Mail with a delivery service in Pompano Beach Florida as the return addy. ‘Christian’ immediately began hounding me about it via texts. The check itself looks fake and looking at it through a loupe it was clearly printed on a four-color printer, including the numbers at the bottom. Everything was blurry, including the text on the back saying to look for a watermark, which it didn’t have.
So I brought it to the bank, asked if it was fake and after a look they said it was.
One lesson IMO is to make sure you get the addy and name of both the scammer and the client, and, like you did, check them out. And anyone who emails via gmail rather than a business account should be suspected.
I’ve been asking for one from ‘Christian’ and gotten no response.
Thanks for sharing. I’m sorry they wasted so much of your time, but maybe your additional info will help someone else.
My thoughts are that names and addresses can be fake or stolen. And lots of legit people use gmail. (Self-publishers and other non-corporate clients, especially.) Still, it’s a good idea to do a little poking around.
My current approach is that I just don’t take checks from anyone who contacts me through my website rather than through my art rep or in response to a query I sent. I’ll happily take the work, if it seems legit and it’s a project I want, but payment won’t be by check. I stipulate that in my contracts. And when I tell scammers that, they tend to ghost me.
Thanks. Yeah, avoiding checks altogether seems the best approach.
I have a client in Switzerland and we both wanted to void the Paypal charges so he got a cashier’s check. After he sent it he discovered his bank had charged him $150 for it. And after I got it I found I could only cash it by opening leaving $500 in an account at a new bank.
No mo checks!!
lol!
Yeah, there is a fee with PayPal, but it isn’t that bad compared to the alternatives I’ve looked into. Years ago I had an art rep in the UK. I was, and still am, in the US. I would have him pay me through PayPal because it was cheaper than my bank would charge for cashing his check and exchanging his pounds for US dollars. Not only was it cheaper, but PayPal’s process also seemed smoother.
(There may be another third-party payment processor better than PayPal. I’m not claiming they’re the best or anything, but they’re the one I use.)
Thanks -next time Paypal!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for this post. I’m a copywriter and was approached with a similar scam. Once I read your story, I knew the person contacting me was a fraudster.
Like you, I wrote about my scam experience. Maybe if we shine enough light on this subject, we’ll put the scammers out of business.
Here’s the correct link to “my scam experience.” https://www.susangreenecopywriter.com/articles/scam-on-freelancers.html
I was also contacted by “Joan Falken” with the same messages.
I often receive emails and proposals from Italy too.
And fake art curators and all those who offer virtual exhibitions.
And in this sense the italan curator Elisabetta Eliotropio, Francesca Manda from Bologna are a real trap and scammers with a real website but the exhibits presented are false !
Don’t be fooled because they easily ask for money.
#ElisabettaEliotropio
Got something from a Henry Goh with what looks like the same format, asking for medical illustrations, all the phases and high prices and stuff! Thank god for this site because I was honestly teetering on whether it was real due to the length and complexity of the email, and now I know it’s definitely a scam.
Glad I could help
Here’s another variation.
The supposed “event” is in Tacoma, Wash., but the “event planner” named “April Castillo” provides a phone number in Northern Virginia.
—
Hello Don,
I appreciate your prompt response. I am writing to seek your assistance in creating illustrations for a bulletin intended for participants in my forthcoming program. This initiative aims to enhance awareness and encourage greater involvement among children in recreational activities, while also highlighting the connection between academics and sports.
The event will take place locally in Tacoma, WA, and is sponsored by a volunteer. I do not plan to publicize or advertise the event due to budget constraints, as such efforts incur costs. Attendance and participation will be by invitation only.
I would like you to produce ten distinct illustrations of athletes. Each illustration should be designed to fit an A4 sheet (8.5 x 11″) and depict the athletes in dynamic action poses, showcasing them from head to toe. The drawings should be created on plain white paper, without any background elements. Although the program targets adolescents, I prefer that the illustrations feature fully grown adults or professional athletes. I will retain the copyright for these images, but you may use them for promotional purposes.
The illustrations should be in a cartoon style, such as comic or 2D representations, and should be submitted in PDF format. You have the freedom to choose any color combinations, as I do not have specific preferences regarding color or ethnicity. Below is the list of athletes I would like you to illustrate:
1. Male American football player in full gear.
2. Female basketball player holding a ball.
3. Female tennis player with a racket.
4. Male baseball player in appropriate attire.
5. Female golfer with a golf club.
6. Male ice hockey player in full gear.
7. Male boxer wearing boxing gloves.
8. Female skier equipped with ski gear.
9. Male cyclist on a bicycle.
10. Female athlete on a running track.
I kindly request that the completed illustrations be delivered to me by December 5, 2024.
The budget allocated for this project is $395 per image, totaling $3,950 for all ten illustrations. If you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to let me know.
I await your quick response.
Warm regards.
Like most of these, that one could even be real, but probably, almost certainly, not.
The price is suspiciously high. I’d like to think it’s possible, but for a simple cartoon style and assuming you’re not a big name that can demand big prices, I’m going to guess it’s not.
The fact that a cold contact came at you with a budget, and a high one at that, without feeling you out first is super suspicious. I can’t say it’s completely wrong, but I can’t recall a legit client coming in that way for me ever. They only come in with a budget if they’re established publishing companies, and those typically come in through my art rep, not directly to me. Does that match your experience?
Did it come from a gmail account? A gmail account consisting of a name and string of numbers is highly suspicious but not conclusive. Noncorporate clients do sometimes use those. My daughter uses a Gmail with a couple of numbers as her personal email.
Not naming the organization these images are intended for is suspicious. I’d ask about that, and then check if it’s a real organization.
I’d check if the person has a any online presence. You want to know if this name matches a real person and if you’re actually corresponding with that person. Some sort of freelancer doing presentations would have a website. Likely a template-based, simple one, but still a website with all their info, description of their service, and maybe a blog of past events going back at least a few months. Their website should be consistent with what they’re telling you in the email.
The project itself seems vague. How will illustrations of athletes highlight the connection between athletics and academics? Like, the football player isn’t reading a book or doing homework. Instead, just an athlete in a dynamic sports pose? How very generic. I find that legit clients tend to have very specific ideas on what their illustrations need to include. Otherwise, they can easily get high quality royalty-free stock art for cheap from Shutterstock or someplace similar. Why contact an illustrator and pay almost $4,000 for custom work?
Honestly, I’ve received too many legit clients that seemed sketchy on first contact that I wouldn’t immediately discount this one if I got it. But I’d be very, very suspicious. It just feels like a scam.
If you have the time to spend, probably waste, you might keep asking questions until they either reassure you or drop a smoking gun. Most likely the smoking gun will come in the form of insisting on paying with a certified check or cashier’s check or somesuch. Especially if they’re happy to pay it all up front. (Do not, under any circumstances, ever accept any form of check (personal, certified, cashier’s , whatever) or money order from internet cold contacts.)
Don’t get your hopes up, though. I agree that this looks like an AI-written scam. Good luck and watch your back.
Got a similar one, nearly identical. Was hooked till they mentioned checks. Who still uses checks in 2025?
Glad to hear you didn’t get scammed.
Who still uses checks is a little tricky. They are still used in business-to-business transactions sometimes. So, if you send an invoice to an art director, that might still get paid by a paper check. But checks are pretty suspicious coming from random internet cold contacts.
I’ve also had legit private clients who prefer to write me a check. I will sometimes accept a check from a private, local client that I know on a face-to-face basis, but only if I’m sure of them.
So, yes, checks are suspicious. But there are still cases where they’re used. We freelancers have to be careful.
This scammer is apparently still at it. I received a request to write two articles for “Joan Goldberg” for educational purposes. She sent me tons of details and a very generous pricing offer (which made me suspicious, since we hadn’t talked on the phone or even determined if I was a good fit for her project). She then said, “I’m proposing a certified bank draft, a cashier’s check or bank certified check. The check will be issued and mailed to you as soon as you send me your details.” I figured this was a scam, and I appreciate you confirming my hunch!
Glad I could help. 🙂