A warning to all Artists, getpaidtodraw.com is a scam!

[shadow-weaver.livejournal.com]

It was suggested I post this here ;D

I've gotten two +notes on deviantart.com about this place suggesting I join it, so I thought I'd post a warning about it here and on my own journals.

Just in case those hosers decided to +note any one else, a quick check on the net says the site is a scam. Don't waste your money folks.

It looks cool, and very enticing, after all who wouldn't like a fast track to getting noticed and selling their art.

But they want money up front, have lots of disclaimers and I even found a few notes on the 'net of people who've tried it and wished they hadn't. I didn't find one person or site that said "hey this is great!'.

As the saying goes, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

and in the words of a certain fictional character,

CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!

Comments

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Basically any company which asks you to pay them for the privilege of publishing your work is likely to be a vanity publisher.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Or an illustration trade guide. i got invited to one of those, but the page rates are 2.8k

Maybe in a few years when I get an agent or something, but not right now.

Ouchies.

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

yeah, this company sounds REALY sketchy, like Thaily said.. most people asking you to pay to display your art is sketchy at best, or a plan at worst.

Thanks for the heads up :D

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Plan? I meant scam. Brain no workie.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

But they want money up front

Always a sure sign that something's fishy. Thanks for the heads-up!

[youthculture.livejournal.com]

Could you please tell me the usernames that sent you these notes? I can make sure they get looked at to make sure they aren't spam accounts. :)

[brianblackberry.livejournal.com]

But they want money up front

Red flag number one right there.

[thrivis.livejournal.com]

Wow, they're set up like every other "do something at home and make obscene cash if you pay us" site. Miles of one page with no real information. They even have the hokey talk video that wishes you luck. O_o

Why do scammers always use the same format? :o

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Yeah but then there's usually a score of other artists openly supporting it.
And if you're up to the point where you get invited to that, you usually know about a few of those artists if not personally.

[joecifur.livejournal.com]

Yeah basically any company who sends you notes via DA saying "WOW your ____ is so awesome, check out ____!" or "get paid to ___!" is a scam.

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

Like the "poetry contest" that wants 50 bucks to publish your fabulous poem. My ex fell for that scam!

[thaily.livejournal.com]

And that's why he's your ex, right? ;D

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, even still when i got the email a red flag raised and I went to the web site to see if it was fishy or not.

I was like ';Oh yeah, I've seen that book' and deleted the email.

[aaaamory.livejournal.com]

Ewwwww, I hate that. I filled something out (artsales.com I think) when I saw that it offered "10 business tips for artists, free!" I knew they were gonna be lame so I filled out the form so I could see these "tips" and they were. Dumb things like, "Create a business card and hand them out to everybody."

Anyways, I started getting phone calls from some guy wanting to help me sell my art. I never answered, they were all voicemails. Auuuugh! How annoying!

[taasla.livejournal.com]

'Cause the same people fall for it every time. :o

My mother fell for one of those, "Wow your kid is a great scholar! Buy our book so they can be published in it!!!"

[wolf-nymph.livejournal.com]

My note inbox yesterday got FIVE of those messages from different usernames, each one banned within minutes. I've noticed that outside companies are using Deviantart as a marketing tool, preying on DA members who might be too dim to understand it's a scam, and abusing deviantart's tools to spam up the place. It's more than irritating for DA's staff, I'm sure, but for me it's a passing annoyance thank goodness. =) Thank you for the heads up!

[shadow-weaver.livejournal.com]

sure, but they've both been banned already. I think they were spamming accounts because they were brand new and didn't have any art or favorites.

tessa77 , courtnay and it looks like I got a 3rd one today from jenny0 for a poetry scam ;)

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't such information go through the helpdesk since the people who are supposed to deal with that sort of thing are the CEA's?

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Anything that wants money up front is a scam. Plus the vast majority of people do not have the art skills to make the amounts of money they quote. But I bet some people will fall for it.

Personally for anyone who is looking for a good legitimate site to promote their art and earn money? I reccommend http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/ her portrait adoption idea is a really good idea.

[youthculture.livejournal.com]

That's what I was going to do. ;) I'm staff on dA.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

I'm well aware of who and what you are, my point was that as far as I'm aware you're dAmn staffer. I could understand if the accounts were being used to spam the chatrooms but they're not, the spam is related to note spam; which as far as I'm aware is not considered an offence since notes are private communication and can be just blocked.

Also I've always been told that cases should go through the helpdesk to create a record of issues.

[youthculture.livejournal.com]

Yes; as I said, that's what I intended on doing.

[dustmeat.livejournal.com]

And he thought he was so clever.

[goddamndunce.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Any "amazing money-making opportunity" that you have to pay up front is a scam.

[chapperice.livejournal.com]

Lol jesus..I fell for that too..


But I was 13, and didn't have any money, so I didn't lose anything. I just got sad xD;