When Scams Find Artist
The Strange Side of Being Visible
By Sue Pendleton, Founder
There’s a weird thing that can happen when you start showing up more consistently online. More people find you. That’s the goal, of course. We want our work to reach more people. We want someone to stop scrolling and notice. We want our art to land somewhere beyond our own studio walls.
But sometimes, the wrong people find us, too. And that part can feel surprisingly awful.
The first scam feels personal
The first time I received a message that I realized was a scam, I felt shocked. Honestly, I felt a little sickened.
I’ve seen scams in real life. We all know they exist. We know not to click the suspicious link or believe the too-perfect email from a stranger. But this felt different. It felt particularly cruel that someone would target artists. Because the manipulation is subtle.
They don’t always come in with something obvious or clumsy. Sometimes they lead with the very thing many artists are longing to hear:
“I love your work.”
“I’m interested in your art.”
“We’d like to feature you.”
“Your talent deserves more exposure.”
And because artists are often working so hard to be seen, those words can hit a very tender place.
Artists are already sharing something vulnerable
We are not just selling a product. We are sharing something we made with our hands, our attention, our experience, our point of view. There is vulnerability built into the work before we ever post it.
So when someone pretends to be genuinely moved by it, only to manipulate that hope, it feels especially mean.
The one that really got me was a message with generic praise attached to an image of my own work from a recent post. The text itself was vague, but because they included the image, it suddenly felt more personal.
That was the trick. It looked like someone had taken the time to notice. And that is what makes these scams so frustrating. They borrow the shape of something real.
A real inquiry.
A real opportunity.
A real collector.
A real person who has been moved by your work.
And of course we want that to be true.
Scams don’t just target money. They target hope.
When a friend recently emailed me to ask whether something she had received might be a scam, I felt like the bad guy telling her that it probably was.
Not because she had done anything wrong, but because I knew what I was taking away from her in that moment. The possibility. The little spark of, “Maybe someone really sees my work.”
That’s what makes artist scams so emotionally tricky. They are not just trying to get money, information, images, or access. They are using the exact hope that keeps many artists showing up in the first place.
The hope that someone out there will connect.
And if you are already struggling to post consistently, this can become one more reason to pull back.
Visibility has a maintenance layer
For many artists, showing up online is already uncomfortable. It can feel exposing. It can interrupt studio flow. It can bring up questions like:
Am I sharing too much?
Am I annoying people?
Does anyone care?
Is this worth it?
Then a scammy message or fake opportunity appears, and it can feel like confirmation that maybe being visible is not worth the trouble.
But I don’t think that’s the lesson. The lesson is not: stop showing up. The lesson is: visibility has a maintenance layer.
When more people can find you, more things can find you too. Real opportunities. Kind comments. Future collectors. Fellow artists. Curious followers. Local organizations.
And yes — bots, spam, fake accounts, and people trying to take advantage.
That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It means you are participating in a public space. And public spaces require discernment.
Careful does not mean cynical
I wish that weren’t true. I wish all the energy people spend tricking, manipulating, and scamming could be used to support people instead. Especially artists, who are already giving so much time, energy, money, and courage to the work they make.
Most artists are not looking for shortcuts. They are looking for connection. They are looking for a path that lets the work keep going. That is exactly what makes them vulnerable.
But being vulnerable does not mean being naive. And becoming more careful does not mean becoming cynical. There is a middle place. A place where we can keep showing up, while also learning to pause. A place where we can want opportunities, but not rush toward every offer. A place where we can appreciate kind words, but still ask:
Is this specific?
Is this real?
Is there a person, organization, or clear purpose behind this?
A place where we can let ourselves feel the hope, without handing over our trust too quickly.
Take a breath before you believe it
The old phrase is still useful: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
But for artists, I might add one more layer: If something sounds exactly like what you’ve been hoping to hear, take a breath before you believe it.
That doesn’t mean every opportunity is fake. Real people do discover artists online. Real collectors do reach out. Real galleries, writers, designers, curators, and collaborators may find your work because you had the courage to share it. That still happens. And that’s why we don’t want scams to win.
We don’t want them to make us smaller. We don’t want them to make us disappear. We don’t want them to convince us that being visible is unsafe, pointless, or foolish.
We just want to get wiser.
Knowing what not to answer is part of the practice
A sustainable marketing practice is not only about posting more often. It’s also about learning how to protect your attention, your trust, your work, and your creative energy. Sometimes marketing means sharing the finished piece. Sometimes it means telling the story behind the work. Sometimes it means helping people understand how to buy, follow, visit, or stay connected. And sometimes marketing means knowing what not to answer.
That counts too.
Because the goal was never to be available to everyone. The goal is to become findable by the right people. And the right people will not need to trick you into trusting them.
