← OG Academy · Business basics · 5 min read
Staying safe: spotting scams and phishing aimed at artists
Artists are targeted by a small number of scams that repeat almost word for word. Once you recognise the pattern, they stop working.
The overpayment scam
An enthusiastic buyer wants several works, does not ask about the art itself, and offers to pay by cheque or an unusual method. Then they overpay and ask you to forward the difference to "their shipping agent".
The payment later bounces or is reversed, and the money you forwarded is gone. Nobody legitimate has ever needed you to forward money to their courier.
Fake platform e-mails
A message that looks like it comes from a gallery or platform, warning that your account will be closed, a payment failed, or a document is waiting. The link goes to a login page that is not the real one.
All official Online Gallery e-mail comes from an address ending in @onlinegallery.art. We never ask for your password, bank details or ID by e-mail, and we never send a link demanding urgent payment.
Fees and vanity offers
Invitations to exhibit or be published that require a substantial upfront fee, especially from organisations you have never heard of that flatter you generously. Real opportunities rarely arrive as flattery plus an invoice.
Search the organisation's name together with the word "scam" before you respond. Two minutes saves a lot.
Basic hygiene that prevents most trouble
A unique password for your e-mail and for each platform, two-factor authentication on your e-mail, and never sharing card details or copies of your ID by message.
Remember that on Online Gallery buyers pay you directly. Anyone claiming to be "Online Gallery payments" asking for bank access is by definition not us.
In short
Never forward money to a buyer's agent, check that e-mail really comes from @onlinegallery.art, be sceptical of flattery with an invoice attached, and use two-factor authentication on your e-mail.