u/IridiumSalt

I'm new to Reddit, joined about three weeks ago to post art. Well, about a week ago, I get a DM request completely out of the blue, and this user strikes a conversation with me. We get to some small talk going, and everything seems fine, although a little strange. I eventually ask why they DMed me, & they said they saw my posts, liked them, and were interested in talking to me. Then we showed each other art we had made and discussed it, so I assumed someone just wanted to be friends.

Then they told me their commissions were open and I realized this was really all transactional. I figured that was fine, because their art seemed pretty decent, and they were offering to draw some of my characters in their style and higher skill level. Now, the prices were expensive as hell, $80 for a fullbody for example. But I figured this was reasonable, since art is a luxury commodity. I agreed to commission an $80 fullbody, with half up front.

The payment was done with a Paypal invoice on their end and a debit card payment on mine, and currently the art is in progress (allegedly), and they asked for my email adress so they could send it when it was done.

Well now I think something's up. All their art they showed me produced zero results when reverse searching and the most obsure art imaginable on this site I can find reverse searching. Their reddit account is basically empty, has no social media handles, and they have a very generic brand-new looking reddit account and all their 19 comments in two years are very robotic. I ask them where I can find them on social media, and they say "Instagram is my main, but it's broken. Here's my account on Behance" Never heard of Behance but I use their link and here's this account called "Art Tech Innovations" based in London and describing itself as a a company that does art commissions. The style is similar to the user's art, but their exact works weren't anywhere on there, and this seemd to be a very quiet and empty part of the internet in general.

I'm realizing just how illiterate I actually am of the internet, and I think I just got skipped $40. Does any of this sound familiar to you guys? Is this an obvious red flag you would have shut down immediately? Please let me know.