u/TheThunderRabbit

Hi there.

I am an artist who uses the website DeviantART to share and post my art. I have been a user of 3+ years and I have very good internet and cyber safety rituals.

Two days ago, I got a message from a real account—an account I know now that was hacked like mine most likely—saying they had accidentally reported me and i had an impersonater . . . they sent a screenshot of what Discord to add on for "DeviantART Support". I got coerced into giving away my account information and other sensitive information of the like due to some of the urgency and threat tactics they had used. Luckily, I realized when they said I had to give them an Apple Gift Card I knew it was a scam. But it was too late for my account as it got hijacked and they're running around doing the same thing they did to me on a real account.

I realized this was an epidemic and a real scam that was on the site, but I had never heard of it-most likely because others were too ashamed to share what happened to them.

My account should be recovered, but I feel really stupid and have been beating myself up about the situation. I feel like I should have known better, but I was manipulated and preyed on—most likely by somedody from the Phillipines since that is what I read. I know over there that that is one of the only way to feed their families and I have empathy for them, truly.

It's just upsetting, you know . . . I haven't been scammed before like this online. I have tried to talk about it with others over these past few days, but I've mostly been victim shamed and berated, making me feel worse. I was told I could come to here for support so I'd like to talk about this with anyone who's willing to listen and be respectful to what happened to me.

Hi there.

I am an artist who uses the website DeviantART to share and post my art. I have been a user of 3+ years and I have very good internet and cyber safety rituals.

Yesterday, I got a message from a real account saying they had accidentally reported me and i had an impersonater . . . they sent a screenshot of what Discord to add on for "DeviantART Support". I got coerced into giving away my account information and other sensitive information of the like. Luckily, I realized when they said I had to give them an Apple Gift Card I knew it was a scam. But it was too late for my account as it got hijacked and they're running around doing the smae thing they did to me on a real account.

I realized this was an epidemic and a real scam that was on the site, but I had never heard of it-most likely because others' were too ashamed to share what happened to them.

My account should be recovered, but I feel really stupid and have been beating myself up about the situation. I feel like I should have known better, but I was manipulated and preyed on—most likely by somedody from the Phillipines since that is what I read. I know over there that that is one of the only way to feed their families and I have empathy for it.

It's just upsetting, you know?

Hey, I got scammed on DeviantART by a fancy phishing scam on deviant based on the whole, "I accidentally reported you and not an impersonation that somebody has of you." I would like to talk about this and to anybody who this may have happened to on the website. I won't be putting pictures on it and I request nobody try to look for my DeviantART and draw attention to it as the scammer who hacked me is still out there and I am not done with the appeal process now.

I figured if there's anybody else who had this happen to them, please talk to me about it. It is an upsetting situation and I feel kinda ashamed this happened to me. I just want to know that this happened with others and to discuss it. I haven't really been scammed before, so I feel a bit like it is my fault.