They ALMOST Got Me
Sometimes it's tough being a photographer and I don't mean the endless travel, late nights, bugs and cloudy skies. Scammers are everywhere so answer every new contact request with a bit of skepticism.
I had someone comment on a Facebook post of an image I had taken recently and ask if I offered my images as NFTs. I replied yes and shared a link to my Foundations portfolio. He responded with a ridiculous offer of 12 Eth for 4 images that he would choose. All I had to do was upload them to another NFT site that he likes to use. Now I say ridiculous because 1 Eth(cryptocurrency used in art circles) is currently worth $1663. He was offering me over $19000 for some NFTs.
Immediately thinking scammer I did a little research and it looks like this is a current scam being used to trick people of out there NFTs and cryptocurrency. I simply ignored it. This morning I got an Instagram message from someone else interested in a particular NFT I have available, Neowise Falling, taken in 2020.
After a few exchanges I received an offer to purchase that looked legit. They almost got me! I was sent what appeared to request for payment for the piece on Foundation but I hesitated and started poking around because something didn't look quite right. I haven't done much with NFTs in a year or so and it looked an awful lot like I was sending them roughly $800 instead of the other way around. So when I logged into my Foundation account I didn't see the offer where it should be.
Confused I pulled up the link again and BAM, I saw it. The url wasn't right. They had quickly built a page that looked like my NFT on Foundation and made it look like I was getting an offer for purchase. I was told in the initial text that if I had any problems to please click the Chat button at the bottom. Of course the normal Foundation site doesn't have a Chat button. I'm sure if I had clicked it I would have been instructed to just link my wallet and approve the transaction and I'd have my money.
Please, please, please be careful when dealing with people online, even people you know because they may have been hacked. I'm comfortable in the online environment and have a bit of experience and even I can get taken in. It was close, I almost clicked approved and lost some money. Don't let it happen to you. If you aren't sure for goodness sakes just Google what they are asking you about. Chances are someone else has dealt with it and posted about it.
If you are interested in one of my prints please check out what's available here. My NFT collection is available on Foundation