I received a suspicious contact through my website from someone interested in my work, offering to pay by bank transfer or check. Is this a scam?

When someone offers to pay only by check or bank transfer upfront—especially without seeing the work in person—it’s almost always a scam. Those checks will be fraudulent and will bounce. The best practice is to ignore such messages entirely. If you do encounter a legitimate inquiry, reply by email, offer to jump on a Zoom call or phone call, and steer them toward secure payment methods (credit/debit card via your website, PayPal, etc.). Never accept checks or wire transfers from strangers who contact you cold. Trust your instincts: if the message mentions checks, wire transfers, NFTs, or digital artwork requests right out of the gate, it’s a red flag—just delete it.

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Asked by an artist who received a suspicious website inquiry · Answered by Juan · Office Hours · 2026-06-09