Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse. Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars. Reblog & Share

so far during the RNC

Steve King claimed that white people have done more for civilization than non whites

Melania Trump plagiarized a speech from Michelle Obama (that’s symbolic)

Trump campaign denies that they plagiarized Michelle’s speech and cites a quote from my little pony

Alaska yells at Ryan Paul for miscounting their votes

Milo gets his twitter account deleted for abuse right before his gaysfortrump event (haha #FuckMilo)

Chris Christie lead a witch trail

Stephen Colbert took the microphone dressed as Caesar and claimed that he was starting the hungry for power games and then was escorted off stage but not before he said “I know i’m not supposed to be up here but let’s be honest neither is trump”

RNC security tries to cover up a No Racism No Hate sign with an American flag (symbolic again)

RNC got slammed when Ryan Paul took a selfie with interns, it was just a sea of white people and DNC responded with pictures of their interns who were more diverse

Donald Trump was announced with “we are the champions” playing which naturally pissed off Queen

the Internet lost it because “We Are the Champions” is sung by Fred Mercury, a Bi man who died of AIDs in 1991 and Trump’s VP thinks HIV/AIDs funding should go to conversion therapy

Laura Ingraham did a Nazi salute for .5 seconds which could have been a mistake (hmmmm)

Ted Cruz refused to endorse Trump and was booed off stage (fuck ted cruz though he’s worse than Trump but damn that took some balls)

55K notes View Post

erynus

8 years ago

Don’t get me wrong, i just thought about giving the smaller gun to the more “spy-ish” of the couple. In my mind, GRU is more prone of carrying big guns (in fact, my protagonist is a sniper, but just carry the vintorez around when he is about to snipe), on the other hand, KGB is seen as more cover, more tricky, and i see more fit to give her a smaller and (i thought) more reliable gun. My story is set between 1989 and 1995, everywhere from Moscow to Libya, but mainly on Germany, and my doubts are if i should use the weapons to give information about the characters (bulk and old fashioned for him, and slender and versatile for her), or explain the character by their weapon choice (smart, professional and crazy prepared vs stick to what is issued to her, retorting to improvisation) or even don’t get into the specifics of weaponry just settling with generic guns, and let the reader guess if he is firing a glock or a walter ppk. I’m also concerned about the problems that can arise if someone catch my characters on the late 80s Western Germany carrying russian guns, but i should research the german weapons around by that dates. Thank you for your time.

Hello, my character is a spetsnaz GRU working with a female KGB companion, should he use a Tokarev and leave a Makarov to the girl? Both with Maks as is a more modern model? Maybe he can keep his GRU sidearm for cover ops, or it will hint too much that he is a spy? Thoughs, please.

As I’ve said several times before, smaller guns deliver more recoil into the user. There’s less mass in the pistol to counter the force of the bullet, so that’s passed on to the user regardless of their gender. As a result, when fired, heavier guns are actually easier to control.

The problem is, I have no idea when you’re setting your story, and if you’re asking, “what gun should my characters use?” Then “what year is it?” becomes a very important question to answer.

The Makarov PM was designed, to be a replacement for the Tokarev TT. The Tokarev entered service in the 1930s, and left production in the fifties. The Soviet military spent the next decade replacing the aging TT-33s with new PMs.

This means, after the mid-sixties, you wouldn’t see a Tokarev in service as an official sidearm.

The GRU was formed in 1949. So that puts it solidly in an era when the Tokarev was in service. The KGB was founded in 1954, two years after the Tokarev left production. The Makarov entered production in 1951.

So that, roughly sets your story sometime between 1955 and 1963. If it’s not, then all of these assumptions start to fall apart.

As with the Tokarev, the Makarov isn’t a great pistol. The Russian military has been looking for an opportunity to replace it since at least the eighties. In fact, modern Spetsnaz units don’t even use Makarovs, they transitioned over to the PSS in the early 80s. My understanding is that KGB and the later FSB also transitioned to the PSS, but I’m not entirely certain.

The Lebedev PL-14, MP-443 “Grach,” and MP-448 “Skyph” were all developed with the goal of becoming the new Russian military service pistol. I’m honestly not familiar with the internal politics that have affected their decisions, though I believe the Grach was adopted as a service pistol sometime in the last decade.

Of course, you couldn’t give a KGB agent any of those guns, because the Committee for State Security was dissolved along with the rest of the Soviet Union in 1991. It’s successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB) was founded in 1995. There’s nothing stopping you from giving an FSB agent a Grach or Skyph and calling it good. (The Lebedev hasn’t entered production yet.)

Interestingly, the push for a replacement pistol actually predates the fall of the Soviet Union. So, even if you’re using an alt history setting, where the Soviet Union never fell, you’re still probably looking at new pistols, that never existed in our world.

You don’t pick guns based on the gender of the shooter. With military weapons, you choose them based on the politics and doctrines that shaped their design and acceptance.

-Starke

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erynus

1 year ago