SCAMMER ADVISORY 007

Variant of the Scam that is making the rounds

Scammer
@DeviantArt-bot17
@DeviantArt-bot28

Text

Profile Check

Bot-17 has been deactivated (thank you, DeviantArt). Bot-28:

New account which certainly suggests scammer.

Assessment by Norton Genie (described in Advisory 002)

Same result for both chats:

Remember, unless the result comes back clean, consider it a scam.


Assessment by Virustotal

Link for Bot-17 is the same as yesterday's Bot-15:

Link for Bot-28 also malicious:

Observations

1. The different font types in the note/chat is unprofessional and confirms that this is not an official DeviantArt communication.
2. The link is not a real DeviantArt link. Understanding links is described in Advisory 003. Do not click on the link!
3. The full chat had the content duplicated several times. That is a red flag it is not legitimate (and is a scam) but has a consequence for Norton Genie. It will not process the note:

When I copy and paste only one part of the note, without duplications, then the assessment provided above occurs. So that mistake may indeed be intentional.
4. Other than the links provided - both are malicious - the text is identical. Including the bogus transaction data and purchaser. Having received two different chats identifying the same person and transaction clearly is an indication of a scam.


A message from our sponsors (from yesterday and still relevant):

On Discord I received this on the Community Volunteer Discord channel:

Good to know that the community is helping make DeviantArt a safer place. The important part here is the reminder that official staff has the DeviantArt logo after their name. Like with Joe...

If the logo is not there, they are not staff. And you know it's a scam so report and block.

Link to the official staff at DeviantArt.

Link to Deviant Art's message regarding avoiding phishing/scamming.

Note: Community Volunteers, like Kat-Zaphire, are part of the DeviantArt infrastructure but as they are not paid employees, they are not listed as staff members on the DeviantArt about page.