The art world can be the most rewarding, exciting, and fulfilling thing to be in, but on the other side of that coin, there are sometimes nefarious and sinister characters taking advantage of it, and you.
Especially with emerging artists, there is a certain urgency to getting your career off the ground: be it for exposure, a payday, or an exhibition opportunity, there are those willing to exploit these wants and emotions. Typically, we lower our levels of scepticism when there’s the prospect of money or success coming our way.
In this article, I’ll outline outright scams, certain chicanery, or practices that aren’t outright scams but certainly exploitative, and generally things to be wary of as you navigate the art market. There are loads of grey areas in the market that scams slip through, and below I’ll try to outline a few I see fairly often.
SCAM
/skam/
A scam is a fraudulent scheme designed to steal money, personal information, or data by deceiving victims, often through social engineering, urgency, or fake promises. Common tactics include phishing emails, fake job offers, and investment scams. Protect yourself by verifying sources, using multi-factor authentication, and ignoring urgent, unsolicited requests for money or sensitive data.
<Common Scam Types>
Phishing/Smishing: Fake messages (email/SMS) appearing as legitimate companies (e.g., banks, tech support) to steal credentials.
Investment/Crypto Scams: Promises of high returns with low risk to trick people into investing money.
Romance/Trust Scams: Building emotional relationships online to gain trust and request money.
Impersonation/Threat Scams: Scammers pose as authorities (police, tax office) demanding immediate payment to avoid legal action.Common Scams in the Art World
The “Send Artwork by Quickly Approaching Date and We’ll Mail You a Cheque” Scam
This one is probably the one I see the most as a gallerist. We have “collectors” who have a fast-approaching anniversary or birthday for their hypothetical spouse and need the artwork to arrive quickly. What they will do is have you prepare everything to ship to a location, send you a cheque, you deposit it, ship the artwork, and then 7 days later the cheque bounces while the artwork is on route. Depositing a fraudulent cheque can also create a bit of a headache. As a security measure, your bank might freeze your account – it happened to us once, and not having access to your bank account is, of course, not fun at all. Fortunately, our alarm bells were ringing, and we didn’t ship the artwork, but had to sort some things out with our bank afterwards. Frustrating. It will look something like this:
“My name is John Doe from Gotham City, New Jersey. I have been on the lookout for some artworks lately in regard to my wife's and my anniversary, which is just around the corner. I stormed on some of your works, which I found quite impressive and intriguing. I must admit you're doing quite an impressive job. You are undoubtedly good at what you do.
With that being said, I would like to purchase some of your works as a surprise gift to my wife in honour of our upcoming wedding anniversary. It would be of help if you could send some pictures of your pieces of work, with their respective prices and sizes, which are ready for immediate (or close to immediate) sales. My budget for this is within the price range of $1500 to $7000.
I look forward to reading from you in order to know more about your pieces of inventory. As a matter of importance, I would also like to know if you accept cheques as a means of payment.
Best regards,
John”
A few things jump out at me. There is a certain “uncanniness” to the way they write, and in 2026, with so many other ways to pay, if they continue to insist cheque is the only way they’d like to make a purchase, proceed with caution. Also, typically, collectors will be really specific about the artist or artwork they like, rather than you just sending them examples of your inventory. Regardless, you can still go through with the transaction carefully.
⛑️ How to protect yourself: notify your bank that you might have a fraudulent cheque on your hands, they can deposit it, and then, given the heads up, they usually won’t punish you for trying to cash it. Then you wait. If it bounces well, it is what it is, and there goes the sale; if it doesn’t, congratulations on the sale! Also, perhaps it goes without saying, but just never send or ship an artwork anywhere before money is in your account.
The “I’ve sent the payment, but you need to will out a PDF on WeTransfer” Scam
This is a newer one we’ve now encountered twice, and it isn’t necessarily a financial scam, but a clear phishing attempt. The “collector” will ask for your bank details, you provide them, and then they find increasingly desperate ways to have you open a “PDF” and plug in your email address to “confirm the sale”. I’d type out the explanation, but it’s easier to just show you. Here are snapshots of an email chain, in order, starting with the email after sending our wire transfer details:
⛑️ How to protect yourself: In general, just don’t click shady links. If someone says something is a PDF, and when you hover the hyperlink, it goes to a website? Red light. Any transaction with a higher level of complexity to complete, in this day and age, is almost always a scam. As I like to say, “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is a duck.” But instead of a duck, it’s a scam. Trust your intuition when people are being shady.
The “Shady Art Dealer Who Runs With Your Money” Scam
The art market is full of hardworking, honest, supportive and invested gallerists and curators, but every so often, there are those that are… well, let’s just say, the opposite of that. There are a lot of fly-by-night flash-in-the-pan galleries that pop up that start off promising, but either through incompetence, poor management, greed, or outright fraud, end up selling your artwork and never paying you. Unfortunately, it’s a hard problem to solve or know beforehand. A London, UK-based artist friend of mine, Jacob Freeman, participated in one of the last exhibitions before the shocking, explosive, and tragic Arusha Gallery scandal last year, wherein the dam finally burst, and there was an outpouring of artists declaring massive unpaid debts for artworks sold by the gallery. Freeman quickly made sure he got his artwork back, but most others who had shown there weren’t so lucky.
Ways to protect yourself: always, always, always have and sign a consignment agreement that clearly outlines payment terms; at minimum, it should include how long the gallery will legally have the work for, what you will be paid for each artwork up for sale, when you will be paid, and possibly their insurance and copyright policy. All reputable galleries will have their own version of one that will protect both you and the gallery, legally. Having a clear contract is good business.
As outlined in my earlier article “The Importance of Showing Up: Building Community in the Art World”, a second thing to do to protect yourself is simply to talk, network with other artists, and talk about your dealings with galleries, institutions, and other collectives. Did they pay on time? Were they responsive to your emails? Were they present and helpful? If the answers to these questions aren’t positive, proceed with caution. If a gallery approaches you, never hesitate to talk to another artist who has worked with them.
The “Person Posing as a Well-Known Artist or Critic” Scam
This one’s a bit simpler: a person pretending to be a famous art critic or artist who “really likes your work” and then will find a way to have you either pay for promotion or a residency that doesn’t exist. Names that pop up a lot are, of course, the art world’s most famous critic, Jerry Saltz, and, for whatever reason, artist Peter Doig is a name that repeats a lot in these scams. Artist Jacob Freeman once again helped me out with this one and sent some examples of ones he gets pretty often as a promising young artist showing around Europe. This is one that actually uses both, and this is what they’ll look like:
⛑️ How to protect yourself: This one is pretty simple, just don’t send strangers money and always do your best to vet the person emailing you. Does their email match their name? Can you reconcile the person with their website or contact info? This is one of those obvious, “too good to be true” situations.
Things that aren’t quite scams but are usually exploitative
Paying a gallery to show your work. It might be an exciting opportunity to have your work in a gallery, but there are gallerists and art consultants out there who are preying on your urgency to show in a gallery.
What it might look like:
“Hi [artist], I really love your work and will be showing at an Art Fair in New York. We would kindly like to offer you an opportunity to show in our booth. If you pay us EUR 1,000, we will give you a 10m of wall”
This isn’t quite a scam, and entirely legal, but not quite a kosher or fair thing to do, especially if they’re also taking a commission on the artwork sale. A reputable, respectable gallery will never ask you to pay for their booth. You are the artist; you should not be covering their costs.
Final Word, For Now
Given how the art world exists in a bit of a unique and enigmatic silo – the behaviours, attitudes, do’s and don’ts all being more difficult to ascertain than other, perhaps more conventional industries, it can be difficult to tell what is the right and wrong thing to do, and how to navigate unfamiliar territory. This grey area, the gaps in the unfamiliarity are exploited and when it’s your work, and your success on the line (and maybe a little ego), it’s easy to lower your scepticism and fall prey to traps and snafus along the way. There are more shady waters, things that look like scams but actually aren’t, and generally, people or behaviours to avoid. I will outline in subsequent articles, but before then, one final word:
Ultimately, now that you’ve read this, and if you didn’t know before, just be mindful and always proceed with caution, no matter how exciting. You know that feeling you get in your gut when something just doesn’t feel quite right? As you would when you make art, do the same here and trust your instincts.
Stay safe out there, and if you ever come across a situation like this that you might want some advice or clarity on, never hesitate to reach out to the Artist Ally team via email or on Instagram for advice.
🌐 Visit our website to learn more about our work mentoring artists,
developing themselves and their careers.
📱 Follow us on Instagram for updates and announcements.
— Blake Zigrossi 💜
