Pinoy Comics Artists, Beware of this Scam ( a repost)

This blog post is a repost from Gerry's multiply. I like to warn our local artists here to be careful in dealing agents abroad. Sometimes artists and clients are being victimized by fake agents that promise the artists a break out career in comics and clients are being promised by a good quality artwork from artist that never existed or art being stolen from another artist or website. This scam is very active in the internet community especially in community forums and blogs. Better research more about the agent you are talking to, or try to ask around here in our local network to do background check with any local or foreigner individual who want to act as your agent in getting into a good business.

read more below about the scam

There’s a lot of comics artists, aspiring and professional, here in the Philippines. A lot of them are looking for work abroad through the Internet, and more often than not, that’s you reading right now.

I found out about this scam through Rich Johnston’s Bleeding Cool Forums, at these specific topics here:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?t=376

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?t=713

The way I understand it, this person would either approach you to “represent” you as his agent, or be your “writer” or pretend to be actually you, and accept assignments from companies or individuals for commissions. He would then ask you to do the work, submit a few pages to the company, asked to be paid in full, and then disappear, leaving both you and the company in the dirt.

Be cautious who you deal with online. Before accepting any assignment, search fastidiously online for information about this person you are dealing with. How would you know if he is pretending to be someone else? Look for *other* contact info online. Many pros are on Facebook and Twitter or MySpace. Contact them there to confirm who they are.

This is why it’s very important now for a Filipino comic book artist to be typically street smart online. The Internet is a great place to find jobs in comics, but it’s also a place where you can get scammed big time.