This person advertises on several Craigslist communities. Their "offers" always change, but their "pet portrait" samples are almost always the same.
When I replied to the ad, the ad read, "first 10 replies gets a free portrait of their pet." I did not know what these people were not in the area, and I thought it was a local artist doing actual paintings.
I sent an e-mail along with a photo of my pet (per request in the ad), and I said, "please let me know if I am one of the ten people. Thanks."
Less than ten minutes later, I had a "proof" of the portrait in my inbox. I opened it, and it was nothing more than someone taking my photograph, running it through a graphics program, and then passing it off as "artwork." When you run it through a graphics program, you open the photo, and within three clicks, you have the finished product - no work involved.
The e-mail read that this was a "small size proof" and that an invoice would be sent shortly for $40 and to pay it asap so they could send the full-sized portrait immediately.
I told them that I was not impressed that someone was trying to sell "pet portraits" on Craigslist for something that took less than five minutes to accomplish. I also did not appreciate that they immediately assumed that someone wanted to buy the portrait and took it upon themselves to invoice for such garbage and lies. Sure enough, within a matter of seconds, I received a payment request from Paypal for $40. I declined it, and I filed a complaint with PayPal.
I never heard from them regarding my e-mail I sent.
A week later, they send me a "payment reminder" for the $40 invoice. Again, I told them I was not interested, thought it was a scam, and I forwarded them the complaint number with PayPal.
Since that time, they have posted on other Craigslists always offering some sort of "deal" or "free special, " but it always says, "send a photo along for us to evaluate." They are not evaluating, they are running pictures through a program and charging people. Unfortunately, someone is going to think they HAVE to pay the invoice and will do so just to not "get in trouble."
Stay away. 5 minutes in a simple graphics program, and you can have the same results!
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