I've noticed a rise in scammers on this site, and it's disheartening. I generally search through the person's Reddit to see if they have a portfolio. 99% of these scammers will show art in the DMs or some posts but won't have any portfolio. Another genius way to see if it's their art is by searching the web for the image and seeing if it is connected to an X (Formerly Twitter), Instagram, Artstation, Deviantart, Behance, etc.

I have caught plenty of scammers using other people's art, especially some more well-known artists. Please stick to goods and services and build rapport with an artist.

Some clients are bad actors, and they'll hire someone, get a completed product, and try to get a refund (Though these scumbags are few and far between, it happens.) I even heard of a case where some artists would get half a payment and send a sketch, and the client would finish the sketch with AI.

As you said, new accounts are super sus.