Was it a Scam, or AITA?

Yesterday, I either dodged a bullet or threw away an opportunity. I’ll never know, and I’m okay with that.

The Backstory

As an aspiring writer who is trying to “build a platform” and become accepted among the community of established writers, I’ve been networking on social media. This means I follow authors and poets online, and frequently they follow back. I’ve gained quite a few good working relationships this way. Being part of the literary community has helped me to learn so many things about writing and publishing, plus I learn of opportunities for publication and collaboration.

Over the past year, I’ve gained more than 1,000 new Facebook friends in the writer’s community and joined multiple groups. This is on my private Facebook page. I’ve gotten to know fellow writers and rejoiced with them when they announce new work being published. It’s been a very rewarding experience.

Every barrel of fruit is probably going to have at least one bad apple bobbing around in there. I met one this week.

The Inciting Incident

A couple days ago, I received a FB message from a “friend” with whom I have a handful of mutual friends. Her profile said she is an artist. She contacted me about my profile picture, a selfie of me with Gidget McFidget in my lap. According to her pitch, she had been commissioned to create a mural as part of a “Reading is Fundamental” project for a children's library and she wanted to use my dog’s likeness as part of the mural.

She offered to compensate me, but I didn’t really care about that and didn’t ask how much. I just thought it was cute that Gidget’s face would be immortalized in a mural. I accepted her proposal, and she sent me a contract. It looked legitimate, similar to contracts I’ve signed when my poems or essays have been published. I read it over, signed it, and sent it back.

The picture to be immortalized in a mural.

A few hours later, I received an email from the company who had commissioned the artwork. They were called Mural Masters. I looked them up online and found a real business by that name. Mural Masters sent an acceptance email along with a slideshow of former projects and smiling children to both of us. Very warm and fuzzy stuff.

She texted me with excitement about the project, including a statement about how much this project would help her because she was going through a divorce. That seemed like an oddly personal thing to tell me, but I shrugged it off. People overshare all the time.

The Plot Thickens

Yesterday, I received an email from Mural Masters which said that payment had been approved for the project, but because the artist was having problems with her bank account due to her divorce, they would be sending me a check for $4,200 and asked me to disburse the funds.

The email below:

Dear Dawn,

Thank you for your contributions thus far.

We are pleased to inform you that a check for $4,200 will be sent to you directly along with detailed instructions on how to proceed with the deposit. Please note that this process is designed for mobile deposit through your mobile banking application.

Additionally, we are not certain if Wendy has mentioned this to you, but she is currently going through a divorce and is cautious about using her joint account. For this reason, the full amount has been allocated to you for processing.

If you have any questions or require assistance with the process, please feel free to reach out, and we’ll be happy to help.

Best regards,

Mural Masters

This was a big fat “Oh, Hell no!” from me. This is a scam as old as time. I deposit their check and send back their portion, then their check bounces and I’m out the amount I sent. I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid.

Precedent

Right now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Didn’t you think it was suspicious when a stranger contacted you out of the blue to offer you this arrangement?” My answer is, “It has happened before, more than once.”

Two years ago, I was contacted by a representative from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) via Twitter messenger due to an argument about transplant medications I was having in the comments of a post. This resulted in an interview that aired internationally.

A little over a year ago, I was also contacted via Twitter messenger by an editor from Business Insider to write an essay about my heart condition and experience with the medical system. This also stemmed from a conversation I had in the comments of a thread.

Most recently, I was contacted by a journalist via the contact form on my author website. That resulted in an interview this past Saturday. I’ll give you the details when that piece is published.

So, in short, no it’s not unusual to be contacted out of the blue like that. That didn’t raise any red flags.

Reaction

My response to receiving the email about the $4200 check was to reach out to the artist as well as the company to tell them that I was withdrawing my consent and told them to cease and desist any usage of my likeness or my dog’s likeness in their art project. The artist texted in an attempt to cajole me into compliance, and I told her I recognized the scam and wanted no part in it. The company never responded.

Part of me wonders if I passed up an opportunity, but 90% of me feels like I made the right decision by telling them to go pound sand.

Dear readers, what do you think? Did I make the wise decision, or did I pass up canine fame and fortune? Am I The Asshole?