The Brush Pack Scam

Photo by John Washam

Hook

It starts with flattery and a number. A “client” says they’ve been following your art and want to hire you for ongoing work, sometimes as much as two finished pieces a day. That’s a full-time gig, out of nowhere, from a stranger. The rate sounds generous, and it’s framed as steady, recurring work rather than a one-off job. It plays directly into the fear a lot of freelance artists carry: that steady work might never come along again. That urgency is the point. They want you excited before you’ve had time to think it through.

Build-Up

Once you agree to talk, they’ll ask for a couple of paid test pieces before the “real” work starts. That sounds reasonable, and the fact that they’re offering to pay for them buys a lot of trust. But when you ask for a brief, what the pieces should actually look like, you get vague non-answers: “I’ll explain in a minute,” or “once you’ve got the brushes installed.”

That’s because before any brief arrives, they tell you to install a specific brush pack, usually around $30, or a model file. It has a name that sounds like something a working artist might already own, but you can’t find it anywhere except through the exact link they sent. No previews, no reviews, no independent product page. Real brush packs and models, sold on places like Gumroad or Blender Market (now Superhive), always show you what you’re buying first.

Steal

That $30 either lands straight in the scammer’s pocket, or the file itself is malware disguised as an installer, built to grab saved passwords or payment info off your machine. Either way you lose money, sometimes far more than $30. The job never materializes. The client goes quiet or vanishes once you’ve paid or installed the file.

The tell is the order of events. A real client explains the work before asking you to spend money or install anything. If someone offers a job, stays vague on details, and wants you to buy or download something first, stop. Ask for the brief before you do anything else. If they won’t give you one, you have your answer.