The Overpayment Scam: Why That "Accidental" Payment Isn't an Accident

If you sell art commissions online, you’ve probably heard some version of this story, or lived it yourself. It’s called the overpayment scam, and it’s a variation on the old fake check scam that’s been around for decades. The internet just gave it a new coat of paint. It preys on trust and good manners, which makes it especially rough for artists who are just trying to run an honest small business.

The Hook

The scam usually starts small. The target is often an artist charging low prices, since new or undervalued artists are seen as easier marks and less likely to question a generous client. A buyer reaches out, friendly and normal, asking for a piece at your regular rate. Nothing about the request feels off. Say your going rate is $50. The conversation is polite, maybe even flattering about your work, and you agree to take the commission. So far it looks like any other sale.

The Build-Up

Here’s where the story shifts. When payment comes through, it’s not $50, it’s $500. The buyer seems embarrassed and says they typo’d an extra zero, or mixed up currencies, or fat-fingered the amount. They ask if you could send back the difference, and sometimes they’ll even tell you to keep a little extra for the trouble, like an extra $10. It feels like a reasonable, almost sympathetic request. You did nothing wrong, you’re just fixing someone else’s mistake, so you send back $440 and move on with your day.

The Steal

The catch is that the original $500 was never real money. It came from a stolen account, a fraudulent bank transfer, or something functioning like a bad check. Payment processors and banks can take days to catch this, so the money shows up in your account looking legitimate and spendable. By the time you’ve sent back your $440, the scam is basically done on their end. A few days later, the fraudulent payment gets reversed, and that $500 disappears from your account. Except the $440 you sent back was pulled from your actual funds, since your account doesn’t know the difference between “their” money and yours once it’s all mixed together. You end up out $500 of your own real money, and the scammer walks away with the $440 you wired them, laundered clean through your account.

How to Avoid It

Use invoices whenever your payment processor supports them, PayPal being the most common example. Invoices put you in control of the exact amount being requested and paid, which makes an “accidental” overpayment much harder to pull off. They also create a paper trail your bank can use if a dispute ever happens, even if a scammer tries to abuse a tip field or a manual payment option instead.

If you don’t use invoices, or an overpayment slips through anyway, the most important thing is to not touch the money. Don’t withdraw it, and don’t send any of it back as a “refund.” Let it sit untouched in your account until your bank or payment processor catches the fraud and reverses it on their own. It will get pulled back out automatically. I really can’t stress this enough: any money you move in response to an overpayment is money you are personally on the hook for, because you’re being used to launder stolen funds. The temptation to be a good sport and send something back is exactly what the scam depends on. Resist it, and let the system do its job.