AvoidinHow to avoid being ripped of from known Scammer on Patreon?

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#1

Hey there! I recently had someone join me at my $95 reward tier which includes a couple of physical items.
Unfortunately, I know this person: She used to scam artists for their artwork through PayPal.

The trick she used was the following:
She purchased an artwork and paid through PayPal. Then after she got it, she withdraws her payment, claiming the artwork never arrived and opens a Paypal case. Many artists didn’t use tracking numbers or forgot to photograph their packages so she was able to scam a lot of people. She tried to do that with me too, but I had collected a ton of proofs, conversations from other people saying she’s a common scammer and I provided Paypal with a photo of the package and the tracking status, the proof that the package arrived. So, in the end, I got my money back.

And now to my question: Can she do the same trick with Patreon now, too? Withdraw her package after she gets everything? I would highly appreciate an answer from the Patreon staff because I am going to send out my rewards this week! :sweat_smile:

#2

If you know she’s a scammer, you can issue her a refund and then block her. No point in sending her anything, even with full proof, if you’re sure it’s the same person. But it would be good to somehow make sure she doesn’t pull this on other, unaware creators, because she certainly can cancel her pledge and even get a refund.

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#3

That is good to know, thank you! I’ll check if she supports other creators . Well in the past she also purchased artworks without scamming. Since she had tried to scam me 2 years ago and lost I haven’t heard of her again. I have hopes up that she might have stopped that behaviour and now likes to pay for goods but who knows…

#4

It’s certainly a tricky situation :frowning: Some creators here only start sending physical rewards to new backers after they have been a steady patron for 3 months, to get around sucvh scenarios. In this case of course it’s best to make that clear in the tier description.

#5

Yeah it’s super tricky - I will need to think about it.:thinking: Thank you for your help. :slight_smile:

#6

Hi @lioba, thanks for the question. I checked with the team and yes, the scammer could do this trick with Patreon. We fully recommend you block this patron to avoid all the hassle.

#7

Hey Mindy! Thank you for your answer - Could you let me know what would happen if she issues a refund and opens a paypal case? Would I be able to do anything or would I be rendered incapable of proving that I sent out my rewards to her? (Because the payment went to Patreon and not me)

#8

@lioba you’re welcome! In this kind of case at the moment, Patreon takes the loss. Patreon would try to get the refund behind the scenes but you would get the payment and the patron would get the package.

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#9

Thank you for letting me know, Mindy!

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