Artist I Commissioned Years Ago Wants Me To Pay For Something I Never Agreed To And Is Threatening Legal Action. Do They Have A Case?

Location: Ohio

Hi all! I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear here but I just wanted some actual experts to help me ease my mind. Back in 2022 I commissioned an artist on Twitter to draw one of my original characters. I paid $120 for the piece all together, $60 up front and $60 upon completion and received the finished piece. The work was honestly pretty bad, but I accepted and said I liked it both in an attempt to get the artist to leave me alone, as they had begun messaging me incessantly, and due to my passive nature back then.

Just yesterday I got an email claiming to be the artist's big sister claiming that I still owe an additional $290 for "additional rendering and background" that I did not agree to, and said that if I didn't settle the amount they would be taking legal action. In hindsight I should not have replied to the email at all, but the initial commission was so long ago that I had forgotten what it actually was and followed up for clarification.

I have since gone back through my Twitter dms with the artists and screen-capped the entire conversation, at no point did they mention or did I agree to any additional services on the art work. I even found them lying about their artistic ability, saying that there were examples of their work on their profile. I remember the examples being very few in number and far different from what I had received, but it seems like their account has been suspended.

A few hours after I had emailed back and requested that they not contact me further, I got another email claiming to be a lawyer demanding I settle the issue before legal action would be taken. I did not respond at all and blocked the account.

I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear as the deal was informal, I paid far more for the art than it was worth, and I have records stating that I never agreed to additional work being done or payment being taken. I'm also fairly confident that there is no big sister or lawyer, and that this is just one person trying to scam me. But I'd be lying if I said that my anxiety wasn't getting the better of me and I had trouble sleeping last night because of this.

So is there anything to worry about? Does the artist have a case at all or is this a scare tactic to try and get money out of me? I'll answer any additional questions.

Thank you!