Hello!
Unfortunately, this doesn't guarantee you're a proper human. The scammer did the exact same thing: establish connection and report through Discord, send portfolio pieces to authenticate work, negotiate work and price, accept money, disappear :( It took investigation to find they were likely never involved with the pieces they sent :/
It's a scary world we live in these days, supercharged by AI. You probably are a completely earnest, friendly human, but it's very difficult to prove that anymore. Even a phone / Zoom call is no longer guaranteed. If you have other authentication ideas, please feel free to reach out and convince me. I really need a quality pixel artist for this project. At the moment, I'm back to pursuing personal references again (from humans I communicate with in person). If none of those opportunities work out, I'll probably have to take a risk again. If so, I'll reach out.