Monday, August 17, 2009

Scam Alert

I had an attempted scam sent my way this past week and want to notify you of what happened since the person has visited my sites and may get to your sites via mine. Apparently, this is am ongoing scam.

I received an email from mailto:jann.gill001@gmail.com. Note the odd english.

"Hi,
Hope this message finds you well. I saw these creatives works on your web site and i will like you to get back with more details if they are still available for purchase.
Diamond, Ringleader of the Spring Revolt and Not One Sparrow

I will appreciate an urgent reply.

Best Regards,
Janet"


Here is the lowdown from Art News Blog. You can see this email added to the list toward the bottom.

2 comments:

Deborah Younglao, Silk Painter said...

Thanks for sharing this, Tracey. I hope all artists are aware of these scams. I've received many similar requests - I used to just delete them, but from now on I'll forward the addresses to Art News and post them on my blog (don't know why I never thought of that before).

Besides the always atrocious English there are some really annoying features that most of these scams have in common:
(1) They ask me to email pictures of my work. Well gee.... weren't they just looking at my website??

(2) They ask for a price list. Again, weren't they just at the website, where prices are shown?

(3) They want to know the condition of the of the artwork. Well they're original paintings.... what the @#$% condition do they expect them to be in?

(4) There's usually some dire personal story - they're buying for their dying mother.... my "masterpieces" will cure their depression etc. etc.

(5) There's some convoluted payment/shipping arrangement, woven into the story, that winds up with you sending them money

I quickly learned how to recognize these messages, I hope others do too.

Dean Grey said...

Yikes! How scary!

Thanks for letting us all know, Tracey.

Good thing you caught it early on!

-Dean