Forum

I almost got scammed for $1535.14

Posted by Marc Lamm on May 21, 2015 at 6:03pm in Welcome to Art Fair Insiders!

I got an email from a woman in Athens, Greece saying she wanted to buy my work. After sending her images of several pieces, she chose two. I responded with prices and she accepted them without question. "Great," I thought. Then I made a call to UPS and Fed EX for shipping prices to Greece. It was over $1500. She responded that she had a shipper she preferred to use and gave me the contact information. I asked for a quote and it was a little less. She said she wanted to use them. She said she would would take care of all the customs and tariff issues but that I was to pay the shipper. She agreed to pay in advance for everything: the art, packing, insurance, tax and shipping. I said I wanted to be paid in full in advance with a cashiers check and she replied she couldn't do that. "I have my reasons," she said. At this point, we had gone three weeks and a dozen emails and I was getting suspicious. So, I contacted Square, my credit card company, and was told NEVER to pay a third party in a transaction. If someone wants to buy your work and wants a third party involved, walk away.

The scam works like this: someone overseas has a stolen credit card. They agree to pay a premium for your art and get you to use a shipper of their choice. The shipper is a sham. You deliver the pieces to the shipper. Your art may go to one of their friends or get left in an alley. They don't care. The money you sent to the shipper is what they want. The money you got from the credit card will be taken away by the credit card company when the actual credit card holder complains about an unauthorized purchase from you.

Seller, be ware.

You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!

Join Art Fair Insiders

★
★
★
★
★
Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Jim Hoover June 6, 2015 at 4:43pm

    All of these replies contain good information.  We should probably print them out and put them on the wall over our desks.  Thank you all.

  • Wallace Fuller June 4, 2015 at 6:59pm
    Had an experience in Lubbuck TX several years ago with a past customer. She wrote a check which did not clear her bank after several tries, basically said tough luck to collecting. A year later I returned to Lubbuck and knocked on her door at 6:00AM and told her I was there for my money. She started arguing and I took my flip phone and called the police. By time police got there I had cash in hand. Still filled a police report. Heard later that she had pulled same on other artist.
    • Kathleen V. Smith > Wallace Fuller June 5, 2015 at 2:16pm

      WOW~GOOD FOR YOU, & glad you still filed that police report!!  This lady I delt with had "escaped" & I missed her by only days!  The other Artists she scammed missed her too.  KARMA~she will get hers or DID already as this was in the 80's!!!

  • Brian Billings June 4, 2015 at 6:52pm

    I haven't come across this scam, but I have had a buyer request to use their own shipper. I am a painter and some works are too large for UPS/FedEX so I need to use an art shipping company or freight company. Many of these companies aren't known to most and many freight shippers are contractors for international companies. I asked for the shippers info, looked them up online and called them to verify. Also, for any overseas transactions I tell them I wait for payment to be cleared through bank before I ship anything out. I've never had a problem.

  • Richard L. Sherer June 4, 2015 at 2:21pm

    I'll throw in some notes and observations of "mini scammers" I've encountered at art shows. Crested Butte in the mid 1990's: This guy wanted to pay $2K for a saddle with a blank bank counter check. Said he was opening a printing business in town and had not got his business checks yet. I told him to bring cash by the condo in the morning. No show as expected. #2 is typical of guy with girlfriend he is trying to impress: Wants the $5K saddle and throws in a bunch of accessories. Wants to pay and pick it up in  the morning as they "are traveling and car is packed".  Me "I want half down now to hold it for you". Him: "what, you don't trust me".  Me "no, I only need to look at your boots". end of discussion.  Never let anything out of your sight until it is paid for and payment has cleared. Back in the old days I used to have to find a pay phone to get approval on large credit card sales. 

  • Kathleen V. Smith June 4, 2015 at 12:33pm

    Hi Marc~

    This brings back months of work for a lady that advertised for Artists & Crafters in the mid-80's! There was a good size ad placed in the Minneapolis Star & Tribune saying something like Artists & Crafter needed for my wholesale store in the Atlanta Wholesale Mart for Christmas Buyers.  They would take 30% & pay us right after the show.  I called the Mart & asked if this person had a store, & how long she had it, & many more questions. Everything was good. I communicated by phone several times with her, & she was very explicit what she wanted in my stained glass & I was happy to do whatever she felt would sell, as she expressed that she did not want to "take up space" in her store with items that would not sell.  She told me she had ads throughout the Country to get Artists work from everywhere so she would have quite a variety. OK. I was working really hard for 3 months JUST FOR HER & had everything shipped just before the store in Atlanta had opened for their Christmas season, which I believe was in Summer. I tried calling after they had opened up & the number was disconnected.  I called the Administration there & they were extremely mad & shocked because in the middle of the night she had a moving truck pick everything up & we found out later that she had taken it to Arizona!!!  On our way from LA to Vegas, my boyfriend & I stopped at her house, & JUST missed her by 2 days said her neighbors! They said we weren't the only people banging on her door, & that she heard they went to Sedona Arizona. We tried everything to find her, but no luck.  Since then, I spoke to 3 other Artists that had gotten scammed by this woman.  Her advertising was great~but obviously, fooled several people, so even tho you "look good out there"~it doesn't matter.  I wonder if anyone here on this site remembers this or has been scammed by this lady.  I was out over $20,000!!! Live & Learn.  The wholesale I had done since then was Beckmans who I TRUST & I would BE THERE!  NO more galleries or wholesale when I am not there, even tho SOME galleries are reputable.

  • Richard L. Sherer June 3, 2015 at 2:51pm

    Here is my latest and new email scam that came in today.  The attached word document with it is blurred so it cannot be read, plus it caused my computer to lock up and had to do a restart. 

    It have been a long time, hope your business is moving well.
    We want to place a repeat order as last time. Attached is the last 
    shipping document of our previous order, so Make sure you quote us the 
    best price
    waiting for your confirmation so that i can send our Purchasing order 
    ASAP.
    The order quantity is same as before.

    Note the high quality command of the English language.  They got one of my favorite Brit.
    replies which I cannot repeat in mixed company here. It concerns their goat. LOL

    • kara unland > Richard L. Sherer June 3, 2015 at 4:42pm

      Hi I have had this problem on Etsy as well as Craigslist. This is an article Etsy has on their site to help you recognize the scams.

      Suspicious Conversations

      If you receive a suspicious conversation concerning an item in your shop, please proceed with caution.

      The conversation might be sent by an individual attempting advance-fee fraud, also called the “Nigerian scam” or the “419 scam.”



      What to Look Out for

      In combination, the following characteristics may indicate the conversation is a scam:

      Does the buyer...

      • Use poor English, odd phrases, or strange formatting in the conversation? 

      • Offer to send you more money than you are asking for your item? This is known as an “overpayment” scam and is described under “How the Scam Appears” below. 

      • Say they are located far away, such as in another country or even on a ship at sea? They may portray themselves as a traveling businessman or an oceanographer. 

      • Insist you reply via a personal email address, off of Etsy? A buyer who immediately insists on communicating off of our site may be questionable. 

      • Seem to not have read or looked at your listing, based on their vague questions? 

      • Refuse to go through Etsy Checkout, thereby disqualifying the transaction from any Etsy protection? 

      • Have a particular interest in an item of relatively high value? Scammers tend to focus on mid and high-value listings.  

      

How the Scam Appears



      The scammer will attempt to convince a seller to accept a fake payment for more than the item is worth. If they are successful, the scammer will get both the item and the money. In nearly every case, the con artist will not be caught.



      Here is how the scam can play out:

      • Your item, listed for $1,000, gets the attention of a 419 scammer. They offer to send you $1,800, the extra intended to cover international shipping costs or the costs of the scammer’s private shipping company. They ask you to transfer the remainder back to them once you have shipped the item, sometimes even offering to let you keep a few hundred dollars more than your item costs. 

      • You deposit the $1,800 into your bank and then return the $800 to the scammer. The scammer counts on you doing this before the check officially clears your bank account. This window between deposit and processing is known as “float time” and can last seven days, ten days, or even longer if the payment is international. During this time the money can be transferred, but it has not been verified by your bank as real. 

      • Once the payment is processed, your bank will determine that it is fake. They will take the entire $1,800 back from you. Since you will have already sent the $800 back to the scammer, you must repay the bank $800 of your own money. If you have spent any of the $1,000 you thought you earned, you will also need to replace that. Your item, if shipped, will also be lost. 

      

These scammers typically create multiple accounts on Etsy and send the same conversation to different sellers with little or no personalization. Scammers target sellers who list high-priced items in their shop and have fewer sales.

      Example of a Real 419 Scam Conversation

      "Hello Seller

      is this item still ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item...

      1) What is the present condition of the item?

      2) Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?

      3) what is the final asking price?

      kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email :

      hope to read from you soon.

      Best Regards
"

      

Why Does This Scam Work?



      The scammer’s payment (typically a check or money order, but increasingly an electronic invoice sent via PayPal or another payment processor) is a forgery. In the case of a check, it is not real. It is only worthless paper. Your bank may allow you to deposit it, but the payment will not clear. Your bank will hold you responsible for the entire amount.

      

In the case of a PayPal payment, the scammer will either send a fake PayPal confirmation email or pay with a fraudulent payment source. Whether you return the “overpayment” via PayPal or a wire transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram, you will still be held responsible for all of the money involved.

      Never trust a PayPal payment which is contingent upon you shipping the item before funds are “released” to your account, unless you are willingly using an escrow service.



      Remember: Money sent back to the scammer is money which is lost forever.

  • Michael Reimer June 3, 2015 at 7:32am

    Can you post the contents of the original email?  It helps if someone else searches for the contents of an email they get and see the same phrases and wordings in their email as you are reporting as a scam.

    My guess is if you had done that, you would have run across the same wording with someone else reporting it as a scam.  If not, you are at least helping the next person because the scammers use the same emails over and over again.

  • Jacki Bilsborrow May 27, 2015 at 3:46pm

    The scammers are everywhere.  I was selling a refrigerator on Craig's list.  The buyer wanted to pull off something goofy like that, too.  There is no amount too low that they are not willing to pull the scam off for.

This reply was deleted.