I received an email a few days ago from a (potential) customer who wanted to buy one of my pieces. He selected a large print of one of my digital paintings at a cost of $1250. We traded emails and info back and forth. Then he wrote that he would be sending me a check for the print, but, since he was moving to England and he was running out of time, he would be sending me a check for more than the cost of the print. He asked me to deduct the cost of the print and send the excess on to his shipping company. After a couple more emails, and my insisting that he pay me only the cost of the print, and send me only the address where I should send it, he pulled out of the deal saying "I'm sorry thats the only way i can continue this transaction." Be careful. He might be targeting other artists.
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I knew on the 2nd email that I had to be very careful as it sounded a little to . . .personal.
I got two e-mails from Carmen Gonzalez last week as well... who can we trust? Just past good customers?
Got one a week ago from Mrs Carmen Gonzalez and Pack N Box Movers.
My police department should be getting a $1550 check soon LOL
Regarding wiring money to an account. I would not want to give out my routing and account numbers, etc. I guess the only way around that is to set up a new account for the suspicious funds to be wired to.
Beware, the scammers also send very official looking money orders and cashier checks. I received one in the amount of $950 for a hundred dollar item accompanied with email that said they apparently mixed up two different purchases and put wrong money order in my envelope, could I do them a big favor and send a western union to them for the $850 difference. When I said "no, I would rip it up and they should send correct amount" we never heard from them again.
Those scams are not just in the art world as most of you know. You can usually tell that the English is funny. I have been told that they put what they want to say into google translation. That should be a red flag right there. My neighbor owns a restuarant. She got an order for 150 sandwishes. They were to be picked up by their courier. Then, she got the exact order from someone else. She called the Restuarant association in our state and they said it was a scam going around.
I think everyone knows that Craig's list is a big target for scammers, too. Personally, I have been hit by several scammers on a house we rent out. My sister was very curious as to how this scam would be pulled off. So, she contacted the guy who wanted to rent our house and acted like she placed an ad for a house in another state. The guy must send out tons of fake rental inquiries because he never realized that her's was not a house he inquired about. He said that they were moving from England and his boss would only cut one check. He told my sister to take out her costs and send him the rest of the money so that they could fly here to the rented house. So, potentially, you would lose money by taking your house of the market, and then sending a huge chunk on to the scammers.
I have been hit by scammers for an $100 used refrigerator and an old computer monitor ($20). Is a $20 computer monitor really worth the time to scam someone for? It must be worth it because they are in full force everywhere.
We must keep passing this info on because there are unsuspecting people who will be taken by these scammers if we don't .
Thanks everyone for telling about your experiences.
Jacki B
I also have received this scam........and they are always worded so cleverly. Thanks goodness I didn't fall for it. Be careful as there are a lot of them circulating throughout the art world.
Kathleen, that's terrible! I wonder about PayPal.
Kathleen:
I am SO SORRY that happened to you. Thank you for posting the information - it's very valuable ifo indeed!
Melanie
Thanks for the head-up Kathleen. That is something I did not know.
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