Scam Alert

On this last day of 2013, I received the following email from Adam Johnson


Hi,

My name is Adam, I found your Work of arts on Artspan.org to be appealing. I am very impressed with it and would be interested in purchasing it .

Could you please let me know your available pieces,a price list and payment options .  I'm an art lover/collector and I'm collecting for my personal collections.****.I want any art work at the range of $400 to $500.
Regards.

Notice that i have a shipper already and my method of payment is Check.

This is not the first time I've received this type of email.  The message is always the same:
1.  loves your work, seen on a public art website
2.  says something specific like price range or mentions the art he is interested in
3.  has a shipper and will send you a check
4.  in the past, the scammer writes that they are moving or have moved to a new place and need art

I've taken it further in the past, receiving a check in the mail for an amount that is an overpayment.  The plan is that the unsuspecting artist will send a check to cover the difference except that the initial check will be fraudulent.  I've notified Artspan but it being the holidays, they might not get to it to warn their members. Another red flag is that "Adam Johnson" sent this email with a "bcc" - suggesting to me that he is sending it to many if not all of the Artspan artists.
Please see my March 9, 2008 post about a similar scam.
Be careful out there!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I got the exact identical email and as much as it would have been a nice end of the year sale it was too good to be true. Oh well. At least happy I didn't fall for it.

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