Protection against Art Scammers

(Logo taken from Art Space 2000 , available for other artists to put on their sites.)

As I receive at least 3 e-mails a month from people wanting to buy paintings, mostly claiming to be setting up a new house in Johannesburg and pulling either the Certified US Cashier Check or Money Order 4-1-9 Advance Fee Fraud , I decided to post some lists below of their e-mails for other artists who may not be aware. The ones I receive seem to have been written by the same person as the same grammatical errors are there and they seem to favour e-mailing via yahoo.com or yahoo.co.uk . Asking for a telephone number is an effective way of syphoning out the reality of the request .

• Here is a recent one from Dianne Hansen : dianne_hansen001@yahoo.com
• HI ,I saw some lovely and creative artworks on your site and i will like to buy some for our new house in Johannesburg. I will like to buy:
• 1. (Title Removed )
• 2. ( Title Removed)
• Pls send me the price of the artwork excluding the shipping price because i have already contacted a shipping company that will be shipping our other home decors.Pls get back if they are still in stock so i can arrange something with my husband ontime . I will be paying you with a Certified US Cashier Check or Money Order. An urgent reply we be appreciated.Thanks.
• Regards, Dianne

Two extensive lists of these Art Scammers are available at Absolutearts.com (e-mails and I.P. addresses) and at ArtQuest , a list of e-mails, a link to a page explaining the scams and outlining how to receive safe payments and filing a complaint at the Internet Fraud Complaint Center if you have been fucked over. At Art News Blog Dion quotes an incident where he received a similar e-mail for purchase and then an artist friend of his sent him the same scammy e-mail he had received with Dion's e-mail address at the bottom !! Tags : Art Scammers Art Fraud