Monday, August 24, 2009

I'm too old and too mean....

I had an email from an art scammer. Well, not really an art scammer, just some cockroach using artworks as a vehicle to get unsuspecting people to part with their money.


Do not fall for an offer to buy your work from someone calling themselves Crystal Moll from New Jersey.

I exchanged emails, explaining I would be glad to ship as soon as they put $$ in my PayPal account or sent me a certified check. Then I got an email from their "shipping agent". I was bored with the game by then and just sent them back the above link.

The whole thing smacked of Nigerian scam. Their game is to send you a worthless check for much too much money and get you to send them back the overage...before you realize their check is rubber.

It's a dog eat dog world out there. Don't get caught wearing Milkbone underwear.

(Man, I loved "Cheers".)

5 comments:

Linda Davick said...

Crystal would probably have a lot more success if she had someone copyedit her writing! (Judging from the example in your link.)

So glad you had your wits about you; thanks for this warning.

Mean Jean said...

My alert signal went nuts with the "I'm in London for my twin sister's wedding, I'm pregnant, and Oh, did I mention I'm moving to Johannesburg?"...blah blah blah. Story was too weird. No woman who is pregnant, doing a foreign wedding and moving to another country has time to cruise the net looking for art.

Toad said...

No woman who is pregnant, doing a foreign wedding and moving to another country has time to cruise the net looking for art.

A man could. Or, at least, he could cruise the net looking for porn while doing a foreign wedding and moving to another country. At least, that's my guess. I wouldn't know from experience, of course.

Cudos on avoiding the scam, Meanest of Jeans. Do actual purchasers send weird e-mails, too, making these scams harder to spot?

Mean Jean said...

Toad, you brought up another point that struck me as very odd. "She" barely mentioned the art. Other buyers tell me what drew them to the piece, what aspects of it they appreciate, ask me what inspired me. This scammer just briefly mentioned that the piece would look good with their "decors" and went on at length about what they were doing and why they couldn't get down to business and actually pay me right now. Rambling on about how the husband was supposed to call but he was busy and the moving agent would get with me "very soon" with the details of shipment.

Candace Baitz said...

Have you ever seen the site 20x200.com Pretty interesting philosophy about getting real art to the masses. Your post just made me think of it.

btw, how are these scams still working? They have to be working if I still get an email everyday right?