Scam Email: Deg Store

This scam email doesn't have a fake person's name but a fake store name. All the rest of it is the typical stuff we see in these scam emails.

Hello,

This mail is to make inquiry on the below question.

1- Do you carry oversea? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that will pick my packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in Victoria , Australia is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used there service in the past and it was splendid.

2- Do you accept credit card for payment (my U.S.A Master and Visa card to be precise)?

Kindly let me know your comments on these, before i send the items i am interested in purchasing from you.

Best Regards.
President
Deg Store Australia
297 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park
5046 Adelaide Australia
+61390169230

Sent by: degstore@blumail.org 

Scam Email: Lisa Wague

Okay, here is an interesting twist. The scammers are having a hard time figuring out who they sent the email to when someone replies and asks a question. They send out so many hundreds of thousands of these, they don't have a good way to track who the person is who is replying to them. And they care because this person is moving along the next step of the scam by replying. I have personally sent replies to scammers removing all references of who I was and asking which pieces were they interested in... knowing they could never match it up if they were a scammer (and a real collector would remember a piece they saw and liked).

So the scammers have been trying some variations. Recently - last week and this week, I've noticed their scam emails now ask the potential victim to please state their website url in their reply. Funny. I guess that is not working so well, or the below email is just another strategy to try and establish a way to know where one of their emails have been sent. They are now embedding the target website url directly in their email, thinking if the artist replies, the url is right there and the scammer can continue what would seem like a "personal" conversation.

Also, we've reported on Vivian and Yvonne Wague in the past. Looks like this scammer is staying with a sister theme.

From: Lisa Wague [lisawague@yahoo.com]
Date: February 23, 2011 8:09:58 PM EST
Subject: Purchase Info.

Hello Bob,
Hope this message found you well; I am so excited to discover these nice artworks on your link (bob's website url was inserted here) and I will like you to get back with more details if they are still available for purchase including their prices;
"Edge of the Old Forest"
"Liberation"
Your urgent reply would be appreciated.
Best Regards,
Lisa.

Scam Email: Nelson Brown

This scammer is the same one who just sent out the same scam under the fake name of Andrew Roundy. He is sending from a compromised server so I guess he's going to send a bunch of them out until the owners of the server at gnax.net realize their servers are compromised.

Return-path: [more@monkey.xyzdns.net]
Delivery-date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:30:41 -0600
Received: from monkey.xyzdns.net ([216.180.243.170]:42811)
Subject: Order Enquiry.
From: Nelson Brown [mobilestores1477@gmail.com]
Reply-To: mobilestores1477@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:30:33 -0500

Hello .

I will like to place some items in you store and i will like to know if you ship to Slovenia and accept credit card as method of payment Waiting for your reply regarding this request .

Thanks
Nelson Brown

Scam Email: Andrew Roundy

Here is a scam email I received this morning. Looks like the scam was sent from a hijacked server. Notice how all the emails are either made up or belong to someone else - except for the Reply-To address, which is where your reply goes when you write back. That is the throw-away gmail account the scammer is using to communicate with their victims. The rest of this email is pretty standard stuff - they withhold most of the scam until a person replies to them. But the formatting is off, as usual.

Return-path: [more@monkey.xyzdns.net]
Delivery-date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:50:43 -0600
Received: from monkey.xyzdns.net
Subject: Order Enquiry
From: Andrew Roundy [Roundyandrew@andrew.com]
Reply-To: roundyandrew2@gmail.com

My name is Andrew,I want to place an order in your store,I will like
to know if you ship to Philippines.Do you accept credit card?.Get back to me
with your website/price list.I will await your prompt response
Best Regards,
Andrew

Scam Email: Eliot Graham

Here is a typical scam email under the name of Eliot Graham. It's almost always the super horrible grammar, spelling and formatting that gives them away.

Return-Path: [mackerelrodrigo@gmail.com]
From: Eliot Graham [graham_eliot@yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: Inquiry about your sculpture

Hello
I saw a preview of your sculpture work via a friend of mine  she reside in Amsterdam Netherland she a send me a link to a site that previewed your work so am writing in request to know if you can direct me to your own personal website where i can view more of your work and see if we can reach an agreement in purchasing some of
your sculpture i would like to have them displayed in my new home, my friend also tell me  about  your creative approach to you work and it's creativeness i do not reside
in the Netherlands which as been a major concern to me on our to purchase your piece can you send me images or website to your new work.
Thanks
Eliot

Scam Email: John Smith

This scammer was not going to get my attention being I'm an artist and don't sell the below items. He didn't take the time to target his email per the audience he was mailing to. He probably just sent out a bunch and hopes anyone who sells these items will fall for the scam. There is no Applied Supply (again, what's with the period after the company name and their name at the end of the email??) in Berkeley and I googled the address and a UPS store is located there. So this scammer just didn't try too hard.

Return-path: [which12buy@which12buy.com]
From: John Smith [appliedsupplyinc@gmail.com]
Reply-To: appliedsupplyinc@gmail.com
Subject: Quote request

Hello,
We would like to inquire if you have in stock or can help us to get the description items below,

1: SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER, 20amps and above.
2: Grundfos SQ Flex 11 SQF -2 Submersible pump
3: 180watt or 235watt solar panel.

Also interested in the toners descriptions below

1: HP Q6511A (11A) OEM
2: HP C8543X (43X) OEM
3: HP C9730A (30A) OEM

Please let us know the price of each item listed above. I would also like to know type of credit card that you accepted in making payment when purchasing from your company.I really appreciate your time and business.

APPLIED SUPPLY.
2512 Telegraph Avenue,
Berkeley, CA, 94704
appliedsupplyinc@gmail.com

John Smith.

Scam Email: Elaine Jackson

I love your site. My husband got an email from a woman who wanted to by 4 paintings off his website. She lives in San Francisco & was moving to South Africa soon. She also had her own shipping company. How do they part you from your money? An unknown artists' work is almost worthless especially in another country, so they wouldn't be selling the art. My husband Gene, told them he would need cash in hand before he started the project & it would be at least 3 weeks. He never got another email. There info is as follows: Elaine Jackson-[mailto:elainejackson.05@gmail.com] The shipping company: Home Front Freight and Logistics Service Logistics Ltd. No actual email address. Yes, they used Logitics twice in the name. I look forward to a reply. Wendy

Yes, this is the classic scam setup. How they separate you from your money is once you agree to the buy, they will send you MORE than the amount due. Much more. And tell you, for whatever reason, they need that extra amount they sent you forwarded to the shipping company - by YOU. You deposit their check and then forward the difference to the shipping company. The check is fake. There is no shipping company - you are only sending your GOOD cash back to the scammers, who sit at the other end of Western Union. That is what they are after - not the art. In fact, often they never receive the art that has been shipped because the address is made up. They are after that cash, which can often be anywhere from $500 to over $5000 sometimes.

Good you caught this one before anything bad happened.

Scam Email: Wayne Dickson

This was a good one I received this morning, in that it contained almost NO clues as to the level of scamminess. And I can usually spot one of these a mile away.

I looked up the name and in fact a Wayne Dickson does exist in texas and is part of a company but not the company referenced in the yahoo email address. Then I looked up the company name and there IS a company by that name - in Texas! But their email addresses on their website are referenced differently. Still does not put it out of the realm of possibilities. The spelling and formatting wasn't recognizably horrible. Okay, "...and am from Texas" is pretty horrible grammar but not unthinkable from a normal person. No reference to a third-party shipper or living out of the country. And the source IP number didn't tell me anything because the email was sent via yahoo mail. Just not enough clues. The *only* recognizable clue in this email is the "period" after the name at the end of the email - which oddly seems present in almost all scam emails, like they all use the same templated software that puts a period there or something. Normal people do not put a period after their name at the end of an email. Also - and this is more a grey area, normal people would not ask what my final price was for a painting when the prices are clearly listed on my website. They might ask if I offer discounts, but I don't think they would ask, "what's your final price".

Return-Path: [compassgroupco@yahoo.com]
From: Wayne Dickson [compassgroupco@yahoo.com]
Subject: [name of piece]

Hello there,

My name is Wayne Dickson and am from Texas. Was going through your works and love this piece.What's your final price for it and am really interested in purchasing the piece.

Thanks and i await your response.

Wayne.

But these are not entirely strong blazing clues, so I fell back on an old technique I have used in the past. You will notice in the above email that the only place he references the name of the painting is in the subject line. So I took the email, removed all the identifying TO information, changed the Subject line to "RE: Inquiry" and pasted his email in one of my throw-away (or I don't care) hotmail accounts. I'm counting on my knowledge that scammers send out hundreds of thousands of these and he won't know what original email he sent it to nor will he remember the name of the piece he put in the subject line. Here is what my reply (from my throwaway hotmail account) looked like:

To compassgroupco@yahoo.com
Subject Re: Inquiry

Hi Wayne,

Which piece were you interested in?

Katie

> Hello there,

> My name is Wayne Dickson and am from Texas. Was going through your works and love this piece.What's your final price for it and am really interested in purchasing the
> piece.

> Thanks and i await your response.

> Wayne.

I even put in those ">" to make it look like a reply. I forgot to add what would have been a great personal "inside" joke to me and sign my email, Katie. (with a period) but I forgot to.

If it is NOT a scammer (and really, I'm thinking it IS a scammer), they will immediately remember the name of the painting that interest them, what my website/real name is, etc. Real collectors know these details when they've found a piece they want.

My guess is he will never reply OR thinking he's got a dumb one on the line, he will reply and ask for a list of my top pieces - but given I've moved this reply to hotmail, he's not even going to know which website this was originally targeted to. So I'm back to, I don't think he's going to reply at all. There are too many other emails he has sent where someone will think he's for real and begin the process of the transaction that will turn out to be a fake.

I'll update this again if he writes back, but I'm not expecting him to.

Scam Email: Jordana Jack

Here is an email I just received from an artist. Nothing unusual about this except it was a little odd the scammer wrote three times to get a list of items. Usually the scammer, playing a huge numbers game, don't linger where there are no responses from potential victims.

Hi

I've got a new one for you!

someone calling themselves "Jordana Jack" but also "Mrs Jordana" who emailed me in both English and French, using the email address jordanajack@yahoo.com .

Quite a weird one, because they sent three emails asking for lists of my work (which are easily viewable on my website) before asking for two prints - "which they would use their own shipper for". Amusing because it would cost me a few euros to post these in a tube!

Keep up the good work

David

Scam Email: Kurt Amelles

Here is an email I received from an artist this morning:

Kathleen,
I got an art scam email today and your site was a help. Looks like a variation with a new address involved. The email did not seem right to me so I checked the headers and researched it out and came across your site -Stop Art Scams. Its upsetting that these people prey on artists- who have made a career scraping away an existence for their art. Whoever this is I regard them as pond scum.
Thanks for your efforts,
Holly

Sender: mackerelrodrigo@gmail.com
From: Kurt Amelles [kurtamelles@yahoo.es]
Subject: Interested in your work

HelloI
 saw a preview of your work via a friend of mine Nancy Welsh she reside
in New Jersey she a send me a link to a site that previewed your work so
 am writing in request to know if you can direct me to your own personal
 website where i can view more of your work and see if we can reach an
agreement in purchasing some of it.    I am aconstruction
engineer by profession in Madrid Spain am going to be displaying your
work in both my office and resident my friend also tell me  about  your
creative approach to you work and it's creativeness i do not reside in
the England which as been a major concern to me on our to purchase your
piece can you send me images or website to your new work.ThanksKurt

This is a pretty typical "first email" in the scam process. This particular scammer took no effort to format his email properly and it didn't really make sense that someone (just a made up name) sent a link that showed the work but at the end he is asking for images or the website.

Fortunately, this artist followed her instinct to google the guy's name and of course, we've reported on this before.

Scam Email: Ladd Smith

This is a pretty classic "first email" from a scammer. The IP path was routed through Yahoo but seems to have originated from wanadoo.fr.

From: Ladd Smith [smithladd@yahoo.com]
Subject: ORDER

Hello there,
I will like to place an order for art piece to my location in Malaysia, kindly let me know if you can charge directly on my credit card(U.S. funds) for payment.
I have a shipper who can also get the order to my doorstep in Malaysia.
Await your timely reply.
Thank you.
Ladd

Scam Email: Just Mr. James

This scammer felt no need to provide a last name anywhere. Just a mysterious "Mr. James".

Return-path: [www@server.dream-fusion.net]
Subject: mail order
From: james [makjames101@gmail.com]
Reply-To: makjames101@gmail.com

Good day,

We browsed through your web page and we are interested in ordering some of your products,we are located in Finland,we will like to know if you have the items in stocks,so kindly get back to me with the right contact person email,phone # and confirmation of website so that we can place my order quickly, and i want to know if you have your own personal shipper or can the order be picked up at your store,please advise so that we can proceed by going ahead to place the order.

Regards
Purchasing Manager
Mr James

Scam Email: Cadella Joel

Another lazy scammer, nothing is personalized, sent to an "undisclosed" list, and really - what the heck name is that at the end of this letter?

Subject: Inquiry
To: undisclosed recipients:
Return-path: [jedidiahboutique@yahoo.com]
From: jedidiah boutique [jedidiahboutique@yahoo.com]
Reply-To: jedidiah.boutique@btinternet.com

Jedidiah Boutique and
Show Room.
Plateau 14 Wesintress Rue B 774
Abidjan
Ivory-Coast,
Tel:00225-670-22-414

Dear Sales,

 I am interested in your
product, kindly reply back if you are interested in selling to my company and i
will be glad to be one of your best customers . My prefered method of payment is by my credit card  you
can ship to my location via USPS,or FEDEX let me know if you are willing to
sell.

Regards,
Cadella
Joel