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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

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.

18 comments:

  1. Just forwarded you a scam email from "Lisa Wague." Luckily, I decided to Google that rather unusual name, and bingo, found you. If "she" had used a more common name, I'd never have found your site, and probably fallen for it. Phew!

    Thanks again for your help -
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just received an identical email from Lisa Wague. Her phrasing was "off" and decidedly foreign, so I googled her name and found this blog. Can't imagine what they do to make money here... there is no way I would ship artwork to someone before they pay and that payment clears!
    ~Leda

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leda,

    Glad you didn't get caught in it. How they make the money is that they send a check for more than what is owed and ask you to send the difference to the shipper. The check will turn out to be fraudulent (and they count on the banks taking a long time to figure that out, though truthfully banks are much better about it now), there is no shipper - it is just them at the other end of Western Union, collecting your good money.

    Lately, they've also been trying credit cards - which have not yet been reported as stolen (so they clear as good but then later result in a chargeback), but the goal is the same - trying to get you to send your good cash via Western Union to a shipper that doesn't exist and is just them.

    So, again, congrats on not getting caught in this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the info. She is trying hard to scam me as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Kathleen,
    I also nearly got framed by a Yvonne Wague!! She / They send me a vals cheque and the amount òn the cheque was much higher then the price of my artworks. That was a sneaky way to seduce someone. It took the bank six weeks to proces. In those six weeks of waiting they started to manipulate me and pressure me to pay back the difference and a story of shipping-people who already wanted to pick up my artworks, because it would be much more time-saving and efficient, because 'Yvonne Wague' was moving from London to Dublin. After almost 7 week I received a letter from my bank with the message : Suspected Fraude !!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I received an fraud email from KAREN (karren) ROY, says the exact samething you have posted.


    Karren Roy wrote:

    Hello,

    Hope this message found you well; I am so excited to discover these nice artworks on your web link (xxxxxxx) and I will like you to get back with more details if they are still available for purchase including their prices;
    xxxxx
    xxxxx
    Your urgent reply would be appreciated.
    Best Regards,
    Karen.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ANOTHER FRAUD EMAIL

    Greetings,
    Interested in purchasing some piece of beautiful artworks so i will like to know if your art collection can sell internationally to Lithuania and if you are able to accept Credit Card as payment?
    Your swift response with your updated webpage will be much appreciated.
    Sincerely
    Lucy O'Brien

    ReplyDelete
  8. How disappointing! I thought that I had finally found international acclaim through Lucy O'Brien, the Irish-Lithuanian art collector! Thanks for putting this site up, it made quick work of this investigation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, Lucy O'Brien must be busy today because I just got the same email. Seemed suspicious but the aggressive request for a 'swift response' added believability and fed my anxiety. 'Updated webpage', huh?

    Thanks for the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've been talking to Lucy too. Really wondered why someone with an irish name wrote so poorly. Why does she want an updated webpage? Is that part of the scam?


    Hello,
    Good to hear from you I want you to get back to me with the cost of each and shipping cost of the below:

    Untitled
    Oil on Canvas
    18x16"

    =============================================================
    Untitled
    Oil on Masonite
    18x14"

    =============================================================
    Untitled
    Oil on Masonite
    14x11"


    I want you to get back to me with the cost and shipping of the above so that you can have the credit card to run for the payment.
    I will be looking forward to hear from you asap.
    Thanks
    Shipping Address
    Lucy O'Brien
    Konstitucijos Ave. 34, LT-08105,
    Vilnius., Lithuania.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Because scammers send out hundreds of thousands of these at a time, there would be no way they could visit each website and fashion a more personal scam email (though some scammers do use this approach, it's clearly very time-consuming and not efficient for them).

    What seems to be their method is to send a ton of more generic sounding emails first that includes a request for a url of an "updated website" so that if you respond with that - then they have you in the second stage of their scam and they can make additional emails to you much more personal sounding, and reference exact names of pieces from your website.

    But yeah, Lucy O'Brien from Lithuania.... not likely. Poor choice of a fake name on their part. But then, these slime bags are not the brightest batch of slugs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow. Got the same thing today 5/26/2011. Lucy's still at it I guess ! So glad this site exists! Very helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Another from Lucy! Thought it sounded odd, so I Googled and found you. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. THis was my email from Lucy O'Brien, who refused to answer my questions as to where she got my info from which made me suspicious though I did send her some images.....
    Thank you for posting this and confirming my hunch!


    therefore i want you to get them packed.On the shipping,one will have to pay additional fee at the delivery point here in Lithuania because they will never bring to ones house. courier like Fedex, UPS are not worth it here especially USPS all of them are not rendering good service here probably because they already known very well.
    You can contact this courier Mayexpress Freight (mayexpress@indiatimes.com) as well with the weight and cost of the artwork for the shipping and insurance to my address because they ship and deliver safely without one paying any other money before collecting the goods unlike some other courier where it will not be delivered to your address rather you will have to go to their office to pick it up and when you get there you will be told to pay other money before collecting it.
    I will be looking forward to hearing from you asap.
    Thanks
    Shipping Address
    Lucy O'Brien
    Konstitucijos Ave. 34, LT-08105,
    Vilnius., Lithuania.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for posting this. I just rec'd virtually the same e-mail from a "Laura Mat." I always Google a couple of lines from such e-mails, which led to your site. Kudos!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Just received the below email (scam) same address - different name though... Thanks for the post - made it easy to find this scam - name used is: Corwin Hubert

    Hi,
    i will be paying you with a USA master card or visa I am okay with the cost of the two below

    attainment #5 27x27" metal $475
    ===============================================================
    apple blossoms iv 56x32"
    acrylc n canvas framed $650


    therefore i want you to get them packed.On the shipping,one will have to pay additional fee at the delivery point here in Lithuania because they will never bring to ones house. courier like Fedex, UPS are not worth it here especially USPS all of them are not rendering good service here probably because they already known very well.
    You can contact this courier Mayexpress Freight (mayexpress@indiatimes.com) as well with the weight and cost of the artwork for the shipping and insurance to my address because they ship and deliver safely without one paying any other money before collecting the goods unlike some other courier where it will not be delivered to your address rather you will have to go to their office to pick it up and when you get there you will be told to pay other money before collecting it.
    I will be looking forward to hearing from you asap.
    Thanks
    Shipping Address
    Corwin Hubert
    Konstitucijos Ave. 34, LT-08105,
    Vilnius., Lithuania.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The name they are using now is Nevis Feldman. Thank you for the warning about this scam.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yvonne Wague is still on LinkdIn. I warned them but they can not do anything. At least if its the very same Yvonne Wague. She appears in the list: 'People you may know' on LinkdIn, which I find unsettling.

    ReplyDelete