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Monday, March 14, 2011

Scam Email: Robin Map

This scam is typical in all it's content but what was newsworthy about it was the artist who forwarded it to me said, "I went on Skype with him (allegedly for him to prove he was real) but he was Nigerian, typing to lots of other people at once, and very shady, and would only deal with cheques and to get his own people to 'ship' the work. Total fraudster! Beware!" They got the scamster on Skype! I am wondering if they can maintain their untraceability that way. I'm sure they've thought that all through but I think it is a scary escalation in the scam world to now be able to SEE what these cockroaches look like!! Yuck. Email this scammer used was robinmap1@yahoo.com.

Hello,

I go through your art work and i really like your creative, due to this i really have the interest in buying this your work, so kindly email me the price of it and the info about the work because i
really like it and also my wife also have an interest in it as well because we saw it together from your web and we want to buy it.

Hope to read from you,

Robin.

32 comments:

  1. Okay, I have since found out this "Robin Map" is pitching a Skype conversation to make himself seem more legitimate to potential victims, but it is texting on Skype only, at least for this artist, who just forwarded me the email.

    The scammer's first email was just like above. The second email looked like this:

    Hi Peter,

    Thanks alot for the response about the price, the price is ok by
    me,meanwhile am from Netherlands.

    The payment will be arrange through cheque, And i will make an arrangement
    for the pickup myself by appointing a shipping company that will come
    for the pickup at your location or in your
    studio anywhere the work is locate, Meanwhile you will be the one who
    will arrange the payment of sending the
    cheque and the insurance of the cheque to your address that you will
    give to me due to some reason which i will
    explain to you..

    Kindly email me the info below.....

    Name on cheue;
    Address;
    Phone number;.

    Once i recieve the info above along with the sending of the cheque
    fees then the cheque will be send out to you.

    Also i have a skype id we can communicate through skype and call
    ourself for easy communication and for more
    explanation.

    Here is my skype id robinmap i will be waiting for your skype id as
    well and if you don't have try and create one
    by going to www.skype.com and download skype and register with them
    then after that email me your skype id.

    Hope to read from you,
    Robin.

    and this is his third email where he reminds his intended victim of the crux of the scam - that the check will be for more than what is owed and the victim will forward the difference on to the shipper (who doesn't exist - it is just the scammer at the other end of Western Union):

    Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:22:23 +0100
    Subject: Re: Transaction begins.
    From: robinmap1@gmail.com
    To:

    Peter,

    I have receive the info and i will definately work things out in other
    to send out the cheque to you.

    Meanwhil i will be waiting for you on skype in the evening time so we
    can talk and communicate.

    The one i want is the three part photographic work, and also have it
    in mind as i have already informed you that i will include the
    shipment fees for pickup of the piece on the cheque that i will send
    to you which you will transfer the shipment fees i include on the
    cheque to the shipper when the cheque arrive.

    Hope to read from you,

    Robin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've had the same guy recently, he's calling himself Frederic Map now...

      Delete
    2. Its Frederic for me too... Ignored him/her/it now.

      Delete
  2. The artist just sent me the actual Skype transcript:

    19:59
    i will appoint a shippin company that will
    come for the pickup myself

    20:00
    and also i will include the shipment fees
    for the pickup which you will transfer the shipper i appoint for the pick up in
    other for them to come for the pick up at your studio or your location

    20:02
    ok

    20:02
    pls be written

    20:02
    am not clearly hearing you

    Peter 20:02
    no problem will change to text

    robinmap 20:03
    i
    found your work through my searchiing on google me and my wife together

    Peter 20:03
    what were you searching for?

    robinmap 20:04
    through google

    Peter 20:05
    ok. So if you could send me through a
    screen shot of the work. I'll busy myself with making it

    robinmap 20:06
    you mean what i want you to draw or what?

    Peter 20:07
    no do a print screen

    robinmap 20:07
    then what do you want me to send now

    20:07
    i don't get you

    Peter 20:09
    you have sent me a link to my site of the
    work that you would like to purchase. I want to make sure that the work that I
    am making is the work that you have seen on my website as I often update the
    site.

    20:09
    Perhaps it would be easier if I sent you
    through a jpg of the image

    robinmap 20:10
    ok do so

    20:10
    and i will now mail you back the one i want

    Peter 20:10
    will send through now

    robinmap 20:11
    send it to my mail not here

    Peter 20:11
    will do

    robinmap 20:11
    include there price along

    Peter 20:11
    yes

    robinmap 20:12
    am waiting

    Peter 20:12
    have to grab it. Give me a second

    20:14
    sent

    ReplyDelete
  3. I also got this email, and only stopped responding to him after I googled his email address and found this site, so thank you so much for putting all this information up here, it was so helpful to me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My name is Susan. I received an email from a certain "Robin Map" wishing to buy one of my sculptures, asking to pay by cheque and wishing to have the work collected by his own shippers. I also spoke to this person on Skype who said he was from the Netherlands but did not speak Dutch so I checked his name amongst the spammers.

    I had heard of this type of fraud by nigerians and the voice I spoke too gave me this impression.

    Let others know of this. All the best Susan

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for leaving me private. The person seems to be from Dubai and not Nigeria. I wish to see where it leads if anywhere and will let you know. Leave me private until that moment

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for your posts. I just received such an email. This time from robinmap@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for commenting on Robin Map. I, too, rec'd an email. I told him that I do refund money for shippers and would have to ship myself. I also told him it would take 2 months before shipping to make sure the check cleared. I thought that would be the end of hearing from him, but alas, he keeps saying he'll send the "cheque".BTW, checks are rarely used now. This is a scam. Again, thanks for making note. They are getting clever.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi, I received an email the other day requesting pieces of art work, all from thomas and robin mat of den haag netherlands, if it wasn't for my girlfriend I wood have continued with this transaction, but after googling the name I was brought to this web site warning me of potential scammers, thanks for the heads up, this is all new to me. Kind Regards Joe

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've been emailed with the exact same text in the emails shown above - I felt suspicious of his odd language, and slightly impolite/aggressive demand for me to send him my details, so I googled Robin Map and found this site - thanks so much!! tell everyone you know.


    Is anyone able to explain how he actually makes the money, I'm still a bit confused by the process.

    Paypal is the way forward when accepting money from buyers of your work. You can generate and invoice which they can pay directly (no checks) and keep yourself safe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The crux of these scam is always this: they will at some point ask you to forward an overpayment on what they owe to the shipper, usually explaining they are paying you and the shipper in one payment. If they send a check, it will be fake and if you go ahead and forward the "difference" (usually several thousands dollars), your money is the only good money in the equation. They will always ask it be forwarded via Western Union and there is no shipper, it is just going directly to the scammer and once it is picked up from Western Union, it is untraceable.

    Keep in mind that often scammers will offer to pay by credit card. Typically they are using numbers that have been stolen but are not yet reported so their number will clear as good. But these will always result in a chargeback once the owner of the card realizes their number has been stolen.

    This particular scammer has added that new twist of texting with his potential victims on Skype so that they might feel he is more legitimate. But a scam is a scam.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What is the concensus about using Paypal to invoice a buyer? Do you feel that this is a safe way to receive payments, or have you heard of any Paypal related scams?

    Thanks so much for this fantastic site!

    ReplyDelete
  12. For the most part, I've heard artists who tell scammers they only use PayPal - for the most part, end up never hearing again from that scammer. But I don't think its foolproof.

    To me, the part of the scam to pay closer attention to is ANY time a "buyer" is requesting *both* of these pieces: using their own shipping company and paying more than what is owed in order to pay that shipper through you, asking you to forward the difference to the shipper via Western Union... this will ALWAYS turn out to be a scam. So just never agree to these terms and never send any money or art under these conditions.

    Sometimes the scammer won't let you know those conditions until after they've sent a check but that's okay because you still haven't lost anything. In most cases, they do mention about the third party shipper before they send a check or use a stolen credit card number.

    So, never agree to forward overpayments to a third party shipper via Western Union, check any cheques for validity with your bank where you feel something may not be right BEFORE sending any artwork and you should be okay.

    ReplyDelete
  13. have just received this exact email so he is still trying to trick people. Am very grateful for this warning and blog, it confirmed my suspicions and I stopped all correspondence.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Alastair H , artist, Canada here,
    I felt it was spam from the get-go, his use of english sounded asian, a particular 'pigeon'.
    This time he/she is using Robinmap 1 at ymail.

    However I did respond.... that desire to honor the client...but the number of non-sequiturs in the second email prompted the google search. Yes he wants my skype details, calling himself Terry supposedly in the Netherlands.

    Thanks for this post folks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi all He is now calling himself Peter Map,

    same format of initial email
    this was the last

    Thanks for this blog or whatever it is Kathleen anti-scam samurai


    I really appreciate your response regarding the info about the piece
    and the price Thank you a lot for that.


    Regarding to where i live, am from Netherlands which is the place
    that am staying and living including me and my family, Due to this the
    payment will be through Cheque or Money Oder base on the one that you
    want.


    Once again i will arrange the acqurate shipping company that will
    come for the pickup of the piece where ever is locate due to damagies
    and lost of goods that normally happen now adays, that is the reason
    why i decide to arrange the pick up by my self so that the piece will
    not lost or damage before it arrive to my destination here.


    For the sake of me arranging the shipping company that will come for
    the pick up i will definately provide the shipment fees for the pick
    up on the same cheque or Money oder that i will mail to you.


    Email me the info below in other for the cheque or the money oder to
    be send out to you once i receve the below info.


    Name that will be written on cheque;


    Your Address where the cheque or money order will be mail too;


    Including your Phone Number along;


    Immediately i receive the above info i will email you and notify you
    on when you should be expecting the payment and immediately the
    payment has been send put i will notify you as well in other for you
    to be expecting it and watching out for is arriver.


    I hope you understand my mail if there is any question that you may
    have regarding my arrangement you are welcome to ask any questions,
    also if you don't mind here is my skype user id petermap01 we can use
    skype to communicate with each other by calling our self and by
    chatting and discussing without self, in a case you don't have a skype
    user id yet kindly go to www.skype.com and download it and after
    downloading register with skype and email me your user id so i can add
    you to my skype id.


    I will be waiting for your response,
    Peter.
    Peter.

    ReplyDelete
  16. this scammer is now also using the email address petermap1@gmail.com - i googled it when he first contacted me and no google results came up. it wasn't until a friend who had recieved the exact same email as myself alerted me to this website that i found out it was a scam. i guess they will continue to change identity / email address to make it easier to avoid being found out as a scammer. beware! and thank you for creating this site.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I too got his email, but He called himself fredrick Mark.
    this is his email:


    Good Day,

    Am highly delighted in your art and am interested in the piece of your
    work that i add on the subject.

    Kindly tell me the details of the piece and their price and let me
    know if you still have them available for purchase because am really
    interested in purchasing them.

    I will be waiting for your response,

    Best Regards,

    Frederic.

    I told him that I would send him prints is he paid through paypal in advance.
    Didn't hear back from him

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beware James Fryer!!
    Another name with exactly the same email message!
    He actually uses the titles of several of my pieces of a/w in the title of the email... rather creepy I feel...
    Here's the message... sounds familar!

    From: James Fryer fryercarrington@yahoo.com

    Hello,

    Am highly delighted in your art and am interested in the piece of your work that i add on the subject.

    Kindly tell me the details of the piece and their price and let me know if you still have them available for purchase because am really interested in purchasing them.

    I will be waiting for your response,

    Best Regards,

    Fryer.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hello all,

    I got a message from this James Fryer as well this morning...., exactly the same words

    Take all care!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yes, James Fryer has emailed me too, exactly as above with a list of my work, including several of them which are marked as already sold. Here's the message:


    FROM:
    James Fryer fryercarrington@yahoo.com


    Message flagged Wednesday, 4 April 2012, 21:34
    Hello,

    Am highly delighted in your art and am interested in the piece of your work that i add on the subject.

    Kindly tell me the details of the piece and their price and let me know if you still have them available for purchase because am really interested in purchasing them.

    I will be waiting for your response,

    Best Regards,

    Fryer.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hello,
    I got an email from 'James Fryer' today too! It is exactly the same as the one above, and it listed several of my works in the email title too. The mangled use of English and the way it's written alerted me straight away to the fact that this is a scam. This guy is clearly going to keep trying with different names,or it's different people.
    Beware James Fryer!

    ReplyDelete
  22. My "potential buyer" is also Frederic Map.
    The contact info for "his shipping company of choice" was logisticshipper01@yahoo.com . He is yet to answer my question regarding this ("The shipping arrangement is fine. Do they have an office or a contact person in Israel? Or a website? Seems strange that an international company would only have an email address with Yahoo.) This was what I asked him a few days ago, and now he's probably disappeared, learning of my suspicion.

    His phone number is +44 70 24077239, and this is what I found when I googled this number:

    http://www.data-wales.co.uk/ni_070telnumbers.htm

    ReplyDelete
  23. Add tyler stewart to the list of names being used by scammer..

    ReplyDelete
  24. Please also add Brandon Domergue to the list of scammers - i have received very suspicious emails from him with convoluted instructions for shipping and payment. Once i insisted that all payments must go through Paypal I never heard from him again. He said he was based in Canada. Grrr, this is the second time this has happened to me so this time I knew all the signs to look out for.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hello,

    I am Page Jocelyn from the UK, i came across your items on the advert website and became interested in ordering from you.

    i will like to inquire on the items you have for sale because i will be buying it for my new apartment.

    I will like to see different pictures of the types of Items available and my method of payment is by check.



    Hope to hear back from you soon.


    Regards

    Page Jocelyn

    ReplyDelete
  26. From Italy, this happened to me:

    4 LUGLIO 2014
    Hello,
    I am Page Jocelyn from the UK, i came across your items on the advert website and became interested in ordering from you.
    i will like to inquire on the items you have for sale because i will be buying it for my new apartment.I will like to see different pictures of the types of Items available and my method of payment is by check.
    Hope to hear back from you soon.
    Regards
    Page Jocelyn

    We sent mails until she gave me the adress:

    80, HEAVEN DRIVE,
    ABERDEEN,
    ABERDEENSHIRE,
    AB40 9HE
    UNITED KINGDOM

    Lucky for me I googled it and found this site!!

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thank you so much!
    I wondered large orders.
    The adress was same

    80, HEAVEN DRIVE,
    ABERDEEN,
    ABERDEENSHIRE,
    AB40 9HE
    UNITED KINGDOM

    I got on email Lynette Dixon

    greetings from Finland!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hello, I am in conversation with this man.... Now he is Saly Riding :-)
    Here is his last e-mail:

    Hello,

    After going through the pictures i am okay with the present condition of the Art Work and i am also okay with your price of the items = (€18,200.00)

    Kindly let me have the full details below to issued out the bank check as requested,so that my financial can issued out the payment procedures Asap..


    FULL NAME :
    FULL ADDRESS:
    MOBILE NUMBER:
    TELEPHONE:

    Kindly get Back to me with the Above list of Details requested From you.
    Regards

    80, HEAVEN DRIVE,
    ABERDEEN,
    ABERDEENSHIRE,
    AB40 9HE
    UNITED KINGDOM

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  29. This scam with so called Dixon Lynette has been going on too long. How do we stop these scam artists? Mine was dated July 17, 2016. Thanks so much for this website and everyone's efforts and participation .

    ReplyDelete
  30. I received one as well from Lynette Dixon this time buying an artwork for 'his' wife!

    ReplyDelete