From: Michael Silverberg [academicss003@gmail.com]
Date: May 22, 2012 4:21:33 AM EDT
Subject: Artwork
--
Good day to you over there, My name is Micheal Silverberg I'm from California and my eyes caught this particular work( he inserted here a long url from the artist's website of an image ), i will like to have it for my new apartment this month.please let me know if the piece is available, if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read from you.Regards.
Of course we know what comes next. Some long convoluted story about them moving or being at sea and using a shipper to come get the item and that they will pay via a certified check (or they offer to pay via credit card). The certified check will turn out to be a fake. The credit card will turn out to be stolen and often not reported yet. There is no shipper. And the amount of the payment will be a LOT over the amount owed, asking you the victim to deposit it and "forward" the difference to the shipper via Western Union. Which, of course, is just the scammer at the other end collecting up your good cash and then they can not be traced.
Do not fall for these scam buyers.
I just received from
ReplyDeleteScholz Daniel / schdan965@live.com
this email (below) where he is interested in my artwork. When I replied he VERY quickly answered me and wanted my full name and adresse to pick up the artwork and confirmation of price. And then came a long story about the mooving and travveling and check with my payment together with money for his mover... Don't go for this!!!!!
"Good day to you over there, am Scholz I'm from Brisbane andmy eyes caught this particular work, i will like to have it for my newapartment.please let me know if the piece is available, if yes let me have thedetailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read fromyou.
Greetings. "
The lack of command over the English language was the first clue. An aol search lead to this site and suspicions were confirmed.
ReplyDeleteDear Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for keeping on your site the information about art scams. I found it very informative, particularly the part about how they actually profited from their scams. I (naively, I guess) thought that a check clears after a couple of days and money orders were safe to accept.
I handle the Internet part of the business for an artist friend and received the message you'll find below sent to the e-mail address listed on her website. You already list the guy's name, but the e-mail address is different this time. I can't send the e-mail as attachemnt, Yahoo doesn't allow it, but just in case I've copied full headers information as text. The original subject was "Artwork."
Once again, thank you so much and good luck.
Best,
Y
From: Michael Silverberg [mmmoreef@gmail.com]
Subject: Artwork
--
Hi there,
My name is micheal,im from phoenix,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught this particular work(Seagull),will like to have it for my new apartment probably this month.please let me know if the piece is available and if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read from you.
Regards.
Greetings,
ReplyDeleteI saved all the dialogue from Michael Silverberg should anyone need it. Total scam. He showed up in my email the beginning of July. Unfortunately when I emailed him at the end of all the schmoozing, I stated I would need a US Postal cashiers check or Paypal. Somehow, he lost interest. Please, world, be aware. We work too hard at what we do as artists to be abused by some pond scum. Good luck my friends
The very same Michael Silverberg contacted me about a fairly expensive artwork of mine. Without asking was he said he'd pay the price... I caught on to it right away. He's still at it...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the warnings. I can only add that Michael Silverberg is still active and I, too, almost fell for this scam.
ReplyDeleteHe is still out there. I got one from him today and found your blog after googling his name. Any more, I tell them upfront I will only do paypal and they never answer. I always google their names!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the warning!I got the same old lyrics:
ReplyDeleteHi there,
My name is Michael,im from phoenix,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught this particular work(A NURSERY TALE),will like to have it for my new apartment probably this month.please let me know if the piece is available and if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read from you.
Regards.
Yes, have received several emails that are 'variations on a theme'. They're pretty easy to spot. If something seems like a scam, I'll just check the location of the IP address - normally doesn't match where they say they're from. Ocassionally, if I've been off-guard and had my time used up, or am feeling particularly in a bad mood about it, I use their email and register it with all the spam emailers I get - so their in box gets flooded! ;)
ReplyDeleteHi;
ReplyDeleteI just received this email
Michael Bennett
To Me
Nov 6 at 11:25 PM
--
Hi there,my name is michael im an art collector from Connecticut,was
browsing through the
internet and my eyes caught this particular work on the subject,will like
to have it for my new apartment probably this month.please let me know if
the piece is available and if yes let me have the detailed price and more
information about it.kindly reply me with your phone#.
Regards.
Now he is Michel Bennett from Connecticut
From what I can tell he is picking people off of Facebook. I recently applied to an artist group on FaceBook and started getting messages from this same guy mmmoreef@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteHis email:
I am Michael an art collector,i came across your website through an
online advert.I
would like you to send me an image or links of your available artworks.
Kindly reply with your phone#.
Will await your message
Regards
I am not going to reply thanks to your message board and will place that email as junk mail.
Thank you for keeping people informed.
Hope this message finds you well,im Michael from Texas,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHi
look likes this person is sil activ !! Email from this morning ! Thank you that this this site exist !!! interesting what I read at this page !! Thank everybody !!
26.12.2014
Michael Kleemann
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.
Michael.
I just received this email today. It appears to be a nearly perfect match to yours:
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Michael from Ca,was browsing through
the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm interested
in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within my new
house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Michael
I just received the same email for the same scam:
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm
interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my
new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Daniel
I got this exact same email today. They must think I came down in the last rain shower.
DeleteI see I am not alone :) Smelt a rat and googled it. Thanks for sharing and confirming! Got this from Michael Kleemann - mmmoreef@gmail.com
ReplyDelete--
Hope this message finds you well,im Michael from Texas,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm
interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within
my new house to make it unique and beautiful.Can I have few images of
your recent works?I won't mind having your main website so as to
explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number. Michael.
Wow...this thread started in 2012, and this scammer is still at it 3 years later. Here is the one I got today from Dennis Morgan :
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Dennis from Washington DC,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.
Dennis
And I got an almost identical one yesterday from a "Daniel Lachlan" at danlachh01@gmail.com. Thanks so much for keeping this thread up here. I wasn't sure about the email and googled it.
ReplyDelete"--
Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm
interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my
new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.Daniel"
My husband also received an email from "Daniel Lachlan"
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI received the same scam email from aka "Daniel Lachlan", email address: danlachh01@gmail.com. Same text.
Hope this message finds you well,I'm Thomas from new york,was browsing
ReplyDeletethrough the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,I'm
interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my
new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
bye
danlachh01@gmail.com, daniel lachlan emailed me too about my "works" wanted my website and cell number also.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this very useful and important info. I got an email from Daniel Lachlan danlachh01@gmail.com late September asking for large prints of two of my photos. Something about his poor English (coupled with his very Anglo name) and the mention of him moving to Turkey made me suspicious so I googled his name at that time and nothing came up; the recent mentions here on this site of Daniel Lachlan were not yet posted then.
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me, two things conspired to save me from his scamming, which I nearly fell for. First was that the images he requested were captured years ago on film and I was not sure they would upsize well to the large dimension he requested. And second was that when he first emailed I was just heading out of town on an extended photoshoot where I had no internet access. So I told him he would have to wait until I got back and that on my return I would make a test print of a small section of each image to see if they would work at the large size he requested. These two things together delayed my confirming any sale to him until after the name Daniel Lachlan came up on your site here.
He kept insisting repeatedly on getting my address and cell number so he could send payment even though I had not yet determined if the images he wanted would even print OK. That should have been a clue but I just ignored the uneasiness I was starting to feel.
He kept pushing to know the final price so he could send a certified check. I told him numerous times I needed his mailing address where I would be sending the prints so I could determine what shipping cost to add to the print cost; he kept resisting giving me his address yet insisting on me giving him mine. I just brushed that off as misunderstanding based on his poor English.
Eventually he explained there would be no shipping costs as his movers would pick up the prints directly from me. I thought that was strange – why would his movers come all the way to the other side of the country from where he claimed he lived just to pick up two prints? And really I was not at all comfortable with the idea of some strange “mover” coming to my studio just like that. But I still was not pegging him as a scammer. Boy, am I naïve!
So I went ahead and made the test prints yesterday. Very fortunately and as I had suspected, the image quality was not up to my preferred standard. But non-photographers are not as picky as I am, so I asked him to give me his mailing address so I could send him the small test proofs (at no charge) so he could judge for himself if he wanted me to proceed with making the final large prints.
When he responded that his mover would come by and examine the test prints to determine if they were good enough, then I really started to smell a rat. Who sends a “mover” to do that?! So I googled his name and email address again just now and thankfully came up with your posts.
I was just about to pull the plug on any transaction with him anyway because all the annoying emailing back and forth and his general evasiveness were wearing me down and taking too much of my time to make it worth the income from the sale. But it never occurred to me that he was planning to scam me out of money until I read the posts on this site. So thank you thank you thank you.
Had he selected different images that would have printed well at the size he wanted, I would have made the prints and proceeded with “the sale”, though I would have insisted on waiting for the check to clear before handing over the prints to his “movers”.
Yup, paypal is the way to go!
Here's Daniel, with a new home in Maryland!
ReplyDeleteFrom: Daniel Lachlan (danlachh01@outlook.com)
Sent: Tue 11/17/15 10:44 AM
To:
Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my
new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Thanks ... I just got today Dec. 9th
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
From Daniel Lachlan
ReplyDeleteope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm
interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.Daniel
I just got one from "Daniel Lachlan". Glad I went to this site! I was about to respond to him.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of offering his email address up to the junk mailers.
ReplyDeleteWhen a friend showed me an email she got, I knew this was a scam. She wanted to know how to handle it, so I banged this out for her reply.
Hi Bill,
I'm thrilled to get more of my work into South Africa, and as you know I enjoy a fine international reputation. One way that I've achieved this status is to be open to negotiations from galleries and collectors world-wide. The piece that you are interested in is currently in storage after a lengthy show in New York City, at Douglas Beasley Fine Arts, LLC on 19th Street. Mr. Beasley is a close personal friend as well as my agent, and he handles all of my international transactions. He works extensively with Aspiring Art Logistics of Johannesburg in South Africa. They pack, insure and ship works globally, and they are the only concern he trusts and works with for shipping to the African Continent. How fortunate that you're relocation will find you there. What city are you moving to? I've forwarded your email to Douglas, and he is excited, as I am, to move Retracing Her Steps into your home.
Because we have such a close relationship, Mr. Beasley is willing to forego his commission fees, and charge only my base price plus the handling, insurance, and shipping costs. Please understand that he is doing you an enormous favor, and in order for you to show your good faith (which I am certain you are full of), he is expecting you to provide a down payment of only 25% of the combined total on the art work, the shipping and export fees. Travelex Currency #7404 is the wire transfer agency that he works with for international sales. So if you would wire $1875 USD to that location in care of Douglas Beasley, you can rest assured that your shipping agent will not need to be bothered with the collection of my art work. Once Mr. Beasley has your good faith down payment, he will contract ArteMix to proceed.
ArteMix, the professional New York based art handling company, is standing by to move your new piece from Beasley Fine Arts to the shipping pier 137 in Brooklyn where it will be consigned to Aspiring Art Logistics. The work will leave for Johannesburg upon completion of your payment, a balance reflecting $5625.00 USD. This covers my original base price of $3000.00 plus the necessary transfer fees of $4500.00. As I said, Aspiring Art Logistics will take care of the particularly complex and expensive import duties and paperwork required by the government of South Africa.
I would be happy to put you in direct contact with Mr. Beasley, though he is currently in China on an art buying excursion. I sense your urgency, so Mr. Beasley's trusted associate, Miss Kumiko Asamoto will collect your wire transfer in his absence. Please notify me when you have done that. Let me know if you need to communicate with him, and I'll be sure to connect the two of you together. At the very least, he will need to have your final address in South Africa.
Once again, Bill, I couldn't be more pleased that you have found value in my artwork, and hope that you learn to live comfortably with it. I pray that these arrangements are satisfactory to you, and may God be your judge.
Cordially,
LOVE the last poster's reply email to the scammers! This is becoming quite common for artists. Daniel Lachlan is the name latest crook is using and here's the latest version:
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Just received today:
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Just got the famous "Daniel Lachlan" message---definitely a scam.
ReplyDeleteI googled him after seeing he wanted me to reply with my cell phone #.
I got this too, from Daniel Lachlan dannnslanhkkan1@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteI too got the"Daniel Lachian" message - I'd love to get this impostor and rip his balls off and stuff them down his throat!
ReplyDeleteIn the past week, I have also received requests to buy my art from Daniel Lachlan. He is using the same approach as all of the above writers. He claims he wants my art for his new home in turkey.
ReplyDeletesame deal.....
ReplyDelete"Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast.
www.avast.com"
scam, scam, scam
Daniel Lachlan
ReplyDeleteFeb 22 (2 days ago)
Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
received the same letter, but now “Daniel” is from Hawaii, busy guy!
ReplyDeleteMy Daniel was from Hawaii He even responded with specifics when I emailed him Glad I checked.
ReplyDeleteI too have received an inquiry from "Daniel Lachlan" - I did reply, and my reply was simple, and in case this is a family thread, all I will say is, my email reply was four words: "F Y, A H" - and hopefully, that should be that.
ReplyDeletePS - thanks for this page. Confirmed my 90% doubt.
This today from Daniel. Busy busy bee. "Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Hawaii,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteCan I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel"
Hi all, glad I found this blog! Got this today from good ol' Daniel Lachian!
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Hawaii,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Thanks for keeping this information circulating.
Email 4-11-16 from Daniel Lachlan
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Hawaii,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell
Emails from January 2016 to 04/13/16
ReplyDeleteHi All,
About every two months I get at least one of these emails. All are almost identical but with different names and/or locations. So far I have received one from a Whitney Cason, Jada Nichols and two from Daniel Lachlan (from Maryland and Hawaii). The email goes like this (with a few variations on the others):
"Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel"
I responded advising that my work is sold exclusively through another site and gave him the URL.
His response was that he wanted to buy them direct from me not from the other site. (Not happening. I suspected a scam when I received the first one.)
Thanks for having a site like this where artists can be aware of the art scams out there.
Keep up the great job Micheal Silverberg! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI got the "Daniel" (danlachh03@outlook.com) request this morning.
Are there still enough naive people out there falling for this kind of idiotic scam? Also, how did artists got on the scammers's radar? They must be really desperate.
FYI to scammers: the vast majority of artists are not the wealthiest nor the stupidest people around.
Anyway, never reply to an email that is not directly addressed to your e-mail and always google everyone prior to begin communication with a stranger.
And hey, any good–hearted hacker who wants to help the art community please put this "Daniel Lachlan(s)" out of business once and for all.
Cheers
I got one from Daniel Lachlan at mrknumb@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteHis message:
Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Maryland,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Artists are just one of many segments scammers target. Nothing special about them except they can sometimes be more trusting in human nature, but one can never over generalize.
ReplyDeleteIt is so common now for artists to sell their work online that they become more of a target but scammers will go after anyone selling anything online, widgets - it doesn't matter.
I am just glad for each and every person who avoids an online scam because they googled it first and found others already reporting it. It's why I started the blog.
New pseudos for the same scammers. The e-mails are the same:
ReplyDelete"Hope this message finds you well,im thomas from Ontario,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.
Thomas."
thomasrice1@outlook.com
similar e-mail received from: kirksheltonaid@outlook.com
I just got one from Daniel Lachlan. It just didn't make sense.
ReplyDeletePaypal is my friend with any such transactions.
Daniel Lachlan now lives in Honolulu, but he's moving to Turkey. I offered to sell him my piece for $38,000,000. We'll see what he does. BTW, he now uses the address dannylanny13@gmail.com as well.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Lachlan strikes again, or at least tried... I've had several email exchanges and then came the shipper scam thing... which prompted me to look into this a bit further... Thanks for the info posted on this site... That's the end of that one...
ReplyDeleteFrom: dannylanny13@gmail.com
"Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Hawaii,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel"
I just received the email below and goggled the name. I came to your site. Thank you for your blog which verifies that this is totally a scam. I suspected something was up when there was no contact information from the sender and a request for my cell.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Lachlan
6:23 AM (1 hour ago)
Hope this message finds you well,im Daniel from Hawaii,was browsing through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works,i'm interested in purchasing some of your works for some spaces within my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?i won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with your cell number.Daniel
Well, here we are in October 2016 and it's still going on...
ReplyDeleteLisa Nichols
Good morning, i hope you had a good sleep. My Name is Jada Nichols, I saw your Art advert on one of my search and i don't Know if you have any recent artwork available for sale? Can I have few images of your recent art works? I won't mind having your main website so as to explore more into your works. kindly reply back as soon as possible.
Jada N
I received this email today from buwidefreeint@outlook.com:
ReplyDeleteHi,
My name is Daniel from LA,am interested in purchasing some artworks from you for the beautification of my newly acquired house in Cape town,South Africa.
Could you share with me some of your recent works that are not yet posted on your website or direct me to your website where i can find piece that will be good for my House and add more values to my humble self.
I hope to hear back from you.
Daniel.
Not knowing it was a scam i replied asking for more information and where he had seen my work.
Then I received this message from dannylanny13@gmail.com:
Good to hear back from you,i actually got to know your works on facebook.
Kindly send few of your original works that are available for sale.
Daniel.
I just got suspicious and started googling and discovered this page. last post is from 2016 and wanted to add that this scammer is still active in 2017
Thanks. Very useful. I received an email (16.09.2017) from this Daniel Lachlan. Same text. Now he has an appartment in Cape town!
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling it was a scam, but now I know!