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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Scam Email: Xena Modrich

At first I thought this scammer was going to take the Xena Warrior Princess route. Their fake name generator really has some weird combinations. Everything else about this is pretty standard. Of course, a REAL art buyer would know exactly which pieces they are interested in and wouldn't be outlining the payment methods on the first email contact. A scammer with a stolen credit card will also never have the card's billing address - which is why they will have some story about "moving".

If you ever get one of these stolen numbers, do the card owner a favor and report it to the credit card company and at least take that one number out of circulation.

From: Xena Modrich [xen327modrich@rocketmail.com]
Date: June 10, 2012 1:55:06 AM PDT
Subject: Inquiry
Reply-To: Xena Modrich [xen327modrich@rocketmail.com]

Hello,
I am emailing to inquire about availability of artwork for sale in 
your inventory and if you are able to process Visa and Master Card 
Number/Expiry date/Cvv as payment. Let me know so that i can 
communicate with you on the artworks that interest me,you can also 
indicate to me which of the arts are sold and which are available on 
your website. my address is 37, Tigne Street, Sliema. SLM 3141  Malta
I will be looking forward to reading from you.
Best
Xena

16 comments:

  1. Thanx for posting this. Here's my copy of the EXACT SAME email as of 6/13/12:

    from: Frenza Hollis [f_hollis3368@rocketmail.com]

    Hello,
    I am emailing to inquire about availability of artwork for sale in your gallery and if you are able to process Visa and Master Card Number/Expiry date/Cvv as payment. Let me know so that i can communicate with you on the artworks that interest me,you can also indicate to me which of the arts are sold and which are available on your website. my address is 37, Tigne Street, Sliema. SLM 3141 Malta
    I will be looking forward to reading from you.
    Best
    Frenza

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I just opened this up and responded as I was new to an artsite and had just posted a few photos to it last night:

    Frenza Hollis

    3:12 AM (5 hours ago)


    Hello,
    I am emailing to inquire about availability of artwork for sale in your gallery and if you are able to process Visa and Master Card Number/Expiry date/Cvv as payment. Let me know so that i can communicate with you on the artworks that interest me,you can also indicate to me which of the arts are sold and which are available on your website. my address is 22, Shengen Street, Orion PSY 24857 Dominica
    I will be looking forward to reading from you.
    Best

    Should I report this to someone? I emailed back - stupidly!

    ReplyDelete
  3. If they are a registered member of that site as well, you can report it to them so they can delete their membership, but if they are not a member, there is not much to do now but ignore any further communication. They will write back and take the scam to the next step but you don't have to write back. Not even to tell them you know its a scam. Just ignore their emails now as you would spam.

    Glad to hear you won't be caught in their scam. Thanks for writing in and sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We just got this exact e-mail from Frenza Hollis, we are an art publishing business and they must have gotten our e-mails from our website. Thank you for posting this as a scam, we may have had to learn the hard way, because we do get legitimate inquiries from other countries occasionally.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That makes my day. I don't want people to learn the hard way. And I love LOVE reducing the success rate of any scammer.

    Glad you didn't get caught in it! Thanks for writing in and sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there, I have received emails from this person as well. Thank goodness I googled the email name and saw this. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. Frenza is also busy procuring books for her private school's library.
    Received this 06/25/2012:

    Good day,
    I am a librarian in a private school library here in Malta and we are looking at equipping our Library with books of diverse writers selected randomly in order to lecture and broaden our students horizon on education when they come to the library to study and read books.

    We will be glad if you can assist us with selecting the books randomly from your inventory and we shall make payment immediately with a check. We intend to spend $700 on the purchase of the books.
    We anticipate your kindness in assisting us with the purchase.

    Sincerely
    Frenza

    f_hollis3368@rocketmail.com
    ===========

    Seller beware !

    ReplyDelete
  8. I received the same scam message from "Ethan Simon, ethan Simon " see below:

    "Hello,
    I am emailing to inquire about availability of artwork for sale in
    your gallery, if you can ship international and also if you are able
    to process Electronically Visa and Master Card Number/Expiry date/Cvv
    as payment. Let me know so that i can communicate with you on the
    artworks that interest me,you can also indicate to me which of the
    arts are sold and which are available on your website.
    I will be looking forward to reading from you.
    Sincerely
    Ethan S"

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have gotten this same email as well.. After a few email exchanges I had enough info to google him... ie address. That is how I learned he was using the same M.O. to contact numerous artist
    Here is a copy of last email.
    Hi,
    I am okay with the cost of all therefore i want you to get them packed
    On the shipping one will have to pay additional fee at the delivery
    point here in Isle of Man 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 www.parcelreadycourier.co.uk
    (parcelreadycourier@hushmail.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
    15 Buttermere Drive
    Lakeside Gardens Onchan
    Isle of Man IM3 2ED

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have also gotten it,
    from : ethan Simon

    Hi,
    I am okay with the cost of these two for now therefore i want you to
    get them packed

    (deleted)


    On the shipping one will have to pay additional fee at the delivery
    point here in Isle of Man 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 www.parcelreadycourier.co.uk
    (parcelreadycourier@hushmail.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
    15 Buttermere Drive
    Lakeside Gardens Onchan
    Isle of Man IM3 2ED

    ReplyDelete
  11. exact same thing, such a disappointment

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi guys.
    I am writing with some sad news.
    As I am a member of an established coop gallery in New York City.
    For 37 years our gallery was fighting scam and fraud with a " broom of justice" in the past I personally went to police on several accessions.
    But this time they got us.
    I didn't handle the sell personally.
    As of today:
    1. Credit Card providers are taking back 10,000$ for fraud purchases made last week.
    2. Money wired to Parcel Ready Courier £1,837 are gone. And the bank refuses to trace any whereabouts.
    I will get on this case with the fraud department at our Bank, and credit card providers, But in short. It's a water under the bridge.
    Something needs to be done to this stinking as...l

    ReplyDelete
  13. It always breaks my heart when I hear a scammer has successfully stolen money from someone. Yes, report it - I think europe now has their own version of the ic3.gov we have in the U.S. Find that online and report it. Report it to the police and any other agency that will listen. I'm sorry for your loss. Scammers are like cockroaches - we have to shine a brighter light on them. They scurry from the light.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Same thing here, Parcelreadycourier/Kattie Dawnnie is a scam. Banks are not doing anything to stop them.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I received the same e-mail but with the name Sarah Archer. Googling the e-mail address, which was ethan simon, I found your information. Thank you so much! Amazing.

    ReplyDelete