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Sunday, October 7, 2012

Scam Email: Luis Huffman

I've been receiving a bunch of reports on this scam from artists so it was time to add this to the blog so others may be alerted.

It's a pretty standard scam email. Just because they offer to pay by credit card doesn't mean anything. They often use credit cards that are stolen but not yet reported as such, so may "clear" at first but will always result in a chargeback later.

If you receive an email looking like this, it IS a scam and don't spend any more time on it. Delete it and go back to creating art.

p.s. isn't Luis a male name? gotta love when scammers are stupid...unless Luis is gay and got married to a guy...
From: Luis Huffman [ppcsales10100@aol.com]
To:
Subject: Inquiry

Dear,

My name is Luis Huffman, I saw some of your works which i really loved and i will like to purchase them, But i will like to know if you can ship to FIJI ISLAND. I am from Baltimore, Maryland, Got married last year and moved down to Fiji Island with my husband.

In regards to payment do you accept Master credit card. kindly get back to me so i can send you the list of arts i am interested in ordering.

I will await your prompt response,
Sincerely.

Luis Huffman
Baltimore , MD 21244
Tel : (301) 747-6295

15 comments:

  1. i received the same email today, but instead of Luis the name was Mary Harvey. Many thanks for the head ups! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I got one from Mary Harvey today as well. Thanks for this post- it was the only one I found and saved me from a big potential headache!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! i got the EXACT same email today. of course i responded and am awaiting for a reply.

    is there anyplace / anyone we can report this to?

    ReplyDelete
  4. BTW i just noticed you are in SF bay area - mee too! (santa rosa)
    thanks for posting this. i just got a reply back and he wants more info on more works. is there nothing more we can do to squelch this scam?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rebeca, Thanks for writing in, and nice to see you are close by!

    There is nothing really to do, because there is no real crime committed until a victim loses money - and for me, that's too late. If a scammer sends their counterfeit check via USPS, it IS a crime, mail fraud, and you can take the check and the packaging they sent it in and report it to the USPS Postal Inspector. But most scammers know this and send their fake checks some other way.

    Keep reporting these and it helps alert other people.

    Thanks for writing in!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes I got this same one a few days ago.
    They have now been deleted.
    I went to your site Katie Moe, very nice paintings.
    Encaustics is my favorite painting medium although now I am Mostly carving stone.

    David Sywalski

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, David! I love encaustics, but lately I've been playing with other materials as well.

    Glad to see you didn't fall for the Luis Huffman email. Thanks for writing in!

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  8. hi i came back to ask, how did you know this guy was a 'scammer', did you get scammed? did he send you his cc#, or mail you a bum check?

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  9. Rebeca,

    No, I've been helping artists avoid scammers for years, so I'm really good at knowing the clues to look for. I even wrote a book, Top 10 Email Scams, and am now working on a book on scams found on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, eBay, etc.

    After looking at these for so many years, scam emails have a "look" to me. But even having said that, sometimes they are very good and I have to really look at everything before I get a sense it is not real.

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  10. Thanks for the info, and confirmation of what I suspected.

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  11. I got this same email yesterday from Luis Clarkson. Thanks you for posting this!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I also received an email from "Luis Clarkson" this morning. Here was the content:

    "My name is Luis from Baltimore, Maryland. I live in Fiji with my husband. I saw some of your works which i really loved and i will like to purchase them.

    In regards to payment and shipping, Do you accept credit card and can you ship to Fiji Island ?

    I will await your response.

    Luis Clarkson "

    ReplyDelete
  13. Got the same email.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's funny, Mary Harvey of Baltimore who has the same phone number, just moved to Australia and wants to buy some of my wife's art work. I think I'll play along with her game...you know, make her think I'm a sucker...then tell her to go ef herself!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This scam is alive and well, got almost caught up in my self just this week Nov. 12, 2012. Thanks for the tip, glad I looked further before "completing the sale". More importantly, my art work wasn't stolen.

    Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete