Scam Email: Cynthia Roberts

Hi Kathleen

Thank goodness I found your website! I had a bad feeling about this whole situation and I was obviously right. I feel such a fool to have been taken in by them.

I am now going to cease all communication.

Thank you for caring and I feel as angry as you do. I have sent all info to the police fraud site. Let's hope they can be caught and stopped for good.

I've included the email thread for you to read.

Kindest regards
Caroline
------------/

Hello Caroline,

I appreciate you keeping in touch, following on my previous email, please be informed that i would be happy to wait until the cheque has duly cleared your account before pick up arrangement commences. Since the shipper will be picking up other items for me which i have already paid for before i got message about my son's illness in Canada, else i would have paid you in cash via royal mail. Do let me know if i should issue out the cheque as proposed, so i can do that today or first thing tomorrow morning.

Respectfully,
Cynthia

Subject: Fwd: Artwork
From:
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 13:19:52 +0000
To: robert_c734@hotmail.com


Hi Cynthia
Following my last email, my Accountant has expressed concern at my agreement to pass on funds to your Shipper and has asked that you make only the payment to me in the sum of £1050 to cover cost of artwork and that you make payment to your Shipper directly without my involvement.
Please confirm this will be ok
Kind regards
Caroline


Begin forwarded message:

From: Roberts Cynthia (robert_c734@hotmail.com)
Date: 15 December 2013 13:42:01 GMT
To:
Subject: RE:

Dear Caroline,

Thanks for your response to my purchase inquiry. I love your pieces of art and must tell you , you are good at what you do. I am collecting these items for personal use as I am an avid fan of art paintings ,sculptures and antiques.

Presently i am out of town spending sometime with my son who was recently diagnosed with Cancer but there shouldn't be a worry as my shipper can come for pickup from you after payment has been finalized and fully cleared your account. I will be sending payment in form of a certified cheque of £2,000 and will need your mailing address where the cheque can be mailed to. You are to deduct the cost of your piece and disburse the rest to my shipper who will handle the pickup of the piece(s) as well as my other furniture's for my newly acquired property in Kent.

For invoicing/filing purposes, my contact information is as detailed below:

2405 Queen st E,
Toronto, Ontario.
M4E 1H6.

I look forward to doing business with you.
Kind Regards,
Cynthia Roberts.

From:
To: robert_c734@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: RE:
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 08:01:26 +0000

Hi Cynthia

Thank you very much for your interest in my work.  I have just recently sold "The Long Day", however the rest are still currently available.  A couple of the pieces are lodged with a local gallery, but I can retrieve them for you quickly.

The costs on the SAA website are for mounted pieces only, therefore, please see below the mounted and framed prices as you have requested.  The frames are not all the same, they are either white or silver and are chosen to suit the subject matter:

Mounted & Framed
LANDCRAFT                         £200
LITTLE HOUSE                      £150

Please let me know if you would like to go ahead with these purchases and when you would like to collect them, so that I can make arrangements to retrieve the relevant pieces from the Gallery.

I would prefer if you could pay directly into my bank account on-line, if possible?

I look forward to hearing from you again soon and thank you once again for your interest and support.

Kind regards

Caroline

----- Original Message -----
From: Roberts Cynthia (robert_c734@hotmail.com)
To:
Sent: Sunday, December 15, 2013 1:13 AM
Subject: RE:

Landcraft
Little House

Hello Caroline, Please let me know if the above piece(s) are still available. Calculate the total cost mounted & framed and let me know as quickly as you can, Payment will be by certified cheque, i can make arrangements for pick-up once payment clears your bank if that's okay with you.

Best Regards,
Cynthia Roberts.

Scam Email: Luiza Kwiatkowska

Scammers are not above grabbing the names of real people online and using them for their own criminal purposes. Also notice how, in the below scam, the scammer begins by asking about PayPal (thus trying to establish some credibility with their victim) but then switches, using some trumped up story, to what they actually need for their scam to succeed: a wire transfer via some service like Western Union or MoneyGram.


Hello Kathleen,

Well, it's the first time it's happening to me. I'm glad I found your site, thank you for doing this. The name was not on your list, it's luiza kwiatkowska, e-mail luiza.kwiatkowska@o2.pl. When I look for the name on the internet it seems to be a renowned graphic designer and illustrator in Poland but I'm pretty sure it's not her...

She contacted me via a website where I sell some artwork. In her profile at that site, she mentions she
is from Miami.

Here's the conversation (and LOTS of warning signs). I replied to her first e-mail only, to see if she was serious. And then her second e-mail just raised some major suspicions and was just plainly ridiculous. I  didn't reply to her and I'm going to delete the e-mail :

*luizakwiatkows*

offers 600 CAD on your artwork Modèle au corbeau

Hello,
I have read very about your item.
Am okay with the condition of the item. But before i proceed with the payment i will to ask about the item..
I have a private shipping company that will come for the pick up of the item in your location

Do you accept PAYPAL as you mode of payment?
What is the final price of the item without shipping cost?
Get back to me in my private mail at : luiza.kwiatkowska@o2.pl
Best Regards


My reply :

Hello,

> I have a private shipping company that will come for the pick up the item in your location

We are in Montreal, Canada. I can have the painting available at my usual gallery here at a time of your choice.

> Do you accept PAYPAL as you mode of payment?

Yes, you may address the payment to [paypal e-mail]

> What is the final price of the item without shipping cost?

600$ is fine.

Thank you for your interest.


Hello
I'm about to make the payments when i had this little problem with the picking up agent of the Item,I think you remember what i said in my previous mail that I'm working presently on the sea,so i tried to secure  booking with my pick up agent,but they asked me to pay first before they can make the booking, and they only accept Western Union Money Transfer for payments and they don't accept PayPal or bank transfer, So i tried to send the money online but it's not going through and i am  on the sea, there is no way i can find a western union agent to make the transfer to my pick up agent, so i wanted to ask if it will be OK for me to include my pick up agent's fees together with your payments through PayPal,So you will help me wire the pick up fee to them via western Union Money Transfer immediately i pay you,i don't mean to bother you I'm sure you understand that I'm presently on the sea and there is nothing i can do to that,The bottom line is after I have made the payments via PayPal,you will help me wire my pick up agent fee to them through western union money transfer, I just wanted to seek your consent before going ahead with the payments,I will be very happy if my offer is given a favorable consideration,Respond as soon as possible so that i can send out your Payment.
Regards.

Scam Email: Andrew Hembree

Hi Kathleen,
Thank you for doing this.  I received a similar email back in August which is what made me suspicious of this one.  It was a different name, Steve Levitt, but the phrasing was almost word for word the same.  The first one I received is on your list, but this one is not.  In August I did not respond, but this time I wrote back and said I was in contact with the Federal Trade Commission.  It will probably not do any good, but it made me feel better.

Thanks again,
Elizabeth


On Dec 2, 2013, at 5:46 AM, andrew hembree (andrewhembree01@gmail.com) wrote:

Hello,
I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website (piece in subject field above) on my laptop and i guess she likes that piece, I must also say you are doing a great job. I would like to know what inspired that work.
I am very much interested in the purchase to surprise my wife.  Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sale.
Peace and blessings
Andrew