From: Alice Drew [alicedrew1@live.com]
Subject: Placing An order!!
Hello,
I am Alice drew, an American but I live and work here in Australia. I want to place an order in your store,and i will like to know if you ship to Australia,my method of payment will be credit card. So please let me know if i can proceed with the order,And please do not forget to get back to me with the website address where most of your product can be seen. So I will be able to make my choice of items and get back to you with list of items needed.I will await your prompt response as soon as you receive this mail
Thanks with regards
Alice
Scammers use the Internet to find new victims. I fight back using the Internet to educate and help artists NOT become victims.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Scam Email: Alice Drew
Here is one received this morning. Sent to an artist but didn't bother to personalize enough to identify them as such. It is a common one floating around (same email, just name and email address altered) and one of the silliest approaches - so these scammers are interested in placing an order but too freakin' lazy to google the website address??? I also never get their persistence in horrible formatting.
I paid last Friday for shipping art fee to:
ReplyDeleteTHAPELO GIVEN
5610 PERSIARAN SEPANG
84000 CYBERJAYA SELANGOR
DARUL EHSAN
MALAYSIA.
to ship my art to Alice Drew.
Sia,
ReplyDeleteI am so SORRY to hear this! Report this immediately to your local authorities as well as the National Fraud Info Center (see my links in the upper right-hand column).
This is EXACTLY why we have to keep getting the word out to more artists.
Our work is not done!
Right after I received an email from ; I received a second from Linda Diamond Live with the exact same information. Also beware of Orson Aguilar [orsonalar2@gmail.com]. He appeared in on the internet as having problems. His email was also from Australia and very similar to the other two.
ReplyDeletemarsha@metro-retro.biz
My name is Alice Drew, and I was scammed by these guys!!!! But they used the name Veronica Smith! Same scam, same mailing address. They siad their name was Veronica Smith and that she was an American who lived and worked in Australia.
ReplyDeleteI was just searching online and came across this blog. Now, they are using MY name. This is TOTALLY bogus!!! I lost a lot of money from these creeps, and now they are using MY NAME???!!!
We called the police, and we called the credit card companies, but they couldn't do anything about it, because they work out of Malaysia. I am so upset, I am shaking!!!!! I wish I knew someone who lived in Malaysia so they hunt these people down!
Please do not think that this scammer is me. These people are sick, and have no ethical or moral core, and are on the pathway to hell.
We got a similar one:
ReplyDelete> Quoting GODS GRACE STORE :
>
>> Good day,
>> My Name is John miller ,i will like to order from store
>>
>> Do you ship to Australia ?
>> Do You accept Credit card ?
>>
>> i want to know if you have your own personal shipper or can the
>> order be picked up at your store,please advise so that we can
>> proceed by going ahead to place the order.
>> Regard
>>
------
When we replied they sent back an order request for over $1,000 and goods and them a bunch of junk about their shipping requirements as follows:
Quantity 1
Please kindly calculate the total cost of the items,so that you can
get the order processed for us we we will email you my credit card
account information for the payment of the order and the shipment. So
don't include the shipping fees to the estimate of the order,we will
be having our shipping agent that will come and pick the order from
you directly,so what we want you to do about the shipment of the order
is that our shipper will be coming for the pick up directly at your
location,so as soon as we send our credit card account information to
you,you will then have to charge the money for the order,and also for
the payment of the shipping,once you are able to get the shipping cost
from the shipping agent,including the 5% Processing fees.
Because the shipper informed us that they are not yet set up to take
credit card for payment for now they are upgrading their credit card
machine,so what we want you to do is to contact our shipping agent and
they would inform you on the cost of picking up the order at your
location and then shipping the order directly to us over here in
Australia,because we already have some merchandise with them in which
after picking our order from you,they will then send them together to
us here in Australia,so if you are ok with this get back to us ,so as
to get the order processed and you will then complete the order for
me.Thanks for your corporation.
GOD'S GRACE STORE
165 Middle Head Rd, Mosman, NSW, 2088
Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
Well, that's a slight spin on the same scam step. Instead of asking for a difference to be sent to the shipping company (that doesn't actually exist), they are pretending that you would send the "cost" of shipping to them (and because of that whole long story about the shippers not having a credit card machine yet, you can bet they are going to ask you to wire it).
ReplyDeleteBut yes, this is definitely a scam in it's classic form. Thanks for sharing it.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is also Alice Drew and I am not the scammer either!
I am just curious about this because a few years ago both my passports were stolen from my house in Melbourne, Australia (an Australian and Canadian passport).
My brother's passport was also stolen at the time and was used in connection to art scams in Australia but I did not hear anything about mine.
I obviously reported both passports as stolen but if anyone does hear from this 'Alice Drew' I would be interested to know what address she gives in Australia or what her middle name is for that matter. It is never nice to think that someone is out there using your identity.
Cheers,
Alice (the real one).
(Real) Alice,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story. While the scammers do provide addresses, the addresses are often fake, just randomly chosen from what may be real addresses, but not theirs. They don't care about the items being shipped or even where they are being shipped - they only care about the "difference" in cash: they send more than is owed and ask the victim to send the difference to the "shipper" (who also doesn't exist or the address of them is fake) but here's the catch - they always ask the difference be sent via Western Union. They claim it is to the shipper, but it is really them at the other end and once the money is picked up, it is completely untraceable.
They have a system worked out! I doubt any of their process will provide additional information for you to track them down. But it is good to hear your story and know where scammers source some of their identity info.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteYes I suspected that the addresses they provide are fake, I just wondered because when someone was going around selling stolen art (very famous and valuable stolen Aboriginal art) under my brother's name they were using our real address. They were also buying expensive silver and providing our address but paying with cheques (which bounced obviously). But it was a very different scam from this one... But still it made me wonder.
Good on you for putting the word out!
Good luck,
Alice.
I just got an email from them too. I have fun back at them buy getting them to place a very specific order and give me loads of details. That way they are wasting thier time. lol. How do you report them?? What can you do to stop them?
ReplyDeleteDear Colleagues,
ReplyDeleteThe same people try to get in contact with Belguim companies as well.
Happy to have found this webpage.
Regards,
Christel
Hey, i get the same E_mail. He is asking for prices. I don`t know what he want to do???
ReplyDeleteRegards
Thomas
Good day, My Name is John miller ,i will like to order from store Do you ship to Australia ? Do You accept Credit card ? i want to know if you have your own personal shipper or can the order be picked up at your store, please advise so that we can proceed by going ahead to place the order. Regard
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteDon't do anything. It is NOT a legitimate request and you are under no obligation to reply at all.
Believe me, they don't care if you don't reply. They only care about reeling in victims from those who do reply.
Delete it as any other spam email.
hello
ReplyDeletei received the following email and believe it is also a scam beware Sandra Ray!
Good Day,
>
> I'm Sandra Ray from Norway,i want to place an order and i know the
> difficulties encountered when shipping internationally,But that will
> not be a problem because i am registered with a shipping company which
> I've used severally times without any delay nor damage.
> Before i place this order,i want you to notify me if i can make payment
> of the order with my Mc/Visa cards because as for now i can only make
> payment with my US credit card account information,so if it's okay by you
> kindly get back to me with contact details and please reconfirm your
> website so as to know if i'm right with the site.I awaiting your swift
> response so as to list out the items needed so you can then proceed with
> the order.
>
> Sandra shop
> Strandgaten 67,
> N-5817 BERGEN,
> Norway.
> Telephone: + 4755438470
> Telefax: + 4755438485
>
> Warmest Regards,
> Sandra Ray.
She has placed an order for two pieces of art .... what a joke they are individual pieces hand made.
Good luck everyone Ri
I got this same one today! Glad I found this site before I replied!
ReplyDeleteI got the exact same email from Sandra Ray, today.
ReplyDeleteThe thing to look out for is that in these emails, they don't actually talk about the actual goods you're selling - they just 'want to place an order' ... er, what for? A customer usually will mention what it is they want; luckily it made me google the name. I'll repost the address to try and keep it up the top of Google results:
Sandra shop
Strandgaten 67,
N-5817 BERGEN,
Norway.
Telephone: + 4755438470
Telefax: + 4755438485
many thanks for posting this information, here is the variant that I have received this morning. I would like to know how our email address was obtained as I have been careful to avoid adding it to on-line listing etc.
ReplyDeleteGood Day,
I'm Joan James from Norway.I want to place an order and i know the difficulties encountered when shipping internationally,But that will not be a problem because i am registered with a shipping company which i'v used severally times without any delay nor damage.
Before i place the order,i want to inform you that i will be making the payment with my Mc/Visa cards because as for now i can only make payment with my US credit card account information,so if it's okay by you kindly get back to me with the contact details and please reconfirm your website so as to know if i'm right with the site.I awaiting your swift response so as to list out the items needed.
Joan-Supperstore
Michelets vei 87,
N-1368 STABEKK,
Norway.
Telephone: +47 37 13 45 50
Telefax : +47 37 13 45 49
Warmest Regards,
Joan James.
I got the same one on July 19, 2011 as the one above They are persistent, if nothing else! My instincts said something sounded fishy and I Googled the company and Norway and found this blog. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
ReplyDeleteGood Day,
I'm Joan James from Norway.I want to place an order and i know the difficulties encountered when shipping internationally,But that will not be a problem because i am registered with a shipping company which i'v used severally times without any delay nor damage.
Before i place the order,i want to inform you that i will be making the payment with my Mc/Visa cards because as for now i can only make payment with my US credit card account information,so if it's okay by you kindly get back to me with the contact details and please reconfirm your website so as to know if i'm right with the site.I awaiting your swift response so as to list out the items needed.
Joan-Supperstore
Michelets vei 87,
N-1368 STABEKK,
Norway.
Telephone: +47 37 13 45 50
Telefax : +47 37 13 45 49
Warmest Regards,
Joan James.
We have also been contacted by Joan-Supperstore. When we replied about payment thru Paypal we got this reply:
ReplyDeleteConcerning the payment,i will like to inform you that i DON'T use Papal for payment,so it will be best if you can look for a colleague that has manure terminal charging machine so as to assist you in charging my credit card details.If it's okay by you kindly get back to me so as to know if i will be proceeding with the order or not.
The manure terminal got me worried and have since found this site so have decided to ignore anymore correspondence.
But I wonder what the connection is between us all - do we all by any chance list with Etsy.com? I did for a month and then cancelled it recently.
That is funny! Manure terminal charging machine. Do you think it runs by cow dung? Just kidding...
ReplyDeleteScammers use all kinds of techniques to access potential victims, they have software that scours the internet for visible email addresses and they go sites that have collections of potential victims - art association websites, sites where artist post their work, facebook, message boards, and sites like etsy.
I want to say congratulations on identifying this one as a scam, but I have to say the manure charging terminal was quite the give-away.
Thanks for giving me a smile.
I just had one from joan james from norway.......
ReplyDeleteThought it was a bit fishy from the start...
They emailed me credit card details for the payment of goods....
I told themto call to confirm the transaction and a day later I got a voicemail from a nigerian sounding chap calling from Malaysia (0060 country code).
They are definately persistant as they keep emailing me to put the transaction through.
HERES ONE OF MANY EMAILS FROM JOAN JAMES
Thanks for your response, i will try and call you later in the day but at
this time i can only email you, so below here is my credit card number so
you are hereby authorize to run the total charges on the card so you can
get
the total due, i will contact the carrier in meantime that the order will
be
ready for collection so as to make the other paper works and other
arrangement's.
So as soon as the charge has been approved email me with the
authorization code for confirmation you can as well go ahead and transfer
the shipping fees to the shipping agent via transfer when you have the
funds
in your account, so below here is the shipping agent information on where
the shipping fees will be transferred to through western union money
transfer.
Shipper details...
Receivers name: Kuma John
67 Jalan Juruanalisis Satu
Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park,
41050 Shah Alam, Selangor
MALAYSIA
Once the shipping fees has been transferred email us with the
confirmation
and also the MTCN#,sender's full name and address and the exact amount
that
was transferred.
Information needed
MTCN#:
Senders name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip code:
Amount Sent: $
Thanks for your corporation.
Regards
Joan James.
END OF EMAIL
Good luck everybody....treat every email with suspition, these scamming batsards are getting smarter! Keep your eyes on the ball!
DJ
Ok, quick update regarding the above scam:
ReplyDeleteHad a call from one of Joans collegues....
the guy sounded nigeran....
The telephone country code was 0060 (malaysia)an when I asked him if he was calling from norway he said 'YES'.
I then said 'what time is it in norway'?
He replies 'Err, its early...you know'
I kept asking him for the time over there, he got slightly frustrated and said 'why are you asking these questions'
I said 'i just wanted to know'.
After some awkward silences with him saying 'hello?...hello?..hello..' I then asked him again if he was in norway and to tell me what the dialing code is for norway (0060) and to also tell me what the capital of norway is.
He replied by hanging up!
BUSTED!!
He`s probably on the phone to someone else trying the same scam as you read this.
DJ
I've mentioned in other places that at times I have gotten great pleasure, particularly when a scammer has gone to the lengths of making phone calls, to say something like, "yes, I really want to proceed with this order. The FBI has asked to listen in but please tell me what the next step is that we need to do." That will result in another FAST hangup!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness I found these postings.
ReplyDeleteI have been persisted contantly by a women in Norway called Anne Loarie who wanted to buy large quantities of childrens shoes from my Shop in Scotland. Once she had confirmed the order she wanted me to pay a shipping company in Malaysia to pick up the goods along with other goods she had ordered. It seams a good deal as she was willing to not only buy my goods, pay for the shipping but also to gove me £150 for my trouble. She needed me to charge her credit card as to which she gave me her card details then to forward the shipping costs by Western Union to the shipping company. She can't do Western Union from Europe. I had not intention of going ahead with the transaction but it is very tempting when they are buying lots of stock and giving you commission for your trouble. I'm glad I googled the address in Malaysia she gave me
Kuma John
10 Jalan Juruanalisis Satu
Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park,
41050 Shah Alam, Selangor
MALAYSIA
as it has linked me in with other people who have similar emails.
Hi I have also received an e-mail from Lynda-J- Supperstore Bergen Norway. I wanted to google the shop to see if it was authentic however there is no trace. This forum came up and I can see that there are a lot of people out there who are being targeted in this way by criminals. The same thing happens when people want to sell their cars through the internet and I have also had some experience in this area as well. I am very sorry to hear about the people who have had bad experiences. Luckily all the comments are helpful in providing support and information.
ReplyDeleteI was contacted by "Lea Parker" - same wording.
ReplyDeletethe problem is, they sent me an e-mail with pictures from my iPad... i have no idea how they got access. Could they be some sort of hackers? anyone aware of this?
I've not heard of this before at all! Were they attachments? I can't imagine how this was accomplished...
ReplyDeletehi there
ReplyDeleteI own a little book store in the mountains. Me too got an email from our beloved friend "JOHN MILLER"
he wrote me:
" Good day,
My Name is John miller ,i will like to order from store
Do you ship to Australia ?
Do You accept Credit card ?
i want to know if you have your own personal shipper or can the order be picked up at your store,please advise so that we can proceed by going ahead to place the order.
Regard"
Well, I started emailing with this guy. For about 3 weeks now im dealing with this guy. What made me suspicious: the fact with the creditcard. i asked him, how he would pay bills, if he always would call that company and ask them to charge him on his creditcard? haha I had to laugh. anyway i continued, but i know that you can call back a charge on your creditcard within a few months. when the creditcard didnt function he was able to give me another 2 creditcards. who the hell has 3 mastercards?? next point, the items chosen were totally random. i mean i sell books, i asked him if it was ok, that the book was in germand and italian, he didnt even answer this question. next: he started to call me all the time, pushing pushing like hell. of course the number was supressed. the most funny thing was, if i would send him these items by postal parcel service of my country he would pay less then half of the amount he asked me to send to his shipping agent. which reasonable seller would act that stupid and waste margin like that.further he was online all the time, just waiting for my reply. LOL.
so after all i thought this is a joke and after reading your blog i've got confirmation. for the moment he is waiting for my western union transaction which I of course wont do. after i charged him, all had to go double fast. i know why, he gave me a stolen card and soon the owner will claim that money back. in my leasure time i sometimes think about possibilities to catch those guys and really hurt them physically with my 2m and 115 kg. but i think tracking them down would take some good hackers and quite a lot of money.
just to mention: in my version God's Grace Store is on
1 Queens Road
Melbourne Victoria 3004
Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
im really thinking about making a western union transaction and organizing that whoever picks up that money gets arrested. that would be fun - i make a few phonecalls now.
best regards
I got Linda Supperstore's email today - I knew it was a scam (I offer free shipping worldwide, lol!), but went online to find a place just like this to update - the address used (in case other people google it to get here) was
ReplyDeleteLynda-J-Supperstore
Strandgaten 34,
N-5817 BERGEN,
Norway.
Telephone: +4755875436
Telefax: + 4755875427
I know several people in England who also had them recently (I'm in England, too) - maybe they're taking countries in turn....
Thanks for the blog, fingers crossed people get saved from these idiots.
Ours was exactly the same as the one Above.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog.
Saved us being scammed.
Hi Guys, I have been approached by some one going by the name Elizabeth Lock and almost identical to the above, i spent time and effort sorting out quotes for her of my products and trying to get quotes for the shipping, but i did not pay anything, the second weston union was mentioned for payment i knew it was a scam, really who uses this from a business point of view?? she wanted to send me her credit card details, i said no i do not take credit card payments, only take cash, cheque, macs or Paypal and she could use her credit card for Paypal. oddly she couldn't set up a Paypal account, i agreed to pay the curer my end which i would of done anyway but not until payment had been made in FULL and as she was unable to pay me i was unable to process the order. i had several emails over our contact saying in all 'i will send you my credit card details' and in all my responses i had to make a point of saying there was no point as i could not process it aaahhhh it drove me mad and hinted at a scam, i was cautious. i deleted the messages so can not post them for you but i now get regular messages which are obviously scams, you must get put on some scam hit list or something. the women or who ever they are said they were in america but wanted my work for australia bla bla, oh and i was also offered £100 for my trouble, which i thought was hysterical as by this point i had realised it was a scam, the cur or was going to cost more than the products them selves, what gallery would want one necklace, one pair of earrings and ten bangles?? fingers crossed no one else gets caught out by these scammers.
ReplyDeletei will share this link as much as i can as i have just done a few shows and a few people said oh year I've had emails like that the past few weeks.
cheers x
Hi folks, we're a jewellery design company in North Wales and we've had a few of these, as soon as they ask you to send your web address, you know they're not real buyers!
ReplyDeleteAlso, my son got caught out on Ebay, he sold a PSP or iPod (a while ago, I can't remember!) to someone in Nigeria, claiming to be an American student on work experience. He sent it before they paid (some long-winded story as to why it had to be done this way) and then they asked him to send them money so that they could pay him the whole amount back! I only found out when he asked me to lend him the money and did I know how to do a Western Union transaction!! he was only 15! He lost his goods but learned a valuable lesson.
My question is this: is there any authority you can forward these e-mails to for them to investigate?? Like with Paypal or banks, you can forward scam emails and it helps them to stop fraud and identity theft. Surely it's somebody's job to prevent this catch these people?
I have links in the upper right-hand column that you can try to report these to but what we've found is there is a proliferation of scammers because there is no authority that prioritizes going after these guys and they are often internationally located where it makes it more difficult and more costly to pursue.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the authorities go after cases on rare occasions when there has been a large financial loss and/or a prominent person or company, but otherwise its been my experience that it is just not a priority.
It's actually why I started the blog. I was frustrated hearing about so many artists getting scammed and couldn't think of another way to fight back a little. But realized exposing their emails and tactics as much as I can and educating people to google suspicious names and emails and other revealing details BEFORE sending any item or cash... is about the best way we can fight back. Lower their success rate.
Thanks Katie for your reply, how annoying that there isn't someone somewhere dealing with this and they're getting away with it. Good job I believe in Karma!
ReplyDeleteWell done you for raising awareness. The organisers of the BCTF put this link on their e-mail newsletter, so you are definitely getting the message out there.
Kate x
Hi
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to report they are still at it... Over the last month I received several email under different names. Asking the same questions and wanting to place an order to ship to Aus; and of course covering their shipping on other items. Sounded fishy to me. Searched Internet, no info on their company but I found your blog. They used the same wording in their emails. Purchasing agent called himself John Bruce and John Anderson at different times. They are currently using this as contact info:
MARVELOUS GRACE STORE
2 Primrose Ave
Rosebery NSW 2018,
Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
Beware of suspicious emails!
I got one from Crisina Bruce, same as the one's listed here from Norway. Once I insisted on referring her to the gallery she didn't bother to get back to me, but watch out as I think she also tried to hack into my facebook page!
ReplyDeleteI've had an e mail from the address below. I referred her to the gallery owner selling my work but as yet we have not heard from her. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteChristina-De-Bruce Shop
Michelets vei 67,
N-1368 STABEKK,
Norway.
Telephone: 4767102560
Telefax : 4767102569
I got this today. Thanks for the heads up. When I referred her to the Gallery owners she disappeared.
ReplyDeleteGood Day,
I'm Cristina Bruce From Norway.I want to place an order and i know the difficulties encountered when shipping internationally,But that will not be a problem because i am registered with a shipping company which I've used severally times without any delay nor damage.
Before i place the order,i want to inform you that i will be making the payment with my Mc/Visa cards because as for now i can only make payment with my US credit card account information,so if it's okay by you kindly get back to me with the contact details and please reconfirm your website so as to know if I'm right with the site.I awaiting your swift response so as to list out the items needed.
Christina-De-Bruce Shop
Michelets vei 67,
N-1368 STABEKK,
Norway.
Telephone: 4767102560
Telefax : 4767102569
Warmest Regards,
Cristina Bruce.
Good evening,
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I just received exactly the same e-mail this evening - (28th July) as the above post.
We sell cycling gear so perhaps this person is deversifying from more than art!
What raised my eyebrows was the request to "please reconfirm your website" ..... I'm thinking, but you have contacted me via my web-site, so you must know the web address.
Also, double checked Google Analytice, and no-one from Norway has visited my site today.
Think I will ignore the request, but glad I found this site.
Regards
Good afternoon,
ReplyDeleteWe received this yesterday:
Please kindly calculate the total cost of the items,so that you can get the order processed for us we we will email you my credit card account information for the payment of the order and the shipment. So don't include the shipping fees to the estimate of the order,we will be having our shipping agent that will come and pick the order from you directly,so what we want you to do about the shipment of the order is that our shipper will be coming for the pick up directly at your location,so as soon as we send our credit card account information to you,you will then have to charge the money for the order,and also for the payment of the shipping,once you are able to get the shipping cost from the shipping agent,including the 5% Processing fees.
Because the shipper informed us that they are not yet set up to take credit card for payment for now they are upgrading their credit card machine,so what we want you to do is to contact our shipping agent and they would inform you on the cost of picking up the order at your location and then shipping the order directly to us over here in Australia,because we already have some merchandise with them in which after picking our order from you,they will then send them together to us here in Australia,so if you are ok with this get back to us ,so as to get the order processed and you will then complete the order for me.Thanks for your corporation.
MARVELOUS GRACE STORE
2 Primrose Ave
Rosebery NSW 2018,
Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
Best Regards
Purchasing Manager
John Anderson
Hi all,
DeleteThis is what we received today !
We are a company that produces organic fertilzers
And this is not art,...heum a little bit :
Thanks for your response below here is the list and qty of items that our company needs
ONE-MIX:---
N [NITROGEN] : 5
P [PHOSPHORUS] : 4.5
K [POTASSIUM] : 3.5
DURATION OF EFFECT:
2-3 MONTHS
Quantity: 6 Each
Please kindly calculate the total cost of the items,so that you can get the order processed for us we we will email you my credit card account information for the payment of the order and the shipment. So don't include the shipping fees to the estimate of the order,we will be having our shipping agent that will come and pick the order from you directly,so what we want you to do about the shipment of the order is that our shipper will be coming for the pick up directly at your location,so as soon as we send our credit card account information to you,you will then have to charge the money for the order,and also for the payment of the shipping,once you are able to get the shipping cost from the shipping agent,including the 5% Processing fees.
Because the shipper informed us that they are not yet set up to take credit card for payment for now they are upgrading their credit card machine,so what we want you to do is to contact our shipping agent and they would inform you on the cost of picking up the order at your location and then shipping the order directly to us over here in Australia,because we already have some merchandise with them in which after picking our order from you,they will then send them together to us here in Australia,so if you are ok with this get back to us ,so as to get the order processed and you will then complete the order for me.Thanks for your corporation.
MARVELOUS GRACE STORE
2 Primrose Ave
Rosebery NSW 2018,
Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
Best Regards
Purchasing Manager
John Anderson
Goes to show scammers target anyone selling anything online to run this scam. This scammer tries to set up everything from the first email - that they will be overpaying and why they will later tell you to wire the overpayment to the shipper instead of them using a credit card machine.
ReplyDeleteThere is no shipper and I always say do not wire money to people you don't know, especially from an online transaction.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI am an artist Here is an email I received today which I will of course ignore.
Amanda Gray
Good Day,
My name is Amanda Gray from Norway, Am interested in purchasing some of your unique Artwork you have in stock right now and their prices for commissioning. I will like to know if you will be shipping to Norway, and you don’t have to worry about the shipment because my freight forwarder will be coming to pick up the order directly from your location and then deliver them to me here in Norway. Let me know if it possible to order them with my U.S. Credit Card Information for payment?
Address: 709 Vikjavegen, Eimstad,
Norway.
Phone: +47 5551 2350
Email: amandawholesalestore@gmail.com
Kind Regards,
Amanda Gray.
I've just received the same email and initially was SO impressed until I found this site... Thank you for stopping me being scammed. I guess I thought Norway was full of honest people.. what a mug!!
ReplyDeleteMe too..recieved the email from Amanda Gray on the same day as you in exactly the same format...very clever thought it was genuine and my career had taken off ..I feel a fool.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI also received a version, which I have no intention of replying to:
Good Day,
My name is Cynthia Edwards from Norway, am interested in purchasing some of your unique work you have in stock right now and their prices for commissioning. I will like to know if you will be shipping to Norway, you don?t have to worry about the shipment because my freight forwarder will be coming to pick up the order directly from your location and then deliver them to me here in Norway. Let me know if it possible to order them with my U.S issued Credit Card Information for payment? Please include your website for reconfirmation when replying back to me.
Cynthia-Da-Unique Art Store
709 Vikjavegen, Eimstad,
Norway.
Tel: +47 5551 2350
Email: cynthiaartcomplex@gmail.com
Kind Regards,
Cynthia Edwards
The same thing happened to me today. Exactly the same formulation.
ReplyDeleteLasse Östman, Sweden
We had exactly the same email from Cynthia Edwards from Norway on Sept 30th 2013. Exactly the same wording, address and email.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog which confirmed my suspicions.
Stephen Morris, UK
Received same email as above today, but from the delightful sounding Elizabeth Robinson in Norway, just wish there was some way of sending something back other than expletives !
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks for blog.
Paul
I am an artist in Scotland and have just received an e-mail from Elizabeth Robinson, same as above! I was a bit suspicious so started searching for address and this site came up. Thanks so much for saving me from being scammed.
ReplyDeleteMe too so thank you to this blog for this info. Saved me from a possible scam.
DeleteAnother similar e-mail from "Elizabeth Robinson" (I have removed the the To:email address). Thanks to your blog I will not be replying to Ms Robinson. Thank you.
ReplyDelete-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Robinson [mailto:elizabethrobinson.artstore@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 February 2014 09:54
To:
Subject:
Good day,
My name is Elizabeth Robinson from Norway, i came across your unique
Artwork through the Google search and am interested in purchasing some of
them for my new art gallery in Norway. I will like to know if you will be
shipping to Norway, you don’t have to worry about the shipment because my
freight forwarder will be coming to pick up the order directly from your
location and then deliver them to me here in Norway. Let me know if it
possible to order them with my U.S. issued Credit Card Information for
payment? Kindly include your website for reconfirmation when replying back
to me.
ELIZABETH-DA-UNIQUE ART STORE
Grünerløkka. Markveien
35B 0554 Oslo
Norway.
Tel:+47 5551 2350
Web:www.elizabethrobinson.com
Email:elizabethartstore.107@gmail.com
Kind Regards,
Elizabeth Robinson.
I live in Scotland and received the same scam email today (09.04.14) from "Elizabeth Robinson", this time apparently from Germany. Because I am from Germany, which the scammer did not realized, I checked all the info, the address, called the phone number etc but no answer. The address has been taken from an existing art gallery, so watch out, although it sounds real they just seem to use other people's identity, not caring about the reputation of existing businesses or people. Greed makes people do horrible things.
ReplyDeleteditto on the "Elizabeth Robinson from Germany"
ReplyDeleteI have received similar from Elizabeth Robinson in Norway wanting to buy 3 paintings and asking for a discount.Finally requesting I pay carrier when he arrives back from Australia!!
ReplyDeleteOur company received the following similar e-mail from someone in Australia refusing to give his name or create an account on our website. He claims he can only place orders via e-mail and not on our site.
ReplyDeleteSent: Nov 28, 2014 11:15:43 PM
Subject: Quote Needed
Thanks for your response below here is the list and qty of items that our company needs
Pro Boat Blackjack 29 V2 Brushless Catamaran RTR
Redcat Racing Volcano EPX PRO 1/10 RTR 4WD Brushless Quantity: 2 each
Please kindly calculate the total cost of the items, so that you can get the
order processed for us we we will email you my credit card account
information for the payment of the order and the shipment. So don't include
the shipping fees to the estimate of the order, we will be having our
shipping agent that will come and pick the order from you directly, so what
we want you to do about the shipment of the order is that our shipper will send
our credit card account information to you, you will then have to charge the
money for the order, and also for the payment of the shipping, once you are
able to get the shipping cost from the shipping agent ,including the 5% Processing fees.
Because the shipper informed us that they are not yet set up to take
credit card for payment for now they are upgrading their credit card
machine, so what we want you to do is to contact our shipping agent and
would inform you on the cost of picking up the order at your location and
then shipping the order directly to us over here in Australia, because we
already have some merchandise with them in which after picking our order
from you, they will then send them together to us here in Australia, so
if you are ok with this get back to us ,so as to get the order processed and
you will then complete the order for me. Thanks for your corporation.
The Walk Arcade store
Shop 45, Walk Arcade/Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Phone:02 9939 3643
Fax:02 9965 3643
Best Regards
Purchasing Manager
Jimmy
Dear Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your website. I really appreciate it. Here is a scam that was sent to me recently. It went on for a bit. This is the first email and it's quite suspicious. The emails became more believable as they progressed but perhaps it's because I wanted to believe that it was all on the up and up. I belong to an online artist's gallery so after working out which painting she wanted, I sent her a link to the painting with a Buy button. That seemed to put her off.
Here is the email address for your list.
Thanks again!
Sally
From: Elizabeth McQueen [e_mcqueen001@keromail.com]
Subject: [SPAM] Art Piece
Date: 27 October, 2015 11:17:46 AM PDT
To:
Hi,
My name is Elizabeth. I just bought a house in Milan, Italy and I'm interested in collecting an art piece for a space within my house to make it unique and beautiful.
Could you kindly send me some images of your recently concluded art pieces. Betterstill, you send me a link to your current website so that I can look through and make inquiries on the one that catches my sight.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth McQueen.