HI just received this one on my art website. Guess it is a scam. Darn Sales would have been nice. Just posting this to warn other artist. Thanks Kathleen
Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you.....................
Yellowstone:Meadow Light Morning,Spring Edge
plein aire oil paintings:2,5 & 11
Let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hung in our new home in South Africa.As well,I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.
We are traveling from our Seattle home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Anita Primoff
Bummer!!!
I just got one:
ReplyDeleteFrom: Anita Primoff [animoffty@gmail.com]
Subject: Artworks purchase
Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you.....................
[name of paintings inserted here]
Let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hung in our new home in South Africa.As well,I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.
We are traveling from our Seattle home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Anita Primoff
I've noticed that "creative artworks" is a pretty reliable scam-indicator.
ReplyDeleteYEP, I GOT THE SAME TOO... TKS!
ReplyDeleteDear Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteJust a not-so-quick note to tell you 'thank you' for posting the Anita Primkoff email art scam. I was, unfortunately, the victim of this elaborate scam:
The 'wealthy patron' buys the work and sends you a bank check. She then tells you that her husband 'accidentally' sent you the overseas shipping costs along with your (generous) payment and you will be receiving it through Fed-Ex the following morning.
At this time, you have gotten to 'know' the patron well...There's lots of negotiating for the art and prices are thrown around and you're getting intimate (red flag!)
The 'mark' (in this case, me!) is Fed-Exed a bank check and asked to deposit the check. (which includes your fee and the shipping fee combined)
You are then asked to send( via Western Union) the huge shipping fee to a "Freight Company" overseas.
( The Con Artists, at this point, are hoping that your bank holds you in good standing and will clear that check.) I waited 24 hours before withdrawing the shipment monies believing (falsely) that the bank wouldn't give me the cash if the check wasn't 'good'.
This, of course, just isn't so; it sometimes takes weeks for a check to clear.
I caught the scam just in time because the scammers accidentally e-mailed all of my information to the woman they had just scammed before me! She called me just as I was leaving the Western Union office and I was able to immediately go back in and retrieve the funds...$3860.00!
I would NOT have realized the truth on my own (until, of course, my bank took back their $5800.00 and no shippers ever arrived to pick up the art!) I am embarrassed that I fell for this nonsense but they got me with a lot of back and forth negotiating for the paintings.
The scam artist procures your trust through engaging in a personal relationship with you that is both interesting and elaborate enough to throw you...well, not you!...me!
They also manipulate your trust through trusting you with all their "money"! It really is a House of Games (movie from the '80's) and I did not think 2 steps ahead because they were 'giving me money' and my bank cashed that bogus check!
Con men and Sociopaths 'get you' through finding out what you deeply desire...All artists want... to sell...be collected...be appreciated...etc...and then... they tell you that they will fulfill those desires!
It is then that the 'mark' (in this case, me!) begins to do 'damage control' and override her instincts that something just isn't right or...that this is too good to be true...etc...
But the fact is...that if it doesn't feel right...it most likely isn't!
Thank you for your time,
Nancy
P.S. Your work is lovely!
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe how happy I was when I got to the part of your message where you had the good fortune to walk back into Western Union and stop that payment. Oh, we could say what are the odds of the scammer screwing up and mis-sending emails which finally alerted you, but the truth is these guys send out SO many emails and I'm guessing they are not too bright and they certainly have no way to organize their process to keep track of everything.
But it reminds me there are still artists out there who give these cockroaches money and we just have to keep posting the scams (people - forward any you receive like this so I can post them for ALL to see!) and educating artists to google search on the name and/or email address BEFORE taking any action.
The truth is, even with completely legitimate art purchases I handle online for my art, I always like to google what I know about the buyer to see if I can learn more about them.
Get into the habit!!!
Nancy, forget about the embarrassment. Congratulate yourself on your good fortune to have caught it in time, whatever the reasons were.
Well, it would seem my very own email finally came up on this scammer's list and I just received the "Anita Primoff" scam email just now, referencing paintings on my website and asking for pricing (when my website already lists prices). See? I'm no one special....
ReplyDeleteHere's the email, which you'll see looks just like the ones above.
Return-Path: [anjimoff@gmail.com]
Subject: artworks purchase
From: Anita James Primoff [anjimoff@gmail.com]
Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you.....................
[name of art pieces inserted here]
Let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hung in our new home in South Africa.As well,I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.
We are traveling from our Seattle home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Anita James
Same e-mail came to me, except from "Jayne Fitzpatrick". That's one e-mail that gets deleted right away!
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWell they are still at it! And they have not even changed the wording in thier email. Got mine today.
Here it is.
Thank you for posting this alert!!
Alx
Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you.....................
Cosmic Dancer,Peaceful Morning and Alone
Let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hung in our new home in South Africa.As well,I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.
We are traveling from our Seattle home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed.Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Jayne Fitzpatrick
I'm happy to have found this blog. I received the above email from "Jayne" this afternoon. I responded that the name "Jayne Fitzpatrick" and the exact wording of her email came up more than once on blogs about scams.
ReplyDeleteThank you for creating this blog. I have a brand new website that got "hit" by "Jayne". It looked too good to be true - wanting 3 of my pieces of art -that I googled Jayne Fitzpatrick Seattle and So. Africa and your blog came up. Thank you so much, as if it isn't hard enough to make money selling art and then this.
ReplyDeleteWell, I just received the almost exactly same-worded email from somebody named Rhoda Anderson (rhanderland@gmail.com) but I recognized immediately that it was more than likely a scam. She named precise works that she wanted, asked for a discount and said she was having a shipper send the stuff to S. Africa as she was moving from Seattle...wanted to send a Cashier's check or money order. I too am going to post this warning on my blog...it's pretty low when you go after artists, who are so often not too financially well off and are so hopeful for new collectors.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the info regarding this nasty scam, the 21 of august I received an E mail for this Rhonda Anderson (rhanderland@gmail.com) the email was identical as described by Karen Martin , I soooo glad to follow my instinct as well Found this Blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog. I too received an email from Rhoda Anderson. Hopefully, more artists will stick to their sensibilities and not be taken in... Luckily, the scammers aren't clever enough to be TOO convincing...
ReplyDeleteThank you for this excellent blog. We also received the email from Rhoda Anderson, checked the email address on the net and ended up here. So I thought I would take this email scam to the next level and see if the police or federal authorities would be interested in following the scam as it unfold, by using us as the victims, and sadly here is the results/response:
ReplyDeleteLocal police in Phoenix, AZ: Does not have an internet fraud unit, can not follow up on this. Suggested we call the PHX FBI.
Phoenix FBI: Complaints only handled by going to website, www.ic3.gov. Have to be a victim to file a complaint. Could not find a way on the website to contact a human to follow up on this scam.
Back to local police: Suggested us to call AZ AG office.
AZ AG: Not interested in pursuing. Suggested we call the FCC.
FCC: Would love to help but don’t have power/authority to follow this crime. Suggested we call FTC.
FTC: Took information but because we are not a victim, entered information into their database, gave us a reference number and said if they need further information will call us. Didn’t sound too interested on following up, (assumption) they have bigger crimes to handle.
We can now see why this sort of scam gets repeated over and over again. Suggestion, if you are or know a victim in the USA, call the FTC @ 877-382-4357, the more people who call, the more they will have to listen and then possible do something about this scam.
Great job....one of these arrived in my website email box with identical wording. Several works identified....I was suspicious about the wording....but wanted to believe. My wife thought it a bit fishy.....
ReplyDeletewho ever uses "creative artworks", eh?
The email was dated late August 2011 and signed by
Diane J Solomon(dial.omon@gmail).
Thanks,
Chuck
Just got the exact same email last week, November 22, 2011. Thank you so much for this blog!
ReplyDeleteThe new name/email being used was at
Monica Braithwaite
monibraith@gmail.com
Same story, moving from Seattle to South Africa.
Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your blog by chance (stumbleupon).
ReplyDeleteI've saved as a favorite for later!