Scam Email: Janet Ward

Notice how this spammer created a disposable email address that doesn't even make sense - no real person with the name of Ward would have an email address like this. Also, the artist who forwarded this to me kept asking the scammer how they found her website and you'll notice the scammer keeps ignoring the question and just proceeds with the steps of the scam. See how this is probably the same scammer as our Janet Miller report.

This was what was forwarded to me:

Kathleen - Just, on a whim! checked art fraud sites and found yours....so here are the name and correspondence from my latest  "art buyer"....Thanks so much for doing this!   Kate

First email:

From: Janet Ward [jan.ard0010@gmail.com]
Subject: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi,

Hope this message finds you well. I saw these creatives works on your
web site and i will like you to get back with more details if they are
still available for purchase.

"Floundering Souls"  and  "Eat it All..."

I will appreciate an urgent reply.

Best Regards,
Janet.

Second Email:

Hi Kate ,

Thanks so much for your response to my query about those creative works. I will like to  proceed with the purchase of both pieces  (  "Floundering Souls"  5' x 5' oil painting  and  "Eat it All..."   as a 19 1/2 " x 24 1/2"  giclee print  ). Can you pls confirm the  price  of the two pieces so i can know how best to proceed.  I will also like to know  what inspire you to make the pieces.


I will look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,
Janet.

Third email:

From: Janet Ward [jan.ard0010@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi Kate ,

Good to hear back from you. Yes,i will like to proceed with the purchase of "Floundering Souls" . I think it is a lovely work  and i hope to give it a good home. I first heard about your work fromBullWings: Orcas Issues!.

I am presently away in London for my twin sister's wedding even though it comes at a time when i was preparing for a big move and also expecting a baby but it means so much to her. I should be back in few days.

Meanwhile,i will like you to forward your mailing address and phone number so i can inform my husband still shutling between our home in New Jersey and Jo'burg, SA on where to forward the payment . He has just been transfer to head the IT section of their head Office in Jo'burg.

I can also forward your contact info to the local cartage company that will be moving all our house decors so they can get in touch with you to arrange shipping details. They can arrange  FedEx pick up of the artwork from your studio.
 
I will look forward to hearing from you so i can know how best to proceed. Cheers.


Best Regards,
Janet.

Scam Email: Janet Miller

Notice how the format of the email is similar to another report for Sharon Miller. It's the same scammer just swapping out names.

First Email:

From: Janet Miller [jan.miller010@gmail.com]
Subject: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi,

Hope this message finds you well. I saw these creatives works on your web site and i will like you to get back with more details if they are still available for purchase.

Language of October 2007  and  Tybee Island II 2010

I will appreciate an urgent reply.

Best Regards,
Janet.

Second Email:

From: Janet Miller [jan.miller010@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi,
 
Thanks so much for your response to my query about those creative works. I will like to proceed with the purchase of  only Tybee II . Can you pls get back with what motivate you to make the artwork.

I will look forward to hearing from you soon .

Best Regards,
Janet.

Third Email:

From: Janet Miller [jan.miller010@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi ,

Good to hear back from you. Yes,i will like to proceed with the purchase of Tybee II. I think it is a lovely work  and i hope to give it a good home.
 
I am presently away in London for my twin sister's wedding even though it comes at a time when i was preparing for a big move and also expecting a baby but it means so much to her. I should be back in few days.

Meanwhile,i will like you to forward your mailing address and phone number so i can inform my husband still shutling between our home in New Jersey and Jo'burg, SA on where to forward the payment . He has just been transfer to head the IT section of their head Office in Jo'burg.
 
I can also forward your contact info to the local cartage company that will be moving all our house decors so they can get in touch with you to arrange shipping details. They can arrange  FedEx pick up of the artwork from your studio.
 
I will look forward to hearing from you so i can know how best to proceed. Cheers.

Best Regards,
Janet.

Fortunately, the artist who forwarded this to me looked this person up at this point and found our blog and knew it was a scam, so no money or art lost!

Scam Email: David Osborne

An artist wrote me and shared an important experience that can some times happen to some potential victims, even if they happen to identify that the check is fake before they sent any product. Here is her email:

I want to thank you for posting your list of "Known Scammer Names". You really are helping other artists avoid these folk.

I just received an email that I thought might be a scam. It was one of those "I want to buy a painting for my new apartment and am in a hurry" things that instantly made me suspicious. I googled "buying painting scams" and was directed to your web site. Sure enough, the supposed client "David Osborne" is on your list. The email address he used on the thing I got is "davidosborne03@gmail.com" if you want to add it to your list. If you want a copy of the email, let me know and I will send it to you.

By the way, there is yet another way you can lose money on these things. About a year ago I received one of these scam emails. I figured out it was a scam but got so far in as to receive the cheque. I took the cheque to the bank, almost sure that it would bounce, and sure enough it did. The problem was that I live in Canada and the cheque was mailed in the United States and was in US funds. When the bank got the cheque they put the money in my account, exchanging the amount to Canadian funds. When the cheque bounced, they took the money out again. The problem was that inbetween those two dates the exchange rate had changed and the bank uses the exchange rate for the day they do the transaction. I ended up losing about $100.00.  The bank got the money rather than the scammer, but that is small consolation to me. You might warn artists that if the scam is coming from another country they can lose money on the exchange rate so they are running a risk if they even deposit the cheque.

Thanks again for posting the list.

 Also people within the U.S. have been hit with bounced check fees. I've heard some people who have asked the bank to see if the check is fraudulent before they deposit it in order to avoid the bounced check fee and have been successful at this (banks are getting better at recognizing these fake checks fast) but I guess it depends upon your bank.

Just another thing to be aware of.

Scam Email: Sharon Miller

Here is a scammer that is going to strong the potential victim along and not even mention the key components (use of their own third-party shipper and overpaying the amount and asking the potential victim to "forward" the difference to the shipper via Western Union. Remember - the payment will be faked and there is no shipper) of the scam until the victim is fully engaged and feeling like they will do anything to help the "sale" go through.

Fortunately, the artist who forwarded this to me, caught on before the scammer even got to the meat of their scam. Notice the characteristic period after their name at the end of emails. they seems very characteristic of the software they must use to send out hundreds of thousands of these and template parts to be "personal".

First email:

From: Sharon Miller [sha.miller030@gmail.com]
Subject: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi,

Hope this message finds you well. I saw these creatives works on your web site and i will like you to get back with more details if they are still available for purchase.

Boxer  and   Chrysalis

I will appreciate an urgent reply.

Best Regards,
Sharon.

After the artist replied and told the scammer that one painting was sold and the other is available:

From: Sharon Miller [sha.miller030@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi Robert ,

Thanks so much for your response to my query about those creative works. I will like to proceed with the purchase of  'Chrysalis'. Can you pls  get back with what motivate you to make the artwork.

I will look forward to hearing from you soon .


Best Regards,
Sharon.

Scam Email: Thomas McCoy

Here's a great example that was sent to me of how the scammers come up with these stupid stories to explain WHY they have to use their shipper. It's the crux of the scam. It's not funny that they explain yes their shipper IS expensive and then go on to explain how the victim will have to forward the shipping payment to the shipper.

There is no shipper. It doesn't say it below, but next they will explain why the victim has to send it via Western Union and of course it is just scammer at the other end of Western Union waiting to pick up your good money when they've sent a fake check or used a stolen credit card number (often one that will initially clear because it has not yet been reported as stolen but *will* result in a chargeback when the actual card owner figures out their card number has been compromised).

Don't fall for this.

From: Thomas McCoy [tmccoystorex@gmail.com]

Thanks for your update. My shipper's freight charge is extremely exorbitant but the fact is that I have used PARKSENDFREIGHTS Cargo for over 3 times for shipment from the US, Canada and oversea. They are effective and get my orders to my door step (3-4 Days delivery) which seems to be very convenient for me. They required shipping charge is handled by the merchant of the subject since it is a commercial based (which means you have to charge my card for the overall cost of the order then make payment to the shipper for pickup). I was made to understand that Custom Duties/ handling charge are inclusive.Therefore, I need you to get back to me with the overall cost of my order(cost of merchandise plus shipping charge) and lets have my order completed.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,
Thomas McCoy

Scam Email: Pastor Donavan

Here is an email where you can see that it is becoming such that how the scammers pay is less the issue than how they can trick you into forwarding your good money back to them via Western Union.

I was curious about this scammer's approach, however, because even if they use stolen credit card numbers (their tactic is to use numbers stolen but not yet reported as stolen and so will result in a chargeback) to pay via paypal, they would have to be able to enter an address and the seccurity code on the back of the card. And to my knowledge, their access to stolen credit card numbers doesn't include all this.

My guess is they start out offering to pay this way, so that they sound more legitimate, and then switch it up with some story back to what they know works - sending a fake check.

Someone asked me the other night at a party, "So how can I know then if it is a scam?" I told them, at least in this scam, there are always two thing present: (1) the arrangement always involves the use of their third-party something - a shipping company or courier service, and (2) they will always pay for more that what they owe and ask you to forward the difference to their third-party service via Western Union. The shipping company or courier service doesn't exist. The check they pay with is fake. Or the credit card number stolen. The only real money in the equation is yours - the amount you end up forwarding back to them via Western Union which is untraceable once the money is collected.

Anyway, here is the email an artist forwarded to me this morning:

"Hello
I saw your posted Ad on _Etsy  and I'll like to
purchase it for a friend
I am  presently out of USA due to the nature of my job and i only make
confidential  calls for now.I am okay with the condition and the price,I will be
very glad to  make the payment asap through my PayPal account as I am
currently offshore.As to  the shipment My agent will come over to your location
for pick up.
Do get  back to me with your PAY PAL ID so that i can remit the
payment into your  account,and your full contact address so that I can
forward it to the  agent's
company.I will be very glad to conclude this as soon as  possible.
Get back to me via my personal email address  [pastordonavan@yahoo.com]
Thanks."

Scam Email: Smith Andy

This is one of those stupid scam emails where the scammer is so not versed in english - or doesn't care, and he puts the fake first name and last name in reverse order.

From: smith andy [smithnd134@gmail.com]

I go through your art work and i really like your creative, due to this i really have the interest in buying this your work, so kindly email me the price of it and the info about the work because i really like it and also my wife also have an interest in it as well because we saw it together from your web and we want to buy it.
    
Hope to read from you,
Best Regards,
Smith

Now there is some language we all use regularly: "Hope to read from you, Best Regards"

They just don't get that this alone raises the flag that something is not right here...

Scam Email: Maria Roy

Ah, so here is an example of the same ole scam process but with different "characters" and "plot". In this case, it is not a third party shipper (who is non-existent), it is a "publisher" (who is also non-existent). That way they can set up the scam the way they need to. Their story will be that the check will be for more than what they owe because it will include the fee to the "publisher" and could you - the victim of this scam - send the "difference" to the publisher. There is no publisher. The check is fake. The only real money in the equation will be from the victim. And when you send the couple of thousands to the non-existent publisher via Western Union, it will really be going directly to the scammer, who once they've picked it up, is completely untraceable.

In reading this email, you can tell they were just using some template and didn't bother to plug in the "personalization" very well. Parts of this email make NO sense!

FROM: Maria Roy [namel1@julian.lunariffic.com]

Hi,
My name is Miss. Maria Roy .I am planning to have my wedding ceremony on june 9, 2011 at Boston Marriott Quincy 1000 Marriott Dr, Quincy, MA 02169 So i will like you to come and do the snap shots on the THE -day.
I want to know your charges for the following required services if you are to work 6
...
We will have the photographs snapped at the wedding forwarded to the Publisher of a Basement  Magazine Company in MA so they could feature it in their celebrity journal so due to this, I want the pictures neat and nice.
However,I will be sending cashier check for the booking payment ,the Hotel accomodation will be provided by me. Waiting to read from you soon as possible
Thanks and have nice day.
Regards.
Maria

Scam Email: John Mark

This scam email arrived in my box tonight. The IP number is sourcing it out of India. 

Reply-To: johniemark@rediffmail.com
To: "johniemark890 " [johniemark890@gmail.com]
Subject: email order
From: "john mark" [johniemark@rediffmail.com]

 Dear Sales,
How are you today, my name is John Mark the owner of Kota Kinabalu

Shopping Store,i will like to order for some items in your store,but
before i proceed i will like to know if you can supply and ship to
MALAYSIA and if you accept CREDIT CARDS as payment.

Kindly advise me ASAP, so i can proceed with the list of needed items.

John Mark.

Kota Kinabalu Shopping Store
Address:Unit No S-202a, 2nd Flr,17 Borneo Hypermall
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,Malaysia.
+60 (0)3 7726 6540

johniemark890@gmail.com