Scam Email: Debbie Walker

This is a classic standard scam email targeting artists but I'm posting it to get all the fake names and disposable email addresses that they use out there.

From: Debbie Walker [debbie.w01@blumail.org]
Subject: Monhegan Cliff Pastel, 18" X 24"
--
Hi,

My name is Debbie Walker, from New York. I hope this message finds you well.I was going through some of your works and my eyes caught this particular piece, I'm interested in purchasing it as I'm moving to a new apartment this month.Please let me know if you still have the piece available, if yes let me know and it's final price and more information about it. I will be waiting to read from you.
 

Regards,
Debbie.

Scam Email: Karl Avdek

Hi Kathleen,

I'm attaching copy of the mails of a Karl Avdek, that supposedly wants to buy two or three of my paintings. As you'll see he offers payment by Money Order, Cheques, etc, and proposes to use his own courier.

Many thanks for your efforts to prevent artist scam!

Regards,
Juan

Karl Avdek
Email: karlavdek1@gmail.com

Hi Juan,

Thank you for your email and the information, now that you have
notified me about the price am really satisfied with it.

I want you to know one Important thing, I should have use PayPal as
the method of Payment but I have been scam several time through Skype
and that is why I have cross my mind that I will never use PayPal
again for Payment method or my Credit Card for Payment method on
Internet.

Meanwhile I live in Essex United Kingdom so regarding the mode of
payment i will be able to made available is through Money Order or by
Travelers Check or either Personal Check.

Due to that kindly let me know the Payment method you choose out of
the ones I listed above in other for me to be able to make the payment
available and send it out to you.

I will also need your information below for the Payment so that the
Payment can be able to be send out to you.

Name on Check;
Address;
Phone Number;
Your Skype ID;

When i received this above information then i will be able to Issue
your Payment and send it out to you.

Also i want you to know that i will appoint a good shipping company
that will come for the pickup of the Pieces in your destination and
deliver it to my place, reason is due to the lost of goods,  painting
breaking and damages that normally happen because it has happen to my
shipment several times through FedEx, UPS and so on, that is the
reason i cannot use both FedEx and UPS again.

I want you to know that i will include the shipment fees on the
Payment that you will choose.
My Phone Number: +447024093625.
My Skype ID:  karlavdek.

I will be expecting your reply.

Karl.

Scam Email: Leslie Pontz

Hi Kathleen.
So appreciate your efforts on art scams - I will fwd you an email string and wanted to add Leslie Pontz to your list of names. Thx

Leslie Pontz [leslie.pontzshop@gmail.com] wrote:

Hello,

I would like to place an order from you to Iceland,but before i do i want to inform if i can make the payment with my US Master card because presently my best form of payment is via credit card,that is where i put all my money for any international transaction.So kindly reconfirm your website/contact details and get back to me with it so as to know if I'm right with the site.
Concerning the shipment,my shipping company will be coming to pickup the items because i already have some merchandise with them in which they will be shipping together to me here in Iceland.So you don't need to be worried about the shipment nor handling fee.

leslie.pontzshop
Skólavörðustígur 12
101 Reykjavík,
Iceland.
Tel. +354 553 2690
Fax +354 552 3632

Best Regard,
Leslie Pontz.

---------

Leslie Pontz [leslie.pontzshop@gmail.com] wrote:

Hello Nicole,

I got you response,So below here is what i need.

"Ripe and ready" 24x30
Qty...3

Coffee Break" 9x12

Please kindly calculate the total cost of the items ,so that you can get the order processed for me.i will email you my credit card account information for the payment of the order.

Concerning the shipment, i will be having my shipping agent coming to pickup the order directly from you because i already have some large merchandise with them in which after picking up the items they will then deliver it to me here in Iceland.So i want you to get back to me with the size and weight items.

Regards,
Leslie Pontz.

--------

From: Leslie Pontz [leslie.pontzshop@gmail.com]
Subject: Concerning My Shipment....

Dear Nicole,

I got the total quote of the order which is ($1,955). The shipping company will have the order picked up from your facilities because i have made an arrangement with the shipping agent who will be coming to pickup the items right from your location so as to avoid the shipping responsibilities and difficulties that you might be experienced in shipping to Iceland.The Shipping Agent have all the documents and permits required for the exportation of these order.And they will handle all the custom duties and insurance as well because all will be dully paid by me .They have got similar items shipped to me here successfully.So i have discussed with the shipping agent about the nature,quantity of these items and i was charged ($1,780) for the shipping cost,including some of my merchandise i ordered from different countries that is with them which they will be delivering to me here in Iceland.I will need you to do me a favor as explained below:

I want you to please assist me to charge the shipping fee of the shipment which is ($1,780) on my credit card account and then Transfer to the shipping agency's office so it will enable their representative to come for the pick up.I know it's not your responsibility to do this,i just want you to try and understand me and be of assist to me and my next order will be ship by you.Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of ($200) for the transfer fee and for your efforts.So the charges that will be deducted on my credit card will be:

TOTAL COST OF ITEMS BOUGHT:                 ($1,955)
SHIPPING FEE GRAND TOTAL  :                    ($1,780)
CREDIT CARD SURCHARGING FEE :               ($80)  (FOR THE SHIPPING FEE)
TRANSFER FEE AND YOUR COMMISSION:    ($200)
THE GRAND TOTAL COST :                             ($4,015)

Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above.Please do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can email you my credit card details,then you can charge the full amount and transfer the agent fee to them so as to proceeding the shipment.And as soon as the shipping agency received the shipping fund, they will schedule the time for the pick up and then come to your location pick up the order.

Warmest Regards,
Leslie Pontz.

Here you are Kathleen. Post what you'd like but I'm glad I read your site and will not reply to his/her replies. My best

Nicole

Scam Email: Adam Barger

This scam email is pretty brief, the scammer is casting his net wide and then will spend more of their time and effort on those artists who actually reply. Then they will whip out their long story about moving and their shipping company and blah blah blah.

Remember - this scam requires two things: overpaying with a counterfeit check or stolen credit card and the use of a wire transfer to forward the "difference" on to a third party. Never accept overpayments and never agree to forward money for anyone and, most important, just never use wire transfers for your business online. That will keep you safe from this scam.

From: Adam Barger [adam_barger@rocketmail.com]
Subject: Red Fish”, 12" x 7" x 1 1/2
Reply-To: Adam Barger [adam_barger@rocketmail.com]

Hello,
Good day to you over there, Am Adam Barger I'm from Albany and i hope this message finds you well.I was going through your works and my eyes caught  Red Fish”, 12" x 7" x 1 1/2 , i will like to have it for my new apartment next month. please let me know if the piece is available, if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. i will be waiting to read from you asap.
Barger.

Scam Email: Rachael Cox

I'm seeing more scammers using their standard scam approach on Etsy, pretending to want to buy items. In order for their scam to work, they'd have to convince the seller to do the transaction outside of Etsy and outside of PayPal (though scammers do create fake paypal pages and then pretend to have paid sending a fake PayPal Confirmation page, or they will end up saying something like paypal isn't working or accepting their payment and then offer the wire transfer option they were after all along).

Remember, their ultimate goal to overpay with fraudulent money and ask you to send the "difference" on to someplace else, typically a non-existent shipping company, and always via a wire transfer. So their money is fake and your money is good. And they are untraceable once they pick up the money.

So just do not accept overpayments, do not accept money orders, only agree to ship to the billing address of a credit card (they will have some story about moving and needing items to go to the new address) - have them confirm the billing address (most scammers have stolen credit card numbers and do not know the billing address), and never never never never (have I emphasized this enough??) use wire transfers to do business transactions.

Listing: [name of item here]

Hello Seller,
Am Rachael Cox,I came accross your item on Etsy, i will like to buy the item,is it ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item..

1) Is the item still available for sale?

2) What is the present condition of the item?

3) Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?

4) what is the final asking price?

kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email:

( rachael_cox10@yahoo.com )

hope to read from you soon,

Best Regards.

Scam Email: Paula White

Here is a scam email forwarded by an artist to me. It's the same ole content and scam approach we see over and over again, but we keep posting them to help alert others who may be searching on this particular faked name and disposable email address. This scammer did add that touch to try and look authentic about mentioning where they had seen her art, but they just grabbed that info off her website, no doubt. But interesting touch.

Clearly the artist had already replied to the scammer's initial inquiries.

From: "Paula White." [witchates@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: Artworks Inquiry...

Hi Aida ,

Good to hear back from you. Yes,i will like to proceed with the
purchase of RedX. I think it is a lovely work  and i hope to give it a
good home. I think i first heard about your work at the Plaza Art
Fair, Kansas City.

We are going through a lot this summer and i am presently on my way to
Paris for my Sister's wedding even though it comes at a time when i am
preparing for a big move to Saratoga Springs, NY but it means so much
to her and 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 on where to forward the payment . He
is also in London for a business conference but should be able to get
one of his PA to handle the payment. 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 or UPS 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,
Paula.

Scam Email: Joshua Daniel

Hi Kathleen,

Here is a name and email address of a scammer and part of an email from him

Joshua Daniel
j.daniel2222@yahoo.com

From: Joshua Daniel [j.daniel2222@yahoo.com]
Subject: payment details needed

Hello ,

Thanks for the mail , I am very glad to read from you , I am really interested in the advert and am okay with your asking price So i have an associate of me who is owning me  the sum of 5,000 I will ask him to issue you a check , Immediately you are receive the payment you are to deduct the cost for the purchase and send the difference to my shipping agent. So i look forward to proceed as i await the needed details below to issue and send your payment immediately.
 
Name on cheque.
Full address.
Zipcode .
Phone number

Looking forward to read from you and also i want you to consider the ads purchase by me because i am very serious and will love to seal up this transaction with you .

Regard

He can't spell proper like
Thanks for your time keep up the good work
Yours

Ann

Scam Email: Sara Winters

Here is an email I received from an artist (I do agree that scammers don't typically attach a photo of the piece they've grabbed off the website):

Hello Kathleen, I have gotten at least 20 art scam emails. Looking one up a while ago, a came across your blog and fb. Way to go! Love it! I have never fallen for any, but yesterday I got one that was a little different. I thought the 2 "i" in the email was weird and the little poetic phrase at the beginning was too much. But, I didn't find her name on your list, and it was the first time they actually told me what they where interested in and even went as far as attaching  a photo of the piece. I checked my stats and only found someone here in the states that was looking at that piece. So I thought what the heck, I will email back. And yes, it was a scam. So wanted to send it your way. 

First email: sarawiinters@blumail.org

Hello,

Good image is the beauty of nature. My eyes caught this particular work of yours for my new apartment. Please let me know if the piece is available, if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about it. I will be waiting to read from you. Attached is the sculpture am interested in.

Regards,
Sara     

 second email:

Hello,

Thanks for your prompt reply.I really appreciate your detailed breakdown and frankness on this.

Unfortunately, Im on my way to France on an official trip(I'm a marketing Executive) and wont be back for another two weeks, I would have come to inspect the piece personally. Im taking your word for true on It though.

Im okay with the price $925 for the  Deconstruction, which is made out of copper and ceramic., I think it worth it anyway. If you'd like to know, Im relocating to the South Africa soon and I'm trying to gather some good stuff for my new abode. Im buying yours amongst others,quickly! before someone else grabs it.So, I'll arrange to send you payment ASAP.

However, I'll have to notify my shipper who's helping me move my stuff to get set for the pickup of the piece from your place as I MIGHT be delayed depending on how things goes.
Thanks,

PS: In the mean time, kindly get back to me with your Full Name,contact address and also your phone# so I can get a check prepared and have it sent out to you ASAP.

Thank you for your efforts in fighting these jerks!  And by the way, saw your work, beautiful!!!