Thank you for your blog and information. I regularly get emails from artist scammers.
This name I couldn't find on your scammers list. Maybe it will help somebody.
Kind regards,
Olga
03 Jan 2013 om 14:59 heeft Wagner Antonova [wagnerantonova@aol.com] het volgende geschreven:
Good Day,
I see this your beautiful work through my searching, do you still have it available? The work am talking about is listed on the Subject of my email, i will be expecting the price if you still have it available.
I wish you Happy new year.
Wagner Antonova
wagnerantonova@aol.com
second email:
Van: Wagner Antonova [wagnerantonova@aol.com]
Datum: 3 januari 2013 22:25:36 GMT+01:00
Onderwerp: Transaction Proceeds.
Dear Olga,
Thank you for your reply and the Information about the Painting, The price is okay by me.
Regarding the Payment I will issue you a cheque for easy auditing, it will be a cashier and as well certified, "advised by my Auditor" I will inform you as soon as the payment is been sent out from my office here Berkshire United Kingdom.
I will be needing your information to process your payment ASAP. We may also speak on Skype if you wouldn't mind in other to discuss about the transaction verbally.
Name on Check;
Address;
Phone Number;
Skype ID;
Also i want you to know that i will appoint a secured shipping company that will come for the pickup of the Pieces in your destination, and then deliver it to me here in the UK. The shipping fees will be added to your payment. I have had bad experience with FedEx and UPS in the past. So I guess a guaranteed secured shipper will be preferably considered and appoint for the pickup.
Am on Skype as: wagnerantonova.
Regards,
Wagner Antonova.
wagnerantonova@aol.com
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have received the same email.. Is that really a scam? They reply to the email fairly fast..
It is a big lie Mr Wagner Antonova is not a scammers his just only showing an interest in your work.
ReplyDeleteI know him very well and his a very good and straight forward man, so stop back side talk about him in Bad you bad Artist that need Money and Famous.
I assure you, it is a scam. The content of the email and reply is boilerplate. The check will be fake but the money they ask the victim to forward to the non-existent shipping - via wire transfer, will be real.... and once they pick it up, gone forever.
ReplyDeleteHi, I got one from this guy yesterday, 3/1/13, and decided it was suspect. I'm so glad I checked it out, I didn't know about this site until I did! I have recently joined an artists society ( British association of Modern Mosaics) and I think that is where they have got my details as he has asked about 2 of the 3 pieces I have in my profile. I will contact BAMM and warn them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning
Jane
I can only assume "Phil" above is the scammer or from the scammer's gang. The poor sentence structure and spelling are hallmarks of the education level of these scammers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as mentioned the original scam email is a boilerplate and the content of it contains ALL the red flag components of a standard scam. This is what ALL the scam emails pretty much look like. Also, that so many people have received the very same email - sign of a scam. Normal art buyers just do not act like this.
i also recieved exactly the same email... and i also got an offer of this person. and he also wanted to see the piece via Skype. i really dont know what to do with these offer. can anybody help? did anybody recieve the check? or knows what shipping company is involved? thanks for the answers!
ReplyDeleteBasically, once you can identify it is a scam - you can ignore it. If you get all the way to the point of receiving a check, you can take it to the bank and have them confirm it is a fake (and it *will* be a fake). If the scammer sent the check via USPS, you can provide all the material it was sent in and the check to your local Postal Inspector, because it is mail fraud. But most scammers know not to use USPS. They use FedEx because FedEx doesn't followup on this sort of thing and because it is a private company it is not considered mail fraud.
ReplyDeleteUntil there is actual money loss, there is no crime and nothing you can do but post your experiences online and help others. Look how the original woman who sent me an email has helped so many people already!
There is no shipping company. That is a made-up part of the scam. They sometimes just make up a name and sometimes they use the name of a real shipping company but they have no actual relationship with them.
How the scam works is it never gets to the shipping part. The scammer is hoping the victim will forward money for them to this fake shipper via wire transfer (which is just the scammer at the other end of that wire transfer). Once the scammer picks up the money, the scam is over, they disappear and so does your money. Then the bank notifies you the original check is fake (or credit card stolen) and you are liable for the full amount. That's how it works.
bonjour,
ReplyDeletej'ai eu aujourd'hui un mail de Wagner Antonova, et me méfiant un peu d'internet j'ai tapé son nom sur google et suis tombé sur votre blog. les quelques internautes qui évoquent cette personnes m'ont convainquent qu'il s'agissait d'une escroquerie. Je les en remercie.
[English Translation: I got an email today Antonova Wagner, and me a little suspicious internet I typed his name on google and came across your blog. The few users who mention this person have convinced me that it was a scam. I thank them.]
I have also received an email from him and talked with him on skype. Is there any advantage in stringing him along to try to get more information from him. Maybe receive his check, alert our local police and wait to see who turns up to collect my paintings if indeed they do? There must be an indirect to link to him somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNo one will turn up to collect the paintings. The scam is over before it gets to that point.
ReplyDeleteYou could receive the check and take it to the police but there is no real crime until you actually lose money (which I don't want people to get to that point!) so the police can't do much. Some people take the check to the bank, but they also can't do much other than confirm the check is fake.
I've always kind of thought time is money to scammers. The time they are spending with you is time they are not working another victim. So I like to string them along knowing I'm not going to be forwarding them any money. Sometimes I pretend to lose the check or say it never arrived and ask them to send another. But once scammers realize you are not going to wire them money, they quickly move on to their other "prospects". Stringing scammers along is a personal decision. Sometimes it is also best to post your experiences online to help warn others, and then delete their crap and not give them another thought.
Hi Katie
ReplyDeleteI too have received 'the email' from Wagner. I have to say I was suspicious by the way it was worded with all the typo errors and no take up on an offer of a discount if he bought a number of pieces. I am so glad to have found your site, thank you so much for warning others.
I am also a member of BAMM (British Association of Modern Mosaics) where I am guessing he got my details.
Sue
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI've found your blog looking for information about a mail received yesterday, interested in the purchasing of an art work.
I suspected something strange, my English is not too good but I realized that sender's language, was not correct for a British person. His name is different (Clarck Mckinbben) but the mail is exactly the same, so it's clearly a scam. (I think that "Phill Carrier", according the above published comment, is the same person).
Take care, artists.
Dear *************,
Thank you for your reply and the Information about the Artwork Painting.
Regarding the Payment I will issue you a Cheque for easy auditing, it will be a cashier and as well certified, "advised by my Bank" I will inform you as soon as the payment is been sent out from my office here Wiltshire United Kingdom.
I will be needing your information to process your payment. We may also speak on Skype if you wouldn't mind in other to discuss about the transaction verbally.
Name on Check;
Address;
Phone Number;
Skype ID;
Also i want you to know that i will appoint a secured shipping company that will come for the pickup of the Pieces in your destination. The shipping fees will be added to your payment.
I have had bad experience with FedEx and UPS in the past. So I guess a guaranteed secured shipper will be preferably considered and appoint for the pickup.
Am on Skype as: clarkmckibben.
Regards.
Clark Mckinbben
mckinbben@aol.com
Yup, that's a scam email alright. This is what some of these scammers do - they offer to talk on skype, thinking that will make their victims feel more comfortable the transaction is legitimate (when it is not) but what ALWAYS happens is they never use the camera. They always have some reason to only use text on Skype and that is your tip-off it is a scammer. Of course they don't want you to see what they really look like.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for avoiding this one.
Thank you very much, Katie, for this helpful blog.
DeleteAlthough scammer's name was different, the email was the same, so I've found your blog.
My gratitude and best regards.
Hello everyobody. A couple of friends of mine, both artists, received the same e-mail. Since their English is not very good they ask me for help, but they already were afraid of something like this. I'm joining them for dinner tonight, I'll be more than glad to tell them this!! Thanks for informing us. Ilaria
ReplyDeleteWell, I just received a payment from Clark McKinbben. He sent me traveler's cheques, more money than I requested. I took out the sum he owed me and deposited it in the bank with no problem. Will the scam come with the shipper? This is confusing...
ReplyDeleteKathleen S.
STOP! It is a scam. There is no shipper. the scam happens when you forward money to them via western union. Your money that you forward is good - but their money is fake. Just because the bank accepted it doesn't mean it is good and all banks have policies that they can withdraw the money back out once they find it is fraudulent - and you are on the hook for the full amount - and you lose the money you wired to the scammer.
ReplyDeleteDO NOT DO THE WIRE TRANSFER and you will be ok. The bank will find out the check is fake and let you know. No shipper will come and the scam will be over.
Did I write this in time to save you??
I am also a BAMM member and have had exactly the same emails thankyou for the advice....thank-you Kathleen!!!
ReplyDeleteChev
Hi. I have been told that the cheque has just been sent and I thought - I wonder what happens if I google Wagner Antonova - and here I am on this very interesting page. I would not have sent any money before a cheque had cleared, but according to notes here the cheque could have cleared and then later been rejected. I am obviously going no further with this transaction but how do we get the word out or get the police on to them?
ReplyDeleteI have been contacted by Antinova with similar emails. I checked on this site and it confirmed what I was pretty sure of, that this is attempted fraud. Today, having not agreed to, or contacted him again I received a the equivalent of twice the amount of the value of my work from him from Deutsche Bank Frankfurt. I took this to my bank to get their advise, - basically 'don't bank it and go to the police'- which I have done. The bank said they have no way of checking his account. I have contacted other arts organisations. Unless money is transfered I was told that nothing can be done, so do at least spread the word!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
I'm so glad you stopped it in time!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is *exactly* why I started the blog and Facebook page on this - there is no crime until money is lost (too late in my opinion) and even then, the amounts are often too low for the resources of the police to pursue. Or the IC3.gov site. which is a good place to report, but I think they only focus on when there is actual money loss and they only use the reporting to look for trends and pursue the big cases or where they think they can source one gang of scammers racking up a lot of money. It's often not really there to help people on an individual level.
SO I thought the only way to strike back is to use the Internet to shine a light on them and hopefully as much as possible will show up in search results.
On one hand, I see a lot of people like you who have been saved from losing any money. On the other hand, I still get emails every single day of people who searched online AFTEr sending money, so there is still work to do.
But I always encourage people to share their experiences online, include the scammer name and email (they are always fake, but that's ok, share it anyway) and hopefully we'll just keep reaching more and more people before they send money.
Thanks for writing in.
If the Check is issued from a US bank and the email domain is AOL then the US based Internet Crime Complaint Centre might be interested....or am I being naive? Surely counterfeiting a cashier's check is crime enough whether it is banked and cashed or not.
ReplyDeleteI am collating as much data on this character as possible as we go through the art (non) purchase process. Then may try the ICCC
As per my above comment, here is the list of internet crimes on the ICCC website including Counterfeit Cashier's Checks. They make it plain here that even if you haven't lost money or goods, but only suspect you are a victim, you can still make a complaint if any of the parties involved are in the USA.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx#item-3
I have gotten that too only with a different name and such. They are getting really clever and sneaky. Mine even had the title of my painting and the size and everything.
ReplyDeleteI am one of these anonymouses above and have been stringing this asshole along since Jan 5. Trying to get any hint of where he lives which of course is impossible. I have reported it to the ICCC (FBI), and several other police agencies in their respective jurisdictions.
ReplyDeleteI must be a bored artist but I have enjoyed the excercise as a whistle blower. I will send a full report with my real indentity after the inevitable termination with my fraudulant "client" Wagner. Meanwhile, I will waste as much of his time as possible while being entertained in the process. xx