From: michelle barry [michelle.barryllc@gmail.com]
Date: March 1, 2013 4:47:06 AM EST
Subject: Lemon Oil on Canvas
Hello,
Am Michelle from Florida, I was browsing through your work of arts on your website and i found this artwork interesting , I believe you've devoted so much time and effort to create it. i will like to acquire it for my new apartment this month.
please let me know if the piece is available, shoot me an email with the details and price. I awaits your response
Regards.
Michelle.
Scammers use the Internet to find new victims. I fight back using the Internet to educate and help artists NOT become victims.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Scam Email: Michelle Barry
Nothing too unusual about this one. It's a bit brief but you can tell it is a scam by the poor English and the set up about moving (which will lead into the rest of the scam in subsequent emails, about a mover coming to pick it up and sending a cashier's check, etc).
I got the same email from the same person. When asked for my address & phone number I gave them the address & phone number of the Seattle FBI offices. They apparently still sent a check that was received today. I'm assuming they figured out I was on to them. Their shipper that I was supposed to send the "extra" money to is
ReplyDeleteName : Erica Silver
address : 101 Summer St.
City : Stamford
State : CT
Zip Code : 06905
USA
The address is a FedEx office which I assume has mailboxes.
And it continues:
ReplyDeleteHi Juan,
Good Am and hope this message finds you well, Please do confirm with your bank, the money ought to have cleared into your account by now, kindly help me send my shippers money this morning via western union as finalized, please do let me know once this is done so i can inform her to call you and set up an appointment for the pick up, if possible today or latest tomorrow, cos she is due in the States tomorrow, everything needs to be finalized ASAP.
Regards,
Michelle.
My response:
Michelle,
I bank on a small co-op bank and unfortunately they won't release funds until they have cleared your bank.
Apparently they've recently have had some issues with counterfeit cashier's checks and they are being ultra careful. Who would do that? It's terrible.
Anyway, will let you know when it's clear. they say it takes about 5 - 7 days.
Sure enough, I got hit too by the scam. Thank you for the warning. When it is too good to be true...it usually is!!! The FBI address is quite clever. I'll use Seattle PD jst for kicks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting I was also contacted and just stopped the sale of my painting. This purchase was initiated by Ron Walker LLC who said he was moving. See below:
ReplyDeleteDear Steve,
Am so sorry for not being in touch with you since, ave been extremely busy with the conference down here, thanks for your patience though
The check has been issued and mailed to you via FedEx with tracking no (7995 9246 1790), you can log on to their website(www.fedex.com) and track the shipment for confirmation. It will be delivered to you any moment from now, I conclude you are a responsible person and I can therefore entrust you with this arrangement.
Once you receive the check, you can go ahead and deposit it into your account, my bank said it should clear into your account by the end of the day or tomorrow Am, please deduct the money for the piece and kindly help me send the remaining balance in cash!! to my shipper who will be coming over to your place for pick up as she is shipping the artwork along with my other belongings from my place in the States to my new home in Johannesburg
Kindly help me send the remaining balance in cash via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER (money in minute) to my shipper, You can walk into any of their agent locations around you and have the money sent, Please deduct the western union charges from the funds and do get back to me with all the necessary information which will be needed for the collection the money I.e:
Sender's name
Amount sent
And mtcn #
Below is the shipper's information which you will be sending the remaining money to via western union;
Name : Erica Silver
Address : 101 Renn Ave.
City : Clovis
State : CA
Zip Code : 93811
Kindly try all your best to deposit the check immediately it arrives,once the shipper receive's the money, she will give you a call and set up an appointment for the pick up.
Thanks for your help and understanding, I apologize once again for any inconveniences, I await your response.
kind regards,
Ron.
My gut said that something was wrong. I too will report him to the police, FBI
It has *all* the classic elements of the fake buyer scam. I'm glad you trusted your gut enough to go search online before any money was sent via wire transfer. It's why I keep encouraging everyone to post these. We can at least lower their success rate.
ReplyDeleteHere is another one - Michelle Barry LLC. Mcihelle.barryllc@gmail.com. Here also is her "intro." She was from Florida but was in Europe for work and wanted to buy a piece for her new house in South Africa. She even had one of my pieces listed in her subject line - Provence in Arlington.
ReplyDeleteHello,
Am Michelle from Florida, I was browsing through your work of arts on your website and i found this artwork interesting , I believe you've devoted so much time and effort to create it. i will like to acquire it for my new apartment this month.
please let me know if the piece is available, shoot me an email with the details and price. I awaits your response
Regards.
Michelle.
From: Bill Stenberg
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well, Pardon the delay in getting back to you, Its due to my tight schedule, your patience is appreciated,
The check has been issued and mailed to you via FedEx It will be delivered to you tomorrow Am, I conclude you are a responsible person and I can therefore entrust you with this arrangement.
Once you received the check, you can go ahead and deposit it into your account, my bank said it should clear into your account within 24hrs or Next day, Please deduct the money for the piece and send the remaining balance to my shipper who will be coming over to your place for pick up, She is shipping the artwork along my other belongings from my place in the States to my new home in Johannesburg
Kindly help me send the remaining balance in cash via Western Union Money Transfer (money in minute) to my shipper, You can walk into any of their agent locations around you and have the money sent, deduct the western union charges from the funds and also deduct $50 for Gas. and do get back to me with all the necessary information which will be needed for the collection the money I.e:
Sender's Name
Amount Sent
And MTCN #
Below is my shipper's information which you will be sending the remaining money to via western union;
Name : Erica Silver
address : 1959 Renn Ave.
City : Clovis
State : CA
Zip Code : 93611
Kindly try all your best to deposit the check Tomorrow when iyt arrives, once my shipper receives her payment, she will give you a call and set up an appointment for the pick up.
Thanks for your help and understanding,I apologize for any inconveniences caused, I await your response.
Warm Regards,
Bill
Hello all, this person appears to be going by the name Barry Dominican now, email address mrbdominica@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteYep, I was contacted in the last week under three different names including Barry Dominican.
DeleteBarry just contacted me today. same email address. thanks for this page, lets end the fraud
ReplyDeleteI have been in email and text communication with this guy and the fraudulent check for three times the value of the art arrived by courier today. I should have googled him and found this blog right away. thanks.
ReplyDeleteit to my shipper.He's due in the US sometime next week and will
ReplyDeletedefinitely be getting in touch with you for the pick up.The truth is,i would have handled this much differently if i would be at home but Im a bit pressed for time myself.
Im moving to germany this month.As it is, I'm sending you an overdraft which will include my shippers fees as
well.Im trying to kill two birds with a stone.So,once you've received and cashed the check,deduct your payment for the artwork
and PLEASE help me send the remaining funds to(Mover).
I'll forward his contact details to you once you've received the
payment.Now I'm concluding you are a responsible person and I can
therefore entrust you with this arrangement.Ill let you know
Immediately the check is sent out to you so you should be looking out for it.P.S:I`ll require that a reconfirmation of your address is done for me now. I await your reply.i,My name is Barry Dominican. I lived and worked in Hawaii for
21years.I'm in the process of moving to Germany to expand my business
field. I just bought a house there and I'm interested in collecting
some artworks for some spaces within my house to make it unique and
beautiful. Can I have a few images of your recent works? I won't mind
having your website so as to explore more into your works.I look
forward to hearing back from you soonest.
Hi,My name is Briant Dom. I lived and worked in Québec for 20years.I'm
ReplyDeletein the process of moving to France to expand my business field. I just
bought a house there and I'm interested in collecting some artworks
for some spaces within my house to make it unique and beautiful.
I went through your website and found this artworks titled
I got this one this morning
I just got an email from Briant Dom! Living in Hawaii and moving to Germany. A check from her current "company" will be sent to me!
ReplyDelete...Right! Thank you all for your comments. A real headache to be!
Got it this morning and just ignored it. Some scuzzy people out there preying on Artists. But keep up the spirit fellow "creative ones"....we're saving the world; one Artist at a time.
ReplyDeleteWow, Briant Dom loves my artwork, too! Smelled fishy enough that I googled him first, thank for posting this info on the scammers.
ReplyDelete"Hope this message finds you well,im Briant from Hawaii,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm
interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within
my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Briant."
Gee Briant Dom loves my artwork too! Got the exact same email as the one above. I googled him and this site came up. Thanks for posting the info.
ReplyDeleteHope this message finds you well,im Briant from Hawaii,was browsing
ReplyDeletethrough the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm
interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within
my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Briant.
Another artist who's loved by Briant Dom. Thanks so much for posting your experiences here. Found this when I googled his name. Exact wording in the email as quotes above.
ReplyDeleteBriant Dom
ReplyDeleteMar 21 (2 days ago)
to me
A big Thank you to you all. here is the exact email form March 20th:
--
Hope this message finds you well,im Briant from Hawaii,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm
interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within
my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Briant.
Any suggestions on how to bust this creep?
My thanks to all persons that have been posting their experience re. art scamers.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I received today and the info on this site really helped.
Hope this message finds you well,im Briant from Hawaii,was browsing
through the internet and my eyes caught some of your works and I'm
interested in purchasing some of your artworks for some spaces within
my new house to make it unique and beautiful.
Can I have few images of your recent works?I won't mind having your
main website so as to explore more into your works.kindly reply with
your cell number.
Briant.
Briant Dom is still well and phishing from Hawaii. No need to repeat the scam letter. Thanks for the internet tip. I followed up with him to see what his next ploy will be !?
ReplyDeleteYou would think after so many scam letters he or they would learn to spell! He loves Canadian artists too. I received the exact word for word letter about his new house. Thanks for these posts. I will pass it on to our art group.
ReplyDeleteI received two emails today. The first from daniel lachan wanting to buy my work. I wondered if it was a scam. Then I received a second email from a briant dom. It was worded exactly the same ...browsing through the internet and my eyes caught etc. Then I knew it was a scam.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posts, Briant Dom contacted another Canadian artist today with the same email as above. Appreciate the help!
ReplyDeleteOctober 10, 2015
ReplyDeleteBriant Dom is alive and well and apparently he admires artwork of Canadian artists from Winnipeg Manitoba. I deleted it, but then thought I would check him out on the internet and here is all the information I wanted to know. Thank you everyone for posting these things. It is great when honest people can help each other.