Scam Email: Steve Wood

Yup, Tom - it's a scam. Delete it and do not respond.


Hi Kathleen,

Its been 2 years since my last email about the scam I was in the middle of – and got out of with your help. I received another email yesterday from 'Steve Wood'. The punctuation in his message is strange, and he only
answered one of two questions I first asked him, in his response. He didn't tell me how he ran across my work:

*I want to have the beautiful painting ("name here") purchased immediately for my wife as a gift for our anniversary.I'm presently on deployment in Afghanistan,so i have limited access to communication,i will only be able to respond through email at the moment. I would have personally appreciate to have it purchased in person and to meet with you could have also been a great privilege The price is totally acceptable by me $2,000  i'm sure its framed? i will authorized a check payment to you immediately i can get hold of your information,and i want it to be delivered as a surprise to our new home.Please consider the beautiful piece of the artwork sold to me.

However,you don't have to worry about shipment,my shipper will handle it.I'll notify my shipping agent who's moving my belongings from our old home in Florida to get ready for the pickup of the artwork from your
address. I will appreciate if you can forward to me your Full details,(which you want the check payable to ) such as your Full name,contact address and mobile number.The payment will be sent to the address provided,i will not want any delay due to my inability to access to easy communication.I expect your prompt response.Thank you
Best Regards*

I'm not going to respond as I think its a scam. Two years ago, the other scammer spoke in an inflated way about my work, was unavailable to talk by phone, was 'in transition' between homes, has a 'shipper' who would handle delivery, and asking me for too much info... (who asks for a mobile number?). And the interest sounds 'urgent' and he doesn't want 'any delay'.

Your thoughts?

thanks, Tom

Scam Email: Alex Starks

Pretty classic scam email below. So many scammers seem lately to be saying they have a store in Finland. Not sure what the preoccupation with Finland is about...

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Alex Starks [alexgreatlife@aol.com]
> Subject: order
> Date: June 28, 2014 10:46:33 AM EDT
> To:
>
>
>
> Good day,
>
> My name is Mr. Alex Starks,I will like to make a purchase to my store in Finland. I run a small store and I am interested in doing business with you. i will like to know if you can work with my shipping agent in making sure your products get to me safely. My method of payment is via my u.s issued credit card ,so kindly advise which card you would require,Visa or Master Card.
>
> Your swift response will be highly gratified.
>
> Regards
> Alex Starks

Scam Email: Adrian Hermes

Here is a scam that is so telling - sent to an "undisclosed list of recipients" (aka huge spam list) and apologizing upfront for not remember your website (they have no way to track the websites of hundreds of thousands of people they spam every day, and really they are not visiting the websites in this case anyway).

What they need for the scam are people to reply to the email and say that's okay... here is my website url. And THAT way when the scammer continues on the steps of the scam, they can make Round 2 of email exchanges a lot more personalized so you believe they are a real buyer when they are not. Then they WILL go to your website and pick out specific artwork to "buy".

In this way, they keep their own efforts efficient and the least amount of work for maximum gain.

What is their gain? With a fake story they will eventually overpay for something and ask the money be forwarded to their [fake] shipper, because they are moving or temporarily out of the country or whatever. And (here comes the kicker), it will need to be wired to them. Hard untraceble cash wired directly to the scammer, who then disappears. While the victim then learns, too late, the original money was either a counterfeit check or a stolen credit card.

How do you avoid this scam? Two simple rules:

1. NEVER accept overpayment for any reason. Just don't.
2. NEVER EVER EVER (can I throw one more in for good measure?) NEVER send money via wire transfer - for any reason. This is the crux of the scam and if you don't do this, you'll be safe from at least this scam.

Check out this scam email:

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Hermes [adrianhermes@outlook.com]
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Sent: Thu, Jun 5, 2014 2:19 pm
Subject: Inquiry and request about your work of Art

Good morning,
        I was able to view your work from the website you had it displayed in and unfortunately for me i kind of lost the website but i stored your contact,i will like to ask if you have a piece(s) for sale and can you kindly re-direct me to your website. i will be awaiting to read from you soon.
Thanks
Adrian

Scam Email: Lesley Donna

Odds are that I, too, am going to receive scam emails directly to my email account, even as I spend so much of my time and energy trying to expose scammers. But scammers don't care - it's a numbers game to them... how many hundreds of thousands of emails can they send, what percentage of people reply thinking it's a real client, what percentage of them get funneled through the entire steps of the scam and actually send their good hard-earned money to a scammer... it's all about the numbers.

How did I know the below was a scam email? Well, I've been looking at these same "stories" for years and really they don't vary much. Also, lately scammers have been really annoying in when they set up their fake name, they've been picking two first names so that usually tells me it's likely a scam email to look at further. Then scammers do this other very odd thing... and they've done this for years - their name at the end of the email always seems to contain a period. In a place where a real person would NOT be putting a period. I don't know why scammers do this. I think they are just using some template and are too dumb to remove it. They also always have this international thing - their fake story either has them living internationally, moving to an international location or temporarily working or serving in the military in some foreign location. That will set up the later part of their scam story as to why you need to *wire* money to them. DON'T! Step away from the western union counter! Don't do it. For any reason. THAT is what the scammer is after. Not your paintings, not your widgets... they are after your cash. Do not accept overpayments and do NOT wire money to anyone for any reason. P.S. Any credit card they use will be stolen (and not always reported as such yet) so ask the scammer for the billing address on the credit card. Chances are the scammer will end the scam right there because they won't know the billing address. Or they may try to provide you a fake one. Call the credit card company and verify if the billing address is the same one as on file.

Okay, enough venting about these scum bags. Here is the scam email I just received.

Return-Path: [rahadmin@stjameswood.net]
From: Lesley Donna [lesley.donnashop@gmail.com]
Reply-To: lesley.donnashop@gmail.com
Subject: Interested in placing an order

Good Day,

    I am Lesley Donna from Norway, i want to inform you that your items are most creative & desirable, so much talent! I am interested in purchasing some of your artwork/items into my shop here in Norway, but before this is done, i want to inform that i will be making the payment with my Master card Detail because presently my best form of payment is via credit card.
  This 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 Norway, so you don't need to be worried about the shipment nor handling fee.

Lesley-DonnaShop
Brenneriveien 9 B,
0182 Oslo,
Norway.
Telephone: + 47 23 32 53 20
Telefax:   + 47 23 32 37 04
lesley.donnashop@gmail.com

Warmest Regards,
Lesley Donna.

Scam Email: Paul Newman

The use of a famous name like Paul Newman doesn't make this any less of a scam.

Kathleen, Thank you for your post about scammers trying to buy artwork. I have received an email before from someone saying that they were in the process of moving from California to Africa and listed several piece of art work that they wanted to purchase. The way it was worded from the beginning made me question it. However, recently got another email that I think should be added to your list.

[mailto:paulnewman946@gmail.com]  "do you still have this artwork for sale? (a specific piece was mentioned). I responded, "Hi Paul. I do still have this piece. Feel free to give me a call. (Telephone number included). Thank you for your interest in my work. Laura.

He responded, "Thanks for the message, I am very happy to know that the item is available for sale. i must tell you that my wife  browse through the net and saw your artwork (  Title of Artwork 24" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas $300) now, and we are very much interested in the immediate purchase because we need it for our new apartment,we will like to  buy it before someone else requested for it, and I know this is worth more than the price, So i agree your selling offer I agree that After payment clears, Then shipping agent will do the pick up of it and collection at your location. I will be paying through a Certified Bank Check so once you have it clear and you have your funds at hand the shipping agent will be coming to pick it up. Here is the information needed, Kindly Text me Your,

Full Name:

Home Address
Cell phone number
total cost
kindly get back to me So that i can proceed with the payment arrangement and relay it to you, consider it sold and get back to me with the details of yours in which the Check  will be written,i await your quick response...

Thanks & Regards
 
So I responded, "give your full name and address. So I can calcuate shipping)

They responded, "Kindly text me your...." (Above information)

I wish I had come across your blog the first day that I tried researching this!!!!