Scammer Names used to target Artists

Update: scammers are now offering to pay via paypal so don't be fooled. How they continue their scam is they end up sending what looks like a completely legitimate payment confirmation from paypal, with even a link to view the details of the payment. But it turns out it is not from paypal. It is a copycat site that looks like its paypal. And some even ask you to log in and then the scammer has your paypal log in information and you are now in MORE trouble than before! The only way to be sure is to never visit paypal from a link in an email. Always independently log in from a new browser window, hand typing in the paypal website address (and not the address in the email! google the correct address if you have to).

Scammer Names used to target Artists

Website Scams « Mike Caddy's Art & Marketing Blog

I hate deceitful people. Let's fight them! In relation to my last blog entry about scams, here's more for you to read!

Website Scams « Mike Caddy's Art & Marketing Blog

Another Art Scam

I just waved off another scam attempt. This one came from someone with a wonderfully comfortably familiar name of Melissa. It read:

Hello,

I am interested in some of your items , but will like to know how long it will take to deliver items to Slovenia as that is the destination. More also i will like to confirm what kind of Credit Card do you accept as form of payment? Kindly get back to me with answer to my inquiry and don't forget to include your updated website link for me to browse through.

God Bless.

   Slovenia? I've gotten art scam emails from that part of the world before, so I was immediately suspicious. Still, this email was better written than the others I'd gotten. 

   I read it again. I had questions.

   ItemS? Plural? Too good to be true. 

   What kind of credit card do I accept? It's pretty plain and simple: Paypal. 

    Updated website link? To browse through? Now that's just odd. I don't even know what to say about that.

   So I selected the body of the email, copied it and pasted it into Google's search box. The first page of the results showed no less than six anti spam forums reporting the very same email. I even found a Facebook page called Stop Art Scams.

   These scammers aren't out to steal your art. They probably don't even like art. They want to buy your art with a stolen credit card number. Then, they want to pay outrageous shipping charges to a nonexistent company that communicates with a hotmail or live.com address. They get all the cash from the shipping company, and you lose your art.*
*UPDATE: I've become more familiar with these scams. You don't always lose your art. Most of the time you don't. Once you wire the stolen money to the bogus shipping company, contact stops. They don't care about your art.

   Apparently, they don't just target 2-D artists, but jewelers, sculptors, crafters, and general e-commerce sellers. They're playing numbers games. If they fail with you, they'll just move on to someone else. Every reply is set up in advance. Once an artist nibbles, they start the reeling-in process. 

   As I was investigating, I was surprised by how many people had actually gone through part of the process before they became suspicious. I wonder how many went all the way?

    I'm told it's best to simply delete and ignore these emails. But I can't help myself. I told the person they should be ashamed of themselves for using God's good name to imply trust so they can steal from people. I'm sure my scolding did little good. I'm sure these scumballs are still out there. So be careful, be educated, and share the warning!