Beware of art scammers

Edited on May 2nd, 2016: Emails have been pouring into my inbox from artists thanking me for writing this post. I’m so happy to help. I only wish I had written it sooner because one artist told me she was scammed by “Handy” for thousands for dollars, which you can read about in Part Two here.

Art scammers are out again in full force. I got hit at the end of December by a couple of vanity publishers trying to get me to pay them 8 or 9 thousand per page to be published in their book, and I’ve been hit again, twice in the past two days. This time by fake art buyers. I’m going to tell you what to look for, so it doesn’t happen to you.

The first scammer contacted me through my contact form here on my website. Here is what he wrote..

Name: Handy

Email: harleymelmel15@gmail.com

Website:

Comment: My name is Handy Parker from MA. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work, I’m also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you. I am very much interested in the purchase of the piece (in subject field above) to surprise my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales.

Thanks and best regards,

Handy.

Time: January 3, 2016 at 4:49 pm
IP Address: 198.199.85.134
Contact Form URL: http://katiejeannewood.com/contact-katherine/
Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

Okay, first glaring mistake..he used my contact form, not email, and there isn’t a subject line on the form. I was my phone at the time, and thought..well, maybe it looks different on my desktop..maybe there’s a subject line that I’m not seeing on my phone. I decided to ignore it, and asked him to send me a link to the work he was inquiring about. This is what I got in return..

Hello,

Thanks for the message, however, I would greatly appreciate if you could possibly recommend a few completed original piece within my budget $1000- $5000 ready for immediate sale… Just need something within that price range for a surprise to my wife (can tell she likes your work). I would appreciate if you can figure out a piece of work that would serve that purpose. Kindly email images and prices of any available works in that range.

Thanks and blessing

Handy.

Um..yeah, sure. Clue number 2..if he was looking at my shop here on my site, all my artwork is priced already. Why would I have to send him images and prices? Maybe because he would turn around and make prints with the images? Or have them copied somehow to resell? I’m not sure. Clue number 3..flashing big numbers before my eyes. I was 90- 95% sure it was a scam at this point, but since he wasn’t coming out with the details, I couldn’t tell what kind of scam it was. I knew he was buttering me up for something, tho. I stopped replying to his emails.

Last night, my husband did a little Googling, and found the exact same email, word for word, over on the Stop Art Scams website. You will see it about halfway down the page. I was now 100% sure that Handy, Harley or whatever his name might be was trying to scam me. He continued to write, begging me to reply or he’d have to move on to another artist. Reading that ticked me off. Of course he was going to move on to another artist..that’s what they do, don’t they? That line inspired me to tell him exactly what I thought his scam this morning in my final email to him. I wanted him to be 100% sure I was on to him. Then I blocked his email from ever seeing the light inside my inbox again. If he writes to me again, it will be automatically deleted. I won’t even see it. Yay for gmail filters!

Now on to scammer number 2, which is probably the same guy, but who knows?

Yesterday over on Daily Paintworks, I started getting messages about 2 of my larger, highest priced paintings. A guy named Robbie Dave seemed in desperate need to get in touch with me because he wrote me 3 times on one painting, 5 times altogether. Each time he wrote the same exact thing..these guys are great at copy and paste, I tell ya. Here’s what he wrote..

I saw your art work for sale on dailypaintworks and i would like to buy from you,get back to me if you still have it for sale on robbiedave124@gmail.com

Again, red flags were immediately flying. Why is this guy repeatedly messaging me about the same painting?? (because he was sooo busy messaging other artists at the same time, he got confused, that’s why. Did I already email her about this one? Eh, I’ll email her again, just to be sure.) Another red flag.. why was he asking me if the paintings were still for sale when there was a buy it button right there? Most people click the button, and pay. They don’t email me first. I’m pretty sure if it has a price, and I uploaded it yesterday, it’s still for sale. However, I thought, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He might know I sell in more than one place, and he’s checking to be sure I didn’t sell it on Etsy already. So, I wrote back to him..

Hi, Robbie! Thanks so much for your inquiry. Both of the paintings you asked about are for sale. I mark them sold when they are no longer available.

Thanks for writing,
Katie

To which he replied..

Thanks for the quick response,hope they are still in good condition and whats the final asking price for the two paintings.

I’m thinking to myself HUH??? Why wouldn’t they be in good condition??? It’s not like I’m selling artwork that’s been sold and resold a million times, and could have been mishandled. It’s a brand new painting. Could be this guy is asking because that’s the kind of business he’s in, eh? He probably sees trashed paintings all the time.

I wrote back..

Prices are listed on the paintings, and I wouldn’t be selling them if they weren’t in good condition.

Katie

You can see my tone of voice has changed in this response. I couldn’t believe the nerve of this person. Not only did I think he was trying to scam me, but he wanted me to give him a deal on top of it??!! I was very leery of this guy/person at this point. What he wrote next had me shaking my head. Get ready, here comes the scam..

Am fine with your final asking price $300,I will be paying you via Pay Pal cause it protect both buyers and sellers and as soon payment has been made,i have a courier that will pick the painting for me so you dont have to bother about the shipping.Kindly get back to me if thats fine with you,Thanks.

Okay..this ticked me off. Here he is lying through his teeth, trying to tell me I’d be protected by Paypal for the purchase. The truth is..I would NOT have been protected, and here’s why…he would have some sleazy person come to my house to pick up the work. This person wouldn’t have a receipt to give me or if he did give me one, it would be made out to another name, not Robbie Dave. In a week or two, Robbie Dave would have filed a Paypal claim saying I never shipped the work. Since I wouldn’t have any proof that someone had picked up the paintings, Paypal would side with him. It wouldn’t matter how many times I might have told Paypal the truth about what had happened, Paypal needs solid proof. What they’re look for is a tracking number. They don’t want to hear that I gave the painting to some Joe who stopped by because Robbie Dave is saying he paid for it, I never shipped it, and he wants his money back!! Guess what happens then? Dear sweet Robbie Dave would get his money returned to him, and I would be out the paintings, and $600. Smooth, right? WRONG!! I saw right through him, and wrote this back..

That is not fine with me, no. Quite honestly, it sounds like a scam. I’m not interested.

I never heard another word from him. I wish now I hadn’t been so polite. This kind of scum doesn’t deserve politeness.

I have reported this jerk to Daily Paintworks, and heard back immediately from Sophie. She said they have had many complaints about this guy, and she was going to pass it along to David, who would hopefully figure out how to block him. Scammers usually return with a new email address shortly after being blocked, tho, so I wanted to write this as a warning. Please don’t fall for these scams. Always, always protect yourself with a paper trail when you ship out paintings. Get a tracking number from USPS, UPS or FedEx, and hang on to it. You never know when someone is out to rip you off. These criminals seem to target artists because they think we’re generous, giving, and trusting..and it’s true. We are all of those things. We’re bound to fall for it, right? Please don’t.

Edited: there is more to the courier service than I realized, which was explained by David at DPW. When they get to your house to pick up the painting, they tell you a large amount is due for their “service”. So, you pay them to take your paintings away, and then get hit with a Paypal claim in a couple weeks. So, it’s a scam on top of a scam, and they want you to discount the price of the painting, too. Wow! I’m so sorry for artists who have been duped by these scammers.

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