Black, white, and red abstract painting by Katie Jeanne Wood

For the past week or so, I have been contacted 15 to 20 times by scammers on Tictail. They are repeatedly hitting the same 4 or 5 paintings in my Miz Katie, and Art by Katie Jeanne shops. They’re sending me several messages a day. It’s getting to be quite annoying. Also, if you don’t reply to your messages within a couple hours, Tictail sends you a message to remind you of each one, which makes it worse. 

Anyone who asks you how much something costs when the price is obviously right there, whether it’s still for sale (like duh. why would it be there if it wasn’t?), wants a “final price” (because not only do they want to scam you, but they expect you to be generous, and lower your prices for them, also), or tries to get you to communicate with them offsite is generally up to no good. These are all giant red flags. Scammers want to engage you in conversation for a minute or two to gain your trust. They’ll ask awkward questions, like “how was your night and your family”. Nobody I know would put those two things together in a sentence, but they want to appear friendly.

They also want to get your email address and/or telephone number, and most importantly, your bank account information. I highly suggest marking each one as spam, and going about your day. It’s not worth wasting time on. Once you mark as spam, Tictail stops sending you the reminders to answer your messages, which is also nice. If you’re using Adblocker, you’ll have to turn it off in order to see the spam button. Learned that the hard way.  

If you are contacted via email, get their IP address from the email header, and report them to the FBI. These people need to be stopped. 

If you’re unsure if the message is from a scammer, here’s what to look for..

ps: you’ll get the same message multiple times, more than likely. 

Phillip wrote:

Hello Good Morning, how was your night and your family, can you get back
to me with this number (412) 387-8907 if your item still available for sale

John Abbey wrote:

Hello do you still have this item Available for sale, What is your final asking price, Can i see more photo? Get back to me soon.AT jamesmarshal88888@gmail.com

Philip wrote:

Hello do you still have this item available for sale:
Get back to me AT… mclove0151@gmail.com

Parry wrote:

Hello,how much is it ? kindly text me on {parryjosh4@gmail.com} to let me know the firm price…Regards

Ethan02 wrote:

Can you please contact me on stephenethan02 @ gmail.com to discuss this sale?. My wife is interested and can make the purchase today but have a few inquiry to make first. email me Asap with the last asking price. Thanks

edited on 7.7.17: Tictail sent out an email saying they are aware of the problem, and are working to resolve it. I’ve only received one message since then, so I think they’ve got it under control now. Thanks, TT! I’m still going to go ahead, and post this for those who might not be aware that this is going on online. I looked up a couple of those email addresses, and found out the scammers not only like art, but shoes, and expensive purses, also. Imagine that!