Articles

Avoiding Internet Scams

Not long ago an artist listed on ArtChain.com contacted us to ask about the credibility of an e-mail she had gotten:

My name is Robert from Glasgow, Scotland. I got an order for the supply of some artworks from my employer, and when i came across your works while searching for good artworks, I found some of them to fit what i am looking for and great for walls, My client (the organization i work for) will be making payment to you by credit card (we can't make use of our paypal account for now because its not properly set up and we exceeded our spending limit) at the price i am selling and i will expect you to ship and send me my commision/margin afterwards.I am looking forward for a long term working relationship. Please let me know if you do commission work and if you accept credit card payment before we place orders, and if you have questions,you can contact me at robbertty@yahoo.com

We did a web search on the e-mail address and found it listed on a scam warning page:

http://www.artistsites.org/art-scam-alerts.php

We also found another useful resource with lots of information on scams, especially those targeting artists:

http://www.artscams.com/

As a general warning, be suspicious of:

• unsolicited contacts from other countries
• anyone using a free e-mail address (yahoo.com, hotmail.com, etc)
• e-mail with many spelling and grammatical errors

Do some web searching... many scams and scammers have been "outed" on the Internet.

But even if you don't find direct evidence that the 'art buyer' is a scammer, read the information on the artscams.com website and proceed with caution.