!!!!! WARNING !!!!!
Please tell your friends who sell their art online! My friend just got scammed big time and he wants to send out a big warning to everyone else. Many of you are familiar with the "overpayment" e-mail scams : The "buyer" sends you a check or money order for MORE than the price of the item, but soon "realizes" the mistake, and asks for a refund of the overpayment. Once you send the refund, however, you discover that the buyer's check has bounced.
Here is another form of this scam but a bit more personal.
Here is Mu's e-mail:
"Dear friends of mine,
something really bad happened to me recently, I got scammed.. yes, I got scammed.
few weeks ago some person from England e-mailed me and pretending to buy my paintings, and then he sent me a bad check, which i was not experienced enough to ask people around before deposit it, after that he canceled the deal and asked me to send his money back through western union. He lied with very convincing story so it end up I lost $5800 dollars. It is a very complicate situation, so i can not go through all the details with you with E-mail now.
I was just too inexperienced and too stupid and naive which allowed me gave him a chance to trick our money. The worst part is neither my bank and the police would do any thing for me, but at least I still have my paintings...
I contacted FBI today and they told me to send them all the information I have, I hope they will do something about this, I am not asking them to get that guy for me, I just want them to know that there is one more victim now, and I wish we can be protected in the future.
Now, I know you all are much smarter than me and you will never drag yourself to shit like this, but I still want to let you all to know that this had already happened to someone around us, so please be really careful when people try to approach you about your work on line, especially do not trust any body from outside of United States. "
As if artists don't have a hard enough time trying to make a living! I am so disgusted.
Message to the scammers:
Don't take advantage of my foreign friends.
Thanks a bunch,
M.P.
Update:
Here is a link to an art forum that discusses other art scams that are going on!
Here is another form of this scam but a bit more personal.
Here is Mu's e-mail:
"Dear friends of mine,
something really bad happened to me recently, I got scammed.. yes, I got scammed.
few weeks ago some person from England e-mailed me and pretending to buy my paintings, and then he sent me a bad check, which i was not experienced enough to ask people around before deposit it, after that he canceled the deal and asked me to send his money back through western union. He lied with very convincing story so it end up I lost $5800 dollars. It is a very complicate situation, so i can not go through all the details with you with E-mail now.
I was just too inexperienced and too stupid and naive which allowed me gave him a chance to trick our money. The worst part is neither my bank and the police would do any thing for me, but at least I still have my paintings...
I contacted FBI today and they told me to send them all the information I have, I hope they will do something about this, I am not asking them to get that guy for me, I just want them to know that there is one more victim now, and I wish we can be protected in the future.
Now, I know you all are much smarter than me and you will never drag yourself to shit like this, but I still want to let you all to know that this had already happened to someone around us, so please be really careful when people try to approach you about your work on line, especially do not trust any body from outside of United States. "
As if artists don't have a hard enough time trying to make a living! I am so disgusted.
Message to the scammers:
Don't take advantage of my foreign friends.
Thanks a bunch,
M.P.
Update:
Here is a link to an art forum that discusses other art scams that are going on!
7 Comments:
That sucks. Enough said....
hope it never happens again.
I assume you can take it as a loss on taxes for '08. Not much compensation, I know but still....
That really is awful - I too hate these horrible scams.
However, as someone from the UK I'm a little upset about the "don't trust anyone outside of the US" remark. Scams come from all over the world, including the US, surely the better advice would be to be more aware of the risks.
!!!! ewwwww !!!!
Thank you Marilyn for posting this on your blog. And I hope we all can stop those scums one day.
Please do not be upset when I mention "outside the U.S", because this message was for people around me, I just wanted them to know that if we got scammed outside the U.S, neither police and FBI will do any thing for us.
so, please be aware!!
Hi Jessica,
I am sorry If I offended you or anyone else with this post. Mu sent this e-mail to just a few people living in the U.S.. As he explained above, he just means be careful doing business outside your country because your government might not do anything about it if you get scammed.
Ahh - that makes better sense then! Sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion!
That is sooo bad.It disgusts me that the police didn't take it more seriously straight away. Really sorry to hear your friend was ripped off.
Post a Comment
<< Home