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Possible scam to be aware of ....
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Message
Posted
Rupert Cordeux has sent me a message, as he seemed unable to get into the forum himself, asking that I let you all know about the following which is possibly a scam:
'I have just received a badly-written email from 'Derek Fritze' in Titusville, NJ, USA, urgently requesting ten of my paintings with a total value in excess of £3000 as a wedding anniversary present. He wouldn't look at the paintings on my website but insisted on me sending them in a zip file. Now he only wants to look at them via Skype only and says he'll soon be sending me a 100% guaranteed 'check' etc... I street-viewed the address which looks reasonable enough, searched for scams by the same guy and found nothing. But, oddly enough, his name is the same as that of a senior police detective working in a neighbouring county of the same state'.
Posted
So hard to tell a scam from a genuine approach at times - this doesn't seem to be genuine, but how on earth you can tell .... well, it'll either become horribly clear if Rupert goes for it, or, conversely, not - he said helpfully.
There are numerous art scams going on. Ten paintings, though? Who on earth wants ten paintings for a wedding present? 'Check' is the US spelling of 'cheque', but whatever the spelling is, cheques can bounce: Paypal would be safer!
Posted
Coincidentally I received an email a few days ago from someone calling himself Dennis Potter and claiming that he saw my paintings when his wife was looking at my website (I don't have a website). He asked for further information with a view to possible sale. The whole thing looked dodgy, as I said I don't have a website, there was no address other than SC wherever that is, or any personal info, and he uses a gmail address. Just ditched the email. Bit puzzled about how he would have heard of me and got my email address, as I have no social media presence, and the only place I have any of my work is POL. Perhaps there are people phishing for some reason?