I have received the phishing email below twice, both directly and through DPW. if you receive it, DO NOT RESPOND. Here’s why. [And here—more current.]
“Greetings,
My name is Gail Walton from Cincinnati OH… 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… Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales…
Thanks for the heads up about not giving away your internet info. I got that same email and promptly deleted it. If they were for real buyers, I’d have gotten a notice from Paypal, instead.
They don’t ask about a particular art work; instead they’re very vague. 2. They’d obviously already been to DPW and seen my gallery, and yet were asking for prices. 3. They try to control or alter the terms of the transaction in some unusual way.
I had someone do this to me. Like Theresa said, they say nice things about your paintings but don’t seem to have any strong preference. I paint mostly cats and portraits and most collectors are interested in one or the other (though I do have some collectors who get both). The scammer was interested in my few still lifes, portraits, all over the board—there seemed to be no pattern. They claimed they couldn’t do PayPal or credit cards. A lot of their “problem” was that they were from overseas. I told them that UGallery (where I also sell) handles International sales easily but they ignored that.
I kept on telling them that I couldn’t help them, but they acted like I had to. I knew what they were up to but thought I’d play along but it got old. Finally I told them I couldn’t privately sell paintings that were up on UGallery; my agreement with UGallery doesn’t permit me to do that. I told them to contact UGallery to sort things out because my hands were tied. That finally shut them up.
I think that their attempt to pressure people, to try and order them around is a big indicator. They’re trying to seize control of the transaction and intimidate the seller. IMO it’s the seller who should set the terms of transaction, not the buyer.
Agreed. Now that I think of it, I think they’re trying to put fear into the artist, make the artist feel guilty or like they’re not being flexible enough or something.
You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you… Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales…