Scam alert

[Wyn Easton]

Recently, from my art website, I got a request to buy several paintings.
This has happened before, so I was a little leery.
I used the "trace" tool at "http://network-tools.com/" to try to see
where the email came from. To use this tool, use the sender's IP address.
Paste it into the text box, click the trace radio button, and click go.
The route the sender's email took was quickly displayed. The route got lost
towards the end, but a key piece of information was displayed at the top of the trace information.
It said that the email originated in Nigeria. That conflicted with
the sender saying they were in Seattle, WA.

I sent a couple of flaming emails back to the sender and haven't heard a peep from them.

Only that they "didn't have time" when I told them I knew this was a scam and why I knew.

Be careful out there. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[Sezzan]

Thanks for " The Heads Up ", Wyn... Appreciate it !

[bkrast]

Good tip! That happened to me once, and I was able to prosecute. Mom's bail hearing is next week. :D

[edencompton]

Thanks Wyn! I have had several e-mail scam attempts but it seems to have increased in frequency in the last few months. It usually is someone posing as an art collector who is redecorating their house in Europe and they want to purchase several paintings that they name from your website. They then want to send a cashier's check for the price plus several hundred dollars more for shipping so that you have to refund them American dollars for the overage. I always submit their e-mail addresses to fineartstudioonline.com . They keep a database of scammer e-mails and have a free service where artists can check to see if a potential "client" is actually listed in the scammer database. I always tell anyone who contacts me from the internet that I don't accept any kind of check. Credit cards or Pay Pal is the safest way to go.

[CJsArtWC]

Thank you Wyn and Eden for your information. I made a note of it for future reference!

[artistdale]

Great info and thanks for sharing.
Years ago a "Nigerian scammer” attempted to take me for a fortune. Back then almost no one ever heard of these people. In my case the person did his research and he really had me fooled but just in case I setup safeguards. It turned out that those safeguards saved my bacon. This guy was so good he even fooled my lawyer. The FBI has posted countless articles warning of and revealing the actions of “Nigerian scammers.” Many of this group also operate out of London England and some are based in the U.S. Back when I had my dealings the FBI said that non-profit and private sector companies pay out over $200,000,000 a year to these frauds. Much of this money is to pay ransom demands for religious organizations who ignorantly send their missionaries to Nigeria to “reach the people.” The missionary is taken captive at the airport, beaten, maybe killed, and if lucky released if ransom is paid. This same thing goes on today in Sri Lanka and other places in the world.

The FBI said that they figure only about 10% of cases are actually reported due to an entity being embarrassed about the matter and not wanting supporters to know.