Other variations of email scams

Here is an informative blog excerpt of other variations of the scam. They do not only target artists, but anyone selling items online:

I've been subject to a number of E-mail fraud attempts the last months.
These attempts differ from the common Nigeria letters were someone promises millions of dollars if you let them use your bank account to smuggle money out of this development country or that (but first you have to pay a fee to transfer the money). They are of course only out there to rob you of your money, Nigeria scams have actually led to violence on some occasions.

These other frauds are planned to work this way:

Someone contacts you and want to buy something rather expensive from you. They then want to pay with a check which due to one reasoning or another (often they claim that they got the check from a third party customer) is set to a higher sum than the price you set for your goods. Happily you go to your bank and cash in the check, and if the people in the bank are naive enough they give you cash for it right away. The people which claimed they wanted to buy your goods demand to get back the excess amount, which you, since you are an honest fellow, send to them. A few days later the bank people discover that the check of course is uncovered and demand the money back from you.
If the fraudulent people are really successful they will in the end get both your money and your goods.

Here are a few tell-tales of a fraudulent business proposal of this kind:

• There's no real address in the message, and if you search the net for the names mentioned in the mail you will probably not get any relevant hits.
• Find the originating IP-address in the mail and search for it (within quotation marks - as a phrase) on Google. You will probably get a lot of hits about "Mugu" and Nigeria scams - these are the same people.
• The IP-addresses often originate from Nigeria or Great Britain. Check IP addresses with one of these:
  • CheckDomain.com (general IP-addresses)
  • RIPE database (European IP-addresses)
  • APNIC (Asian IP-addresses)
  • AfriNIC.com (African IP-addresses)
  If you own a website you can use your .htaccess file to block entire countries from accessing your site with the information provided above. That might be justified if your site is targeted on specific parts of the world but be very careful and restrictive with the "deny from"-command.
• A Yahoo E-mail account is almost always used.

  Here are a few scammer's addresses I've ran across:

  anthony1_smith@yahoo.com
  ben_small2002@yahoo.ca
  ebayarts01@yahoo.co.uk
  femiolustore@yahoo.com
  gcraige108@yahoo.com
  gibstore2@yahoo.com
  seasonsdecorators@yahoo.com
  teresastore4all@yahoo.com
  
• It's almost always urgent.

You can protect yourself from this by:

• Never, ever accept deals were the customer are eager to pay you a larger sum than you asked for.
• Never accept checks as payment unless you really trust the one paying. Use PayPal for handling money online.
• Never arrange meetings with these kind of people unless you bring your army with you and plan to use it.

here are a few authentic mails I've received (And no, they haven't managed to fool me, but they do sound pretty convincing at first don't they?):

IP: 64.70.24.67 HOST: ip-64-70-24-67.hosts.zerolag.com E-mail: gcraige108@yahoo.com Name: George Craige Address:United Kingdom Tel:+447031906160 Enquiry On Your Art Work Good day to you, I visited your site and i saw these fascinating artworks and i found some interest in :- 1. (City of the Spirits 2006) 2. (UPHILL IS GOOD 2005) So , i will like to buy them for our new house in United Kingdom. I must say you really doing a great job ,I have already contacted a shipping company that will be shipping them along with our other house decorations. Our shipping company will Pick-Up these items once i pay you . I will be paying you with a Certified Check which will be easily cashed at your bank, Please let me know your mind about this sales and tell the the price for each ? I will be looking forward to your response on how to proceed. Regards, George Craige.

IP: 213.185.113.84 E-mail: anthony1_smith@yahoo.com Name:anthony smith FROM THE DESK OF ANTHONY SMITH CHAIRMAN, CONTRACT AWARD AND REVIEW COMMITEE DEAR SIR/MADAM, I AM SENATOR ANTHONY SMITH THE CHAIRMAN OF CONTRACT AWARD AND REVIEW COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE. THIS COMMITTEE WAS SET UP BY THE SENATE PRESIDENT CHIEF KEN NWACHUKWU TO MONITOR AND AWARD ALL CONTRACT FOR THE SENATE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA. THE SENATE HAS DECIDED TO RE-DECORATE THEIR APARTMENTS AND WE WILL LIKE TO AWARD TO YOU THE SUM OF $1.5 MILLION IN ARTWORKS PURCHASE, WE HAVE GONE THROUGH YOUR RESUME AND WE LOVE YOUR WORKS AND HAVE DECIDED TO WORK WITH YOU IF YOU CAN HANDLE SUCH A LARGE CONTRACT. THE CONTRACT PAYMENT WILL BE PAID TO YOU VIA THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA AFTER ALL NECCESARY CONTRACTUAL DOCUMENTS AS BEEN ENDORSED IN YOUR NAME BY THE SENATE. SO IF YOU CAN HANDLE THIS TRANSACTION, I WILL LIKE YOU TO GET BACK TO ME VIA MY PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS FOR MORE DETAILS THANKS AND HOPE TO WORK WITH YOU. YOURS FAITHFULLY, SENATOR ANTHONY SMITH CHAIRMAN C.A.R.C My note: 1.5 million dollars - that's some bait! This scammer certainly takes the price. "Anthony Smith" is one of the most commonly used names in Nigeria-scams.

IP: 213.255.199.21 E-mail: seasonsdecorators@yahoo.com I am a private interior decorator located in the Netherlands . I have a client who's beenhearing of your works and is very much interested to buy any nice outdoor sculpture fordesigning a new home. Do as much send me lists and prices of your available quality sculptures so that my clientcan be able to choose the best prefered one. Awaiting your urgent response . Many thanks John Tofler

IP: 193.220.127.134 E-Mail: teresastore4all@yahoo.com hello, this is teresa store, i have visited your website and i am veryinterested in your items, i want you to kindly get back to me withbetter information so i can place my order in your store, and i wouldalso want you to advice me on your mode of payment. and for theshippment to lagos nigeria. i want you to get back to me as soon as possible so that i can orderimmediatly. awaiting to read from you. best regards. Mrs teresa.

IP: 80.179.244.154 E-Mail: ebayarts01@yahoo.co.uk From: rodrick stan Question: hello max, with reference to your advert,i hereby wish toindicate my interest in buying your dickhead tanks artwork.is itstill available?if you are interested,contactme through my mail address.rod............. My reply: Hello there, I can sell the Dickhead Tanks to you for $200 each, both (there are only two made) with freight ($50) included; $450. Payment via PayPal ( http://www.paypal.com ) is usually the easiest and safest way. /MMN IP: 80.179.244.154 E-Mail: ebayarts01@yahoo.co.uk hello max, I write to inform you that your price $450 has been accepted.However,my client made out a US certified cashiers check before he travelled to moscow for a diplomatic call,for a previous artwork and its shipment charges etc,but it was unfortunately sold.The amount on the check he deposited for the artwork before he left is bigger than what should be paid to you now, so the check is now meant for the total expenses which includes the purchase of your artwork,the pick up of the artwork from its present location and the shipping charges/other necessary shipping arrangements.So we want to know if we shall carry on with that.I will get back to you as soon as i conclude issues with him.Please get back to us as soon as you recieve this. Thanks, rodrick............. My response: End of conversation.

IP: 193.220.26.20 E-mail: femiolustore@yahoo.com Name:femi olu Address:42,odududwa st Tel:234-55665565 Dear sales, My name is Femi Olu from Nigeria,I am America citizen here in Nigeria,and own this items store here in Lagos State Nigeria and I would like to order for this product from your store below: Items: 3 Qtys THE GOLDEN ROUTE, Oil and acrylic on wood, glossy varnish. 66 X 39 cm (25 X 15") Year 2004 Kindly mail me the cost and the shipping cost via UPS to Lagos StateNigeria,So as to have you paid with my credit card for you to chargefor the order urgent. Hope to hear from you back urgent. Best Regard, Thanks you. Femi Olu. My note: This one is slightly different, it's not a check fraud. Instead the person behind it is fishing for my bank account number. "Femi Olu" went silent when I insisted on using PayPal for payment.

IP: 86.164.255.95 E-mail: peterbill_art01@yahoo.com Name: Mr Peter art gallery Hello Artist, How are you doing today...am a at lover and i wish to get a very good work for my new appartment...I read your Ad and i am interested in buying your (painting work,) you still have for sale.Send me recent paintwork you have and there price list and let me know your last asking price on each if you will accept Bankers draft as means of payment.Get back to me with the request information or kindly call me phone +447760237989 asap if there is any question to ask and have a wonderful day. Regards, Mr Peter....

Excerpt from the blog at MaxMagnusNorman.com. Used by permission.