Thread by @kortizart

Friendly reminder that if you ever get an email like this, it’s a con artist trying to steal your money.

I wasn’t too kind ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m nice & polite except to con artists like these doing the same tired con which specifically targets artists.

Here’s how this con works:

1. They first hit you up with a story that goes like this “My wife (usually it’s a wife) was browsing your site. I wanna surprise her with a painting for our anniversary. My budget is as follow (usually a range over $1000), we offer check as payment, please send available art”

2. You get excited, say yes and send pics of available pieces. They’ll often chose the most expensive painting.

They tell you they’ll arrange shipment (they’ll often say they own a courier company or something.) and have sent a check in advanced.

3. You get the check, and holy crap it’s more than what you expected!

They say it’s because they wanna support you, or it’s the courier’s fee or both. You deposit the check and all is well...

But suddenly there’s an emergency, and husband/wife is now in the ER!!!

4. They need that extra cash a.s.a.p and send you Western Union info. Send it quick, they need it to pay doctors! She’s in SO much pain!

You, a good person, run to send that extra money back to these poor folk!

But remember that check you deposited? Yeah, that check bounced.

5. You freak out, try and contact them, but to no avail. You’ll never hear back from them. They just stole your money.

I know this scam because this happened to someone close to me in the past. They stole thousands of dollars, when we were younger and at our most vulnerable.

Today they still send me the same scam via email. I get at least 2-3 per month.

So ladies and gentlemen, please keep yourselves safe out there. Dont ever send any money via wire transfers, and always, ALWAYS wait until the check clears!

Anyway that’s my PSA for the day. Be safe out there art twitter! <3