We are probably all familiar with one level of deceit in the art world, namely the high-class forgeries that attempt to deceive museums and rich collectors. One of the few subjects of our diet of TV which I enjoy are those programmes that deal with the validation (ore otherwise) of “discovered” masterpieces. I’m constantly amazed and impressed by the attention to detail and the subtlety of observation displayed by the expert investigators. It is incredible also to see the skill and care of the forgers, and the lengths they go to in order to create convincing frauds. Perhaps, however, we don’t hear enough about another kind of deception that appears to be common in the art world.
Some time ago I received an email from somebody who expressed the desire to buy one of my pictures he had seen on my website. I gave him a price, together with the cost of mailing. These he agreed, but seemed to expect that I would send off the item concerned before I had actually received his payment. There was an elaborate explanation about him being a marine engineer, currently in the middle of the ocean somewhere, but wanting the picture urgently as a present for his wife. Naturally, he couldn’t get to a bank in the middle of the Atlantic. Aware, of course, of the fact that if he had email access to correspond with me he could equally well deal with his bank, I declined the invitation to send him my picture.
I wasn’t totally surprised to receive a request to trade via the internet, as I have sold art before in this way, without any problem. I was surprised, however, that anybody would want to go to this effort to steal a picture worth a mere £300. The experience was filed in my mind as an eccentric curiosity until yesterday.
I was giving a lift to a friend of mine, also a painter, when I suddenly realised that what he was telling me about was an experience that sounded familiar. He too had been approached by an anonymous caller, supposedly on this occasion with the recommendation of a person my friend knows and trusts. It turns out on investigation that the friend knows nothing of this correspondence, although he is aware that his facebook account has been hacked. The alarm bells are ringing!
It does seem that this kind of attempt to rip off artists could well be rather more common than I had previously thought. I would be very interested indeed to hear of any similar experiences by fellow artists. In the two cases I’ve mentioned here the strategy of the scammer was different, and it would be interesting to hear whether there are other variants on the theme.
I suspect that artists, particular those of us who are not terribly well-known, are delighted and flattered when they receive an expression of interest in their work….especially when the enquiry seems to come from another country. Perhaps the word ought to get around, however, that we should be suitably prudent when these apparently delightful surprises come our way.