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Artists Beware

Blog: #2 of 4 by Denise Laurin

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Dear Fellow Fine Art America Artists,

I would like to make you aware of an internet scam that happened to me as the result of having my work on Fine Art America. This is not an indictment of Fine Art America, as the benefits of being on the site are many and it provides a wonderful service to artists. But there are some shady characters out there and you should all be on the look out.

On January 30, I received an e-mail from a collector, Philip Weber (philipweber20@yahoo.com) interested in an original of mine he saw on Fine Art America. Fortunately, my intuition told me there was something not right. Having just shut down my merchant account because I could not justify the cost, I asked for a cashier's check. I received the check, which was $1200 more than what I asked for, but I did not release the art to the buyer's "shipper", to whom he wanted me to wire the excess. I chose to wait for the check to officially clear the bank. Even cashier's checks can be faked! Today, the check bounced. I only lost $15 for the bank charge, but it could have been much worse.

Be sure you have Paypal or a Shopping Cart to accept payments for your sales outside of Fine Art America. And be careful, as fraud can occur even with these tools. I have reported the incident to www.fraud.org and also the FBI's internet crime unit at www.ic3.gov. Fraud.org has a lot of information...even videos... to help you understand the red flags and avoid this type of experience.

I wish you all good things and lots of legitimate sales!

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