Thursday, October 7, 2010

New Kind of Scam?

The other day I received this email with the attached photo:


Hello Jhina Alvarado. My name is Joshua Simpkins. I believe I found a piece of yours and I was wondering if you would like to see it or have it.



sent from my AT&T Smartphone by HTC

Now, having had a few people try and scam me and say they would like to purchase my paintings and are sending me a check for more than the amount quoted (oh, and can you ship the painting to some other country where I happen to live?), I am a little skeptical when I get an email regarding my art. There seems to be a large amount of people who are trying to launder money, steal money,  and in general, screw over artists out there lately. So when I got this email, with the subject header "your art", I was immediately suspicious. 

Now, if you are reading this post, you've probably seen my work. You know what my art looks like. This sculpture isn't even close to what I do. I don't make sculptures or boxes or whatever this is. So how does someone think this could possibly be my artwork? Also, why would I need to see it? Or have it? If I created it and sold it, wouldn't I already know what it looks like? And why would I want it back?I'm wondering if once I email him, he somehow gets my personal information and steals my identity. Or maybe he robs my house after delivering it to me? There's a scam there somewhere. Then again, I could just be super suspicious and this is some guy just being nice. I choose to believe the former. Guess I'm just suspicious by nature...

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