Art collectors and Art scammers

I receive a letter, it was a very suspicious letter about my art and I want to share it with you, here it is, including names:

Johnson Moore <johnsonmre4222@gmail.com>

My name is Johnson Moore, from Washington, DC city I have been on the lookout for some artworks lately in regards to I and my wife’s anniversary which is just around the corner. I stormed on some of your works which i found quite impressive and intriguing. I must admit your doing quite an impressive job. You are undoubtedly good at what you do.

With that being said, I would like to purchase some of your works as a surprise gift to my wife in honor of our upcoming wedding anniversary. It would be of help if you could send some pictures of your piece of works, with their respective prices and sizes, which are ready for immediate (or close to immediate) sales. My budget for this is within the price range of $1500 to $7000.

I look forward to reading from you in a view to knowing more about your pieces of inventory. As a matter of importance, I would also like to know if you accept check as a means of payment.

Best Regard

Johnson Moore

Yes, I received this letter and I decided to google it and find everything about it and after that I send my answer to this scammer, in my answer I sent two images of my work, well that’s not quite true, I sent two images of Rothko’s work, yes, “The Rothko”, there’s no way that somebody can get confused between a work of Rothko and one of mine. Even somebody with a little bit of knowledge about art can identify a Rothko, but not this guy. I greet the scammer and send the pictures with prices and he has the nerve to answer me.

Sorry but I cannot put images here because of copyrights so please imagine a Rothko Painting here

Here’s his answer:

Hello Carlos.

Thanks for the response. Having carefully looked through the pictures of your works. I have chosen these piece.  

20″ x 30″ 

$2,000

 I am presently working on my relocation to the Philippines soon, thus, am doing all I could to make this event quite a memorable one. 

In regards to payment, my reason for choosing check as a means of payment is owing to the fact that my wife handles the family bank cards and paypal transactions. So I am choosing a check to keep this a complete surprise as intended. Consequently, I would authorize a check to you for the payment of the chosen piece of work as soon as I have your full name and contact address (preferably for FedEx delivery no P.O box). As soon as you receive the check and it clears your bank, I will have my personal shipping agent (who is also moving my other properties) contact you to arrange shipping/pick up of the piece from you. This is to avoid my wife receiving it if it was directly shipped to my address which would ruin the surprise for the wedding anniversary.

I will be looking forward to receiving your cell phone number, full name and physical address the check should be issued to, in your email.

Regards

Johnson Moore

My full name and address? No way! Her wife handles the family bank cards and his paypal transactions, but she won’t notice a check in the bank statement? Yes, sure.

After that I told him that casually I was in Washington DC and also that I will travel to Philippines that week, so he won’t have to send the check by mail and also, he doesn’t need my address, but he never answers.

Please be careful with what you find on your mail.

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