Below you'll find links to advice and information about
how to spot a scam and/or fraudulent activity related to art and artists
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art, Below you will find summaries and links to relevant information relating to:
  • What are art scams and frauds
  • Websites which "out" scams and frauds
  • How to spot a fake website - which has implications for the content of an artist's website
  • How to spot fake goods or services
  • How to spot - and avoid - an email scam
  • ​How to be safe when paying for goods or services online​

COMING SOON
  • How to spot fake art
  • What to do about a gallery which goes "rogue"
  • ​Beware of money laundering
See also the section on COPYRIGHT and the page about 'What to do about copyright infringement for artists'

What are Art Scams, Frauds and Cyber Crimes?
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Fraud is when trickery is used to gain a dishonest advantage, which is often financial, over another person. Cyber crime is any criminal act dealing with computers and networks.
What is fraud and cyber crime | Action Fraud
The ways and means of scamming artists and art collectors are numerous and multiplying. This page will attempt to highlight some of the more obvious scams, fraudulent activities and cyber crimes which happen in the art world.

Very few textbooks about the art business consider the different types of fraudulent activity which artists - or art collectors - may encounter.
Common Art Scams include
  • attempt to buy your art via email approaches (see below)
  • vanity galleries (see The Vanity Gallery) - where you pay them to exhibit your art
  • invited to send artwork for an exhibition - which disappears
  • vanity book/directory publishers
  • incompetent organisers of art fairs 
  • inexperienced people who sell services (e.g. tuition) to aspiring artists
Common Art Frauds involves:
  • creation of fake art - by individual artists
  • large scale manufacture of fake art - on an industrial scale
  • creation of fake art materials
  • art galleries / fairs trading while insolvent
  • money laundering when purchasing art
  • money laundering via art market sales and auctions​
  • selling shares in art to investors for more than the art is worth
Common Art Cyber Crimes involve:
  • the use of the internet, online websites and/or ecommerce for pursuit of any of the identified scams and frauds.
  • overpayment by the scammer involving a shipping company
REFERENCE:​

Websites which "out" scams
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There are three sorts of websites. These are websites which are:
  1. generic and report all different sorts of frauds, scams and cyber crimes
  2. dedicated to very typical art scams
  3. related to those who infringe copyright or otherwise abuse artists' intellectual property

Please Contact Me with any recommendations about websites you have found useful for checking out scams and fraud.
REFERENCE

How to spot an Art Scam
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How to spot a fake, fraudulent or scam website
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Those who attempt to market and sell fake goods or services very often also have a fake website.
  • These have a number of characteristics - see the RED FLAGS below
  • Only the very sophisticated fraudsters go to the trouble of producing a convincing website which passes all RED FLAG checks.

Artists selling art from their own websites or the websites of third parties need to be careful they are not displaying any of the RED FLAGS for a fraudulent website
RED FLAGS include:
  • price seems too good to be true - it probably is
  • no 'contact us' page
  • only a contact form (although these are also used by single females not wanting to advertise where they live)
  • lack of full and proper contact details: e.g.
    • name of the trading company,
    • postal address,
    • phone number or
    • an official email address.
  • poor grammar and spelling mistakes or phrases which just don't ound right
  • domain name registered in a different country
  • domain name is misleading or unprofessional 
  • domain name has not been around for very long
  • poor / small / bad quality photos - or use of stock photos
  • no terms and conditions page re services provided 
  • no shipping or returns policy for a company providing goods
  • no slavery policy (now a legal requirement in many countries)
How to avoid a fake website
  • CHECK the website for any of the red flags.
  • CHECK for reviews of the website and/or company and/or individuals
  • CHECK names of key individuals you are doing business with (look out for notices of bankruptcy; reports of fraudulent activity etc)​​
REFERENCE

How to spot a Vanity Gallery
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CHECK OUT:

How to spot Fake Fairs and Art Fair Scams
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You need to be very wary of:
  • art fairs without a visible track record
  • art fair directories

Art fairs and art fair directories can attract negative comments from artists because what has been delivered falls far short of what was promised and paid for.

Fake Art Fairs are created by people with no experience of the business who recognise that artists wanting to sell their art will pay for a booth - and all "the extras".
REFERENCE:
RED FLAGS include
  • nobody has heard of the art fair before
  • you are offered discounted fees because of the quality of your work
  • no marketing of the art fair online
  • no response for more information about experience / previous art fairs they've organised
  • Booth fees are banked - but the organisation is poor, the marketing virtually non-existent and there are all sorts of practical problems on-site.
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CHECK OUT:
How to avoid a fake art fair
  • JOIN one of the specialist art groups which exist to support art fair artists and protect them from the scammers. These are:
  • REVIEW the Art fairs Section of How's My Dealing for the name of the Art Fair
  • CHECK evidence of any previous art fair held by the individual or the organisation
  • CONTACT the local business bureau to find out if they have had any dealings with them before
  • BEWARE some individuals constantly reinvent under new company names - check out UK individuals on Companies House records for individuals.
  • CHECK whether any of the key individuals have previously been bankrupt. 
  • NEVER EVER pay any money to any art fair or fair directory before thoroughly researching the enterprise - and the names of individuals behind it. Establish and check out whoever is behind the operation (including, in the UK their VAT registration number)
Organisations such as Event Fair, FairGuide.com/Construct Data Verlag and International Fairs Directory (Portugal) are targeting exhibitors with their misleading directory services. 

​Organisations such as DataCaptive are contacting exhibitors offering misleading marketing leads. We will never sell our data, therefore we advise all exhibitors not to enter into business with any companies claiming to do so. 

Our advice to exhibitors is to IGNORE THE COMPANIES ABOVE COMPLETELY, and not communicate with them in any way. Writing letters simply confirms that you exist and are available at the address/email address/number they have for you, and therefore payment can be pursued.
1) Report it to your local trading standards 
2) DO NOT PAY ANYTHING
3) DO NOT COMMUNICATE WITH THE SCAMMERS even when they threaten legal action
Warning to our exhibitor

How to spot fake goods or services

​Intellectual property crime is committed when someone manufactures, sells or distributes counterfeit or pirated goods, such as such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs or literary and artistic works, for commercial gain.
Artists buy goods and services as well as sell them. They need to be aware of the different ways they can be scammed by fraudsters.
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RED FLAGS for fake goods (e.g. art materials) include:
  • item description is not detailed enough; does not correspond with that on the manufacturer's website
  • looks different to proper goods sold by reputable sellers
  • good are not as described
  • sold by somebody you have never heard of
  • poor ratings for seller on online sites
  • lack of website or proper details for the seller
  • no physical location for seller listed
RED FLAGS for fake services (e.g. tuition / art fairs / art galleries / online art markets) include:
  • "too good to be true" descriptions
  • lack of professional credentials or details of past experience in this field
  • ​fake testimonials - either gushing or too basic
  • few / poor photos
  • lack of website or proper details for the seller
  • no physical location for seller listed
REFERENCE

How to spot - and avoid - an email / internet scam
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The most popular type of scam related to the sale of artwork involves email.

In summary this involves ​a person who wants to:
  • buy your art 
  • buy a present for a spouse (husband or wife) and/or 
  • buy art to decorate a new home
BUT the individual
  • seems too good and/or false to be true
  • tells a long garbled story about what needs to happen
  • lives overseas
  • loves your art but appears to be unfamiliar with your website
  • has some very odd requests re payment and shipping.
Picture
What an email scam sent to artists looks like
An artist talks about email scams below.
RED FLAGS include:
  • referencing a website which has no art for sale
  • tight timescale to get your artwork shipped (for a "birthday" or "anniversary")
  • poor command of English e.g. poor spelling, grammatical mistakes, very odd phrases
  • third parties are involved - often a shipping company
  • odd requests in relation to payment or shipping e.g. they want 
    • ​your bank information
    • to pay you by bank transfer
    • to use a shipper because they're out of the country at the moment
  • overpayment sent
  • your gut says something is not quite right. Always trust your gut - it's spotting things you haven't yet processed in your conscious

If you are a social responsible citizen can I suggest you REPORT
How to avoid being scammed
  • State your terms and conditions for sale of art from your website on your website.  Make sure these are scam-proof. Refer enquiries to your terms and conditions and terminate communication if they cannot comply.
  • Don’t assume an email request or caller is genuine - people aren’t always who they say they are.
  • Listen to your instincts – if something feels wrong then it is usually right to pause and question it.
  • CHECK the name of the individual - some come up on Google as being scammers!
  • CHECK the shipping address - use Google Streetview to see what it looks like and whether it is plausible​
  • Stay in control – have the confidence to refuse unusual requests for information or delivery / payment arrangements
  • Bank transfers are one way traffic - if authorised they cannot be reversed.
  • Never refund an overpayment - it's almost always a scam - and that's what you tell them. 
  • Never ever wire money to them for an "unintentional overpayment". This is the core of the scam. (it's very difficult if not impossible to get your money back if you repay it and it turns out to be a scam)
  • Never ever give them your financial details for payments
    • unless they are a reputable business 
    • use Paypal or a similar service to send them an invoice.
Below you can find links to those who have written about this topic.
REFERENCE: EMAIL ART SCAMS
However you can be TOO cautious......
  • People do buy art from websites for their loved ones.
  • They also commission art for birthdays and anniversaries.
  • If you treat every email as a scam you can be missing out on income.
  • Use your common sense and perform routine checks

The image on the right is a coloured pencil drawing I did for an American lady who emailed me after spotting a sketch on my sketchbook blog and asked if I could create a drawing of the same view.  She wanted to give her cycle loving husband a picture of Mont Ventoux in France - the killer climb in the Tour de France - for his birthday. Absolutely no problems with this commission.
Picture
'Mont Ventoux from Crillon Le Brave' a commission completed by the author of this website

How to be safe when paying for goods or services online
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How to be better safe than sorry online

What follows is a summary of the recommended guidelines produced by Europol who are seeking to reduce the amount of online frauds and scams.
​THE GOLDEN RULES
​DO
  • Buy from trusted sources. e.g. check ratings of sellers 
  • Do your online shopping at sites that use full authentication (Verified by Visa / MasterCard Secure Code - the one on the back of the card).
  • Make sure the data transfer is appropriately protected (e.g. you are on a secure website with https:// or a lock at the bottom of the browser window)
  • Use credit cards when purchasing things online
  • Think twice before allowing websites to store your card details
  • Always save all documents related to your online purchases
DON'T
  • Never send your card number, PIN or any other card information to anyone by e-mail.
  • Don't provide your card details unless you are buying something. 
  • ​Don’t send money to anyone you don’t know
  • Don’t send money upfront to the seller if possible. 
E-Commerce: Tips And Advice To Avoid Becoming A Fraud Victim 
​HOW-TO GUIDE | Europol
Artists who sell their art online ALSO need to be sure they are also following all the good practice recommendations
REFERENCE:

Arrests for Art Fraud and Scams
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Below I'm going to list articles about the various art scams and art frauds that people have been arrested for.
Films about art scams