Hello Everyone,
Over the weekend, I received what I believed to be a suspicious e-mail from “Garritt Miller” (his e-mail, btw, is m_garritt01@yahoo.com). It went like this:
“Hello,
My name is Garritt Miller from Owasso OK, I’m interested in buying some of your beautiful artwork for our new home in the UK.
However, i must tell you that they are very beautiful work. After a close look at your work I will be happy to buy the following carefully selected artworks;
1. Frankie Got His That Night At The Dub Club
2. Listening
Kindly get back to me with the total price of the selected Artworks excluding shipping cost, and also if there is any details regards the inspiration of the work.
Await your response,
Regards
Garritt”
Because this person did mention two of my paintings by name, I was more inclined to believe the e-mail than most scams I’ve seen, but I found a few things about the e-mail that didn’t seem quite right so I did some research and I found the following link which I would advise you to take the time to read through:
http://www.artnewsblog.com/2005/09/art-scammers.htm
I never did respond to this e-mail and certainly wanted everyone to be aware, in case you begin to receive e-mails like this as well. Be careful and protect your art.
Sincerely,
Jared Steinberg
September 10, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I received this same wording, using the names of two of my paintings, but had already had one run-in with this type of thing, and followed the advice of the person who responded to my inquiry regarding artscams. I did not reply to the previous one, and I did not use the reply button to respond to Mr. Garritt. I used the e-mail addess to compose a completely separate message, in the event that it was legit. Now, after researching a little further (put his e-mail address in the Google box), I find your message, and my worst fears realized. I let the message sit for two weeks before I did anything about it, as I was very busy. When I had time, I pondered it, and felt some misgivings. THANK YOU FOR YOUR POSTING. IT HELPED ME TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT. Many thanks, Jared. P.S. The first message came, oddly, just before my dues were due on the site mentioned; this time, I received the message from Garritt one week before the reminder for my dues was sent. Seems fishy, somehow. They are the only two responses I’ve had from that domain, too. Hmmm.