Got An Error? Is This Scam? Read Before Posting

I do NOT want this thread to be people coming in saying "I got one of these" and then pasting in the email. It is not necessary, nor is it a good idea.

However, that being said, I have more updates from a member who shared this with me. This email was sent through our system.....

I would love to purchase your artworks, it’s unique appearance and your creativity behind them is really captivating. I’d love to know if they are available for sales because I’d love to add them to my collection

The member got the identical message from two different 'people'.

Alavez Jaden and Tyson Richard

Unfortunately the member answered the first one, and a couple of days later received spam form 6 different companies selling T-shirts, probably from China.

Now, as I said in the top post, we know they do not need to ask these questions as the art is clearly on sale here.

Please do not answer emails that ask this kind of question. They can see the work is on sale.

If in doubt, please put the email, name, or wording of the email direct into Google and you will see people already giving warnings.

Thank you to the member who came forward, and who let me share this

I would recommend a message to any groups you administer about this scam. Also, set your email program so that it does not automatically download images in an email. If you are downloading images, and you open an email from a scammer, he will know your email address is live and will add you to his spam list. An email from Pixels or FAA won't lead to being put on a spam list, but any email from a company selling T-shirts will.

People who buy art know how to buy it on a site like Pixels without having to ask. If it looks suspicious, think twice.

While on the subject, just a mention of another scam currently circulating, this time on Facebook. Many of you have Facebook accounts, even in connection with your involvement in selling art here. This scam works as follows. A bad actor steals images off the internet. Popular images are those of fashion models. Then they set up a new account, and use a handful of pictures, maybe only two, and then they make a friend request. When you get a friend request from a total stranger with pictures of a handsome man or beautiful woman, save the images, and then use Google image search to see who they really belong to. If the person in the image is wearing glasses, it probably won't work, but if not, you may get results. One of the scammers used photos belonging to a male fashion model, and my searches uncovered an article in a city newspaper talking about people stealing his images. I was able to contact him and give him a link to the bogus account and he said he would take action. Facebook will not let you report a scammer who is not using YOUR photo. But if you get an invitation, ignore it. I did talk to a couple of these folks, Their bad English (just a few obvious grammatical mistakes) and their demanding my phone number and email address were a clear warning. One even told me he was desperate for money. If you make your information visible only to friends, it prevents them from accessing your friends list, and protects them from the same scammer. However, if you do so and then share content in a group, using a link to the information on your account, non-friends won't be able to see it. Nevertheless, the best practice is to make sure that only friends can see your content, and I highly recommend you do not post pictures of yourself or family members, or reveal specifics about where you live, etc. If you have protected your information this way and you respond to Messenger messages from them, they will be able to see when you are online. If you accept their friend invitation, then they have access to your friends and may try to scam them.

I got the exact same email from "Tyson Richard". Poof, deleted, gone!

Thank you for the information that confirms,I was contacted by a jaden Alavez,
“l would love to purchase your artworks, it’s unique appearance and your creativity behind them is really captivating. I’d love to know if they are available for sales because I’d love to add them to my collection”
The next e-mail was you pick out 5 and for $2800 each. I was very skeptical then and it was from jadenalavez025@gmail.com and to buy through
NFTs and getting a crypto wallet ! I block him!
I knew it was a scam!

Speaking of NFT, deviantART has the ability to search the web for stolen art works, those images that belong to their members that appear elsewhere on the web. They notified me that one my images was being used as NFT, I investigated, and confirmed, and asked them to take action. They did. The image was removed. I suspect what they are doing is proprietary, but would be very useful here and elsewhere, yet costly to develop. And the sites that have stolen art on them have to feel your program has teeth.

I got a new wordy variation of the - I love your stuff - from a johnson doe... Lol... John doe. He loves my nature works... (I have none), and he would love to see my catalog or website, that has like 4000+ images.. That he's on... Funny stuff.

On the plus side it means I don't have to interact with anyone.

----Mike Savad

Yeah, I got an e-mail outside of fine art america, and I think they spoofed something to make it look like it was from fine art america. They asked me if my art was for sale. That made me laugh, ummm yeah....... BUT, I NEVER reply to those, I instantly block. Scam.

I also got the same email from Alavez Jaden, but I didn't understand if the messages are really sent through FAA, few have this email from me, of course if I had replied I would have spread it to many good people

I was just checking my emails and got the same one, so decided to come here to see if anyone else did! Yep! I did open the email, but will delete.

Folks, Abbie DID say she doesn't want people posting "me too" messages. But I have a couple of pointers. Both of my came from the Fine Art America email system. I looked at the full headers. Most email programs are set up so that you do not see that automatically, but you can look at it. There is usually a tiny arrow you can click near the subject line that will give you the full header. You may have to look for it.

Another tip: you get an email that seems strange, and it has links. If you set up your PC so that when you hover over a link it will display at the bottom of your screen (depends on your browser and other things), then you can tell if the email address displayed is not the real email. Many spammers fake the sender email address. I can't tell you how to do that, but if you want to have this ability, and you need help finding out how to implement it, then by all means ask someone to show you. If you actually click on one of those links, you may either get a virus from the site (if you don't have adequate protection) or you will be asked to reveal information that will steal your identity or credit card information or passwords. If you haven't set your computer to show the link when you hover over it, look at the URL when you arrive. If it is at all suspicious, and the sender didn't address you by name (not email address), then don't supply any information.

I am part of the team for my server, to detect and filter out spam messages, and I have many protections. So I know when I can safely respond to an email. That is why even though I was pretty sure these emails were scams, I did respond to see what would happen.