<p>To Kathleen or whom it may concern:</p>
<p>I was almost caught up in this scam, until a red flag went up. The series of emails as follows:</p>
<p>Received an email yesterday reading:</p>
<p>Congratulations! Someone expressed interest in buying your work,<br />
name of piece, at the url: website url</p>
<p>The intested party listed their name and email address as:<br />
carolyn (carolynjovanni@-collector.org)</p>
<p>Message from buyer:<br />
Hello Seller I came accross your Painting posted on the site and am really intersting in purchase it and i will like to ask the question below.<br />
1.How long have you own it?<br />
2.it&#8217;s new or used?<br />
3.what is the final asking price?<br />
4.did you accept Paypal as mode of my Payment?<br />
Get back to me asap.<br />
Carolyn<br />
Response from so called Collector:</p>
<p>Thank so much for your response am okay with your final asking price but the problem is that i have a private shipping company that will come for the pick up in your location because i have some item that i want to ship along with the paiting so i don&#8217;t want you to bother yourself about the shipment am going to handle that on my own if you agree my terms let me know and get back to me.<br />
Carolyn.</p>
<p>Response from Collector:</p>
<p>You don&#8217;t have to worry yourself about i saw i want on the site so get back to me with your Paypal account</p>
<p>Action:</p>
<p>I send the Collector a Paypal Invoice for $500</p>
<p>That also lets them know to schedule the pick up from who ever they are using for as their shipment company to pick up after the 27th of August.</p>
<p>I get a response about an hour after I sent out the invoice&#8230;.this is when the red flag goes up.</p>
<p>RESPONSE from Collector:<br />
Hello ,<br />
I was just about to book the pick up schedule with the pick up agent when i had a problem about their payment method.They are only accepting payment through western union money transfer but i am currently on sea due to my status of work,so i want to add the pick up agent fee to your item cost price credited to your paypal account and he pick up fee is ($400.00) so i will be crediting the total amount of ($1,000.00), the extra ($50.00) is for the western union transfer fee for you to transfer the pick up agent fee<br />
through western union.extra ($50.00) for compensation.Once i have these done and you have pick up agent fee sent to them,the pick up arrangement will be scheduled,just wanted to let you know before i proceed with the payment, please advice and i will be looking forward to read from you.get back to me<br />
with your Paypal invoice<br />
Carolyn</p>
<p>My Response to collector after I research scams directed towards artists on the internet:</p>
<p>I am Sorry. I can not adjust the invoice to increase the amount for any reason. The payment reflects the price of the artwork, which is a taxable income that I need to claim. I also am too busy to make arrangements through Western Union for your shipping needs. I am very sorry, the request seems very difficult to handle. I am sorry we could not make a deal.</p>
<p>This morning I received another email&#8230;not in response from the series of emails talking with this collector but again from the site where the name originally generated:</p>
<p>Congratulations! Someone expressed interest in buying your work,<br />
name of piece, at the url: website url</p>
<p>The intested party listed their name and email address as:<br />
carolyn (carolynjovanni@-collector.org)</p>
<p>Message from buyer:<br />
Hello Seller I came accross your Painting posted on the site and am really intersting in purchase it and i will like to ask the question below.<br />
1.How long have you own it?<br />
2.it&#8217;s new or used?<br />
3.what is the final asking price?<br />
4.did you accept Paypal as mode of my Payment?<br />
Get back to me asap.<br />
Carolyn</p>
<p>Anyways,</p>
<p>That is all the information I have. Although I did not get scammed, I feel like the time and effort I went through I can empathize with those who have. I really hope that this is something that can be stopped before it really becomes a major issue, before it becomes an issue of artists not wanting to trust such a great means of being able to sell, trade, or promote their works. We should not be afraid of such a powerful tool because of a few that misuse, redirect, or take advantage of our standard practices. Thank you for helping in the fight to protect our daily rights as artists!</p>

Scam Email: Carolyn Jovanni
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