VERO BEACH — More than a dozen Vero artists got their hopes up this week when they were emailed by a person wanting to buy their art after seeing it on line.
But the flattered artists were shot down one by one when they followed up and found out their art’s “fans” wanted banking information – supposedly to wire funds for the purchase.
Other artists were offered larger checks than the price of purchase, and were asked to cash them and keep enough to pay for the painting, then send the rest back.
“It’s very common,” said Indian River County Sheriff’s Detective Kevin Heinig, who has already issued two subpoenas in connection with the cases trying to find out the identities of the emailers involved.
“They send a fake check for more than the amount (of purchase), and they want the person to cash it. That just goes on your account and when it bounces, you’re responsible. I’ve seen it with everything from cars to all kinds of things on Craig’s List.”
So far, no artists have actually lost money in the fake appeal, even when scammers asked questions like “So what was your inspiration?” In one email, the scammer referred to moving to “the Hampton,” in the singular. Presumably it was intended as a reference to the cluster of tony Long Island resort towns, and not, say, a Hampton Inn.
Authorities were notified after artist Barbara Landry of Gallery 14 alerted Christina Tascon, the office manager for the Vero Beach Art Club, to the ruse. Then Tascon herself was contacted by a Mary Collins asking to buy two photographs Tascon had posted on her web page on the Art Club’s site. The email mentioned the photos by name.
Her hopes were raised further when she Googled the email address and found an author by the same name.
“I thought she might have been working on a project on Florida artists,” Tascon said. But the author was horrified to learn from Tascon that someone was sending out emails with her name and location.
“I was bummed,” said Tascon on learning she wouldn’t make a sale after all.
The Vero Beach Art Club, with 500 members, includes the email contact for artists posting paintings and other art in its online gallery. Other targeted artists were from galleries in the downtown arts district, including Gallery 14.
Tascon said one artist “wanted to play detective and said, ‘Oh, yeah, sure, send the check.’“ The artist was sent a bad copy of a check written on a closed account. “It looked like it was mimeographed,” Tascon said.
She urges artists to contact the Sheriff’s Office rather than egg on the effusive – and elusive – fan.