Monday, May 3, 2010

Scams that Target Etsy Sellers

So I received another convo from a supposed Etsy buyer this morning. I've gotten about 4-5 of these now and although they vary somewhat it's not that much. Here's the convo:
My name is _________ and am interested in purchasing your (item) with no
delay,but first? Is the price firm?Or how much are you taking?Will you be
accepting a US certified Check or money order? Contact me with the present
condition of the item and your contact information to mail out the payment to
you as soon as possible. Name you want on check: Home Address:
City: State:zip code: Country: Phone Number/Office Number so plz if you are
interested in selling your item to me reply to my e-mail xxxxx@xxxxxxx

One variation is that they're traveling and would like me to send them my bank account number so they can transfer money. It's a scam. Each and every time when I look them up on Etsy the profile either doesn't actually exist OR they joined Etsy either that day or the day before. I'm not great at spotting phishing scams or the like but it's getting pretty easy when they're all pretty much the same. It's almost always my highest priced item that they are proposing to purchase (my wire jewelry tree). I guess that's the snag. SO I thought that I'd mention it to you all today and make you aware. I know there are people out there preying on artists and writers that have lots more evolved hooks than this... ie self publishing, or marketing, or the like, but this is the one I see most. When I get one of these I just ignore it. The first time I wasn't sure what it was so I e-mailed the person asking for specifics. The next e-mail they sent was extremely transparent, so I didn't continue communicating. Since then they're all pretty much the same as the example above. So that's my public service announcement for today. :) Hope you have a great Monday!!!

3 comments:

Single Stone Studios said...

We get these too. It's awful.

A - Zinnia Productions said...

Oh I can't stand those messages either! But love your artworks...! Thank you for posting because sometimes folks do fall for them. Gotta watch those guys.
oxoxo
Zinnia

Cristi Baxter Clothier said...

Wow, thanks for letting us know about this. I had no idea Etsy could be a source for scammers!

Can't we all just craft and get along? lol