Protecting Yourself from Internet Fraud
By ArtistsInCanada
From: 'Henry Tony' <candyhillshop@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 10:52 AM
Subject: Placing an order
Hello,
I will like to place an order in your store,and i will like to know if you ship to SOUTH AFRICA and my method of payment will be CREDIT CARD.so please let me know if you can assist me with the order because is really needed urgently,And please do not forget to include your web page in your replying back to my mail.I will await your prompt response.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards
Henry Tony
Experience is what you get when you are expecting something else.
Everyone wants a popular site. The traffic means the word about your wonderful artwork
is finally getting out. It's exciting to have hundreds of people looking at your work,
some sending you e-mail and even placing orders.
Filling your first order is another milestone in your internet education. You may never
meet your potential buyer, but they 'love' your work and they will pay anything you ask
for it. Wow, isn't the internet great?
Don't let your excitement about an order cloud your judgement. Follow common sense and the
rules of e-commerce, even if that means 'no sale'.
The Rules
- Protect Your E-mail Address
Never post your e-mail address on the internet in a machine-readable format.
Scammers often use programs to scan the internet for e-mail addresses and to
automatically send pre-formatted e-mails. Make this difficult for them and
they won't be able to send as many e-mails in a day.
- Use a form-mail program like the one provided to members of ArtistsInCanada,
or get one from one of the many free script sites like this one:
Matt's Script Archives
- If you can't run a form-mail program from your server, put your e-mail address
in a JPG file with a patterned background and post the JPG file on your site. The
patterned background should be lineart and is intended to make the text difficult
for a program to read.
- Don't post your e-mail address in open forums or guestbooks.
- Look for signs that you're receiving a form letter
- Is your name mentioned? Scammers are less likely to personalise their first
contact with you.
- By changing one or two words could you request an order from another site? At the
same time, look for words that are out of context. The e-mail at the top of this
page has several things that 'aren't quite right':
- Henry Tony thinks he's buying from a store.
- Your artwork is 'urgently needed', but no reason for the urgency is given. Not
exactly life-threatening, I'd guess.
- His grammar is poor. A 'real' art buyer would probably be more educated, though
this would be a judgement call on your part.
- Does the author request your url? If so, why? Didn't he get your e-mail
address from your site?
- Does the buyer mention the exact piece he wants to purchase or just say something
general? A real buyer should know exactly what they want, what price they are
willing to pay and will not likely accept a substitute without seeing it.
- Show me the money
After you've accepted an order, be sure you have the money before you ship.
- Hold the payment in your account for at least 10 working days in Canada, and up
to 5 weeks for foreign orders.
- Remember cheques bounce, money orders can be forged and credit cards can be
stolen. Phone the company that is issued the payment ( the bank, Western Union,
Visa, etc. ).
- Be sure to get enough information about the buyer to have legal recourse if
the transaction goes wrong.
- Don't count on much help from a 3rd world country that is trying to feed the
starving masses. They won't have the resources to chase down a 'petty criminal'.
It's better to decline a sale than to be a victim.
- Don't accept overpayments. If the buyer mistakenly adds a zero to the end of the
cheque, return the payment. NEVER issue a refund for the difference. This is a
common scam technique called the 'overpayment fraud'. Remember who pays if the
buyers payment bounces, but your 'refund' goes through.
- Filling an order
When you have the payment, you're ready to fill the order. Or are you?
- Don't include other items in the order. Consumer electronics in particular are
easy to sell, and if the buyers payment doesn't work out, you'll be responsible
for the cost of the included goods.
Taking Action
- For most people, the simplest thing to do is ignore orders from 3rd world countries
entirely. This is the most unlikely place for an art collector to live. If you
choose not to accept orders from 3rd world countries, you should not respond to e-mails
from them. Scammers keep databases of their contacts, the same as spammers.
- Type 'A' personalities may wish to take a more active role. For example:
- Copy the e-mail headers and send the scam e-mail (with headers) to the
e-mail service provider's abuse department.
- Report the fraud.
- Respond to the e-mail, which takes up the scammer's time making it less productive
for them to continue their activities. A single individual won't make a difference,
but if a lot of people do this, it will make an impact. This has become a popular
hobby with some people, and a number of websites have sprung up with publication of
the e-mail exchanges. The following link is one of the better ones (coarse
language warning):
Links for More Information
___________________________________________
Copyright © 2005
ArtistsInCanada.com
If you have comments about this article or wish to provide information to improve it,
please send an e-mail to
Dave Constable
(the site administrator for ArtistsInCanada).
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