BogusArtFair.Info

There has been a call circulating for the "Toronto Art Show", and the Ontario Crafts Council has issued a warning on it. In recent correspondence the Ontario Crafts Council has confirmed that the three major sponsors listed on the show's website: Tim Horton's, MacDonald's and Coca-Cola have stated that they are not associated with the show.

I think I have pointed to them before, but the Artists File Online Community Board has a good listing of active scammers. Because they are an active online artist community with sale opportunities, they're an excellent place to harvest scammers!

When we are constantly bombarded with suspicious emails from supposed galleries, agents and art fairs, it's easy to forget that financial danger to artists exist in the real world. Bloomberg covers the story of Lawrence Salander's mishandling of his gallery, and his persistence in trying to scam someone...anyone.

Lawrence Salander has just the man to save his bankrupt New York gallery.

Salander asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris in a Feb. 15 motion to authorize his Salander-O'Reilly Galleries LLC to rehire him. He's proposed to help in identifying its 4,000 artworks and eventually in selling pieces whose ownership are not in dispute.

His salary was $50,000 a month running the business, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in November. Salander has asked the judge to determine what pay, if any, he merits.

I recently received a call for artists for the International Exhibit Contemporary Art "STRAPPI E FERITE", organized by Sabrina Falzone. I couldn't find much on either the exhibition or the organizers which is in English. The Google-translated version of the call can be found here, and the Google-translated version of Sabrina Falzone's website can be found here.

artenzie has reported a scam email from an "agent" (Steve James) who is reportedly looking for artwork in Scotland. The bold, to-the-point tone of the email (and the fact that real agents don't work this way) is the biggest hint that it's a scam. Beware!

Every time I wonder whether the scammers are still targeting artists, I read about someone else who has been sent one of these emails. Art News Blog just reported a scam email from johnson_mark_arts01@yahoo.com. You can read the full scam email at Art News Blog.

They're relentless! This one is about a "Mrs. Ibrahim Al-Azzawi."

Subject: Mrs. Ibrahim Al-Azzawi.
From: intro dollness <enstromose@web.de>

Dear Sir/Madam,

This scammer must be full of more sorrow than the others, because I received the same email from "her" twice (the second was sent 15hrs and 6 minutes after the first). The email is an obvious scam because it still follows the old format. The email was sent from msprisca7m@yahoo.com but has a reply-to address of camaramiss@yahoo.com.

Here's the email (spelling errors and bold formatting intact):

I received an email the other day for IACmusic.com, with the subject-line "about your music (an opportunity), please read..". This triggered all sorts of warning bells because (a) the email address is for Artifice, the mailing list I manage for arts & culture in the Waterloo Region and (b) what music?

I have been doing a bit of research on services for video hosting, and came across Revver. They are similar to YouTube, but their primary feature is revenue-sharing. Although YouTube recently introduced that feature, that seems to be Revver's focus. It's a good site to keep in mind, but take note that "[y]our videos will remain on Revver as long as they generate a reasonable amount of activity", which may not be suitable for everyone.