A Calgary woman is warning others about an art scam that came right to her front door.
Gillian Butler bought a piece of art from a man who came to her house claiming to be an art student from Israel.
"I thought, well, they're not fantastic but they're art students and we'd be supporting art students, and they're from Israel. Makes a good story. Sure, we'll buy a couple."
But Butler had a feeling something wasn't quite right, a sense that was confirmed when she went poking around online, eventually searching the phrase "Israeli art scam."
"I entered 'Israeli art scam' and boom! I got entry after entry after entry," she said.
Butler saw the painting she had just bought for $170 ? online, it cost $5, wholesale from China.
The RCMP warns that people who come to your door can be crooks. The quicker you have to make a decision about money, the better for the con artists.
"They want that answer right now because they don't want to waste any time on you if you're going to check into it," said Sgt. Patrick Webb.
"If you're going to take some extra time, look into it and try to determine whether or not it's true or not, they don't want to talk to you," he said.
Be careful buying art, said Ramona Kasper Kraft of the Collector's Gallery.
"I've heard stories where people are selling what they say is original artwork or true artwork that is available for sale, but not stolen, when in fact it is. And [victims] can pay thousands, tens of thousands dollars for a piece of art," she said.
"My recommendation? Know who you're buying it from, you know. Get the history of who those people are."
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment