Pinching of a Website: Sculptor reports curious case of identity theft
Photo by: A hundred visions and revisions
Popular and critically-acclaimed UK sculptor, Eve Shepherd, woke up one morning to find that her commercial website through which she did business with online art buyers was being replicated and used for the same purpose by an internet fraudster. The fraudster was targeting those who bought art online by claiming and presenting Ms. Shepherd’s art as his own and inviting orders for them in a website strikingly similar to hers.
The similarity was so uncanny that Ms. Shepherd’s clients could easily mistake the duplicate website to be hers. The scam website was being run under the name of a ‘Frank Williams’. Except for her name and contact details, the fraudster had retained Ms. Shepherd’s site as it was.
The fraudster, believed to be operating from US, was seeking out rich American ladies through a dating agency for millionaires. He also pasted a model’s photograph onto the website to add more allure to his persona. Interested buyers were given the option of contacting him via phone, email or by ordinary post.
Ms. Shepherd had more than one reason to worry. She was worried for those who buy art online as her work commanded a price of as much as £13,000 in the market. More dangerously, it is a common practice for artists to demand, and receive, most of the payment before buyers even get to see the work. The fraudster could, therefore, ask for most of the payment in advance and take off with the money, leaving conned victims waiting endlessly for their online purchase to materialize.
Of most concern to her, however, was the prospect of her credibility and standing in the art-world, which she had assiduously built up over the years, taking a scandalous beating.
Source: TheArgus.co.uk
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