Complaint mode

Recently I've received several calls on my voice mail from a bank unknown to me. They sounded like a scam, so I deleted them. Then my husband told me that an unauthorized online charge to his card was attempted the same week I got the first call. Neither of us had used the card. He canceled it immediately. We don't know yet whether there were any other attempts prior to cancellation.

I decided we should get our free credit reports to make sure there wasn't any unauthorized credit activity. Guess what I found out. The bank that has been calling us apparently now owns our credit card company. We have no record of this. We would certainly have responded to the phone alerts if we had recognized the caller as authentic. We're grateful that the illegal charge was declined, but it's annoying that we weren't notified of the connection with the bank that called.

FYI, it's very easy to get your free credit report and I recommend it. You can get all three at a site authorized by the FTC. (Many sites charge for membership in order to get your "free" information.)
AnnualCreditReport.com

Art Scam Alert?

I'm very suspicious of an email I received a couple of days ago. In the past there have been numerous art scams in fake exhibitions and painting shipments, but this is the first I've seen that involves publishing artworks in books. The company that wrote to me has a web site that looks legit, so I could be wrong about this.

Here are some of the problems I have with this email:
1. The email was addressed to me, referencing my book Exploring Color, but the salutation reads "Dear Sir/Madam," suggesting a boilerplate letter.
2. They request high resolution tiff or jpg files of two works that appear in my book, along with permission to publish the images in their book. As publishers, they should know from the copyright notices in my book that only the artists can give that permission.
3. They have disclaimers about needing the permission of Singapore authorities to publish, so what happens if it is denied and they still have your images? They might use them for prints and posters.
4. They wanted this material within a week. This is an impossibly short lead-time for such a request.
5. They claim they are publishing their book September 1, 2006. One month to publish an art reference book? Hard to believe.
6. They call it a "techincal" book, which could just be a typo, but I have a hard time with publishers who don't proofread their own emails.

Maybe it's legit, I don't know, but it has some very suspicious signs. For my own protection, I don't feel I can name the company here. But be warned about this and other possible art scams. Don't send your images to someone without investigation and don't let them rush you. I forwarded the email to the artists (with a warning) so they could make up their own minds about it.

Updating web site links

I'm just about wiped out after adding dozens of art links to my web site. It's so easy to click the Favorites button when you see something you want to add later, but they sure do pile up. I also get a lot of emails from artists who want to be linked to my site. Those have been on hold, too, while I finished my book. I visit each site before linking to it and this takes a lot of time. I'm not wild about sites that feature hand-painted original van Goghs or your choice of Rembrandts and Vermeers. Then, there are the coupon sites, the marketing sites and the gallery sites where an artist can post work for a fee and hope to sell something without making a personal web site. I try to avoid those, but I've probably been suckered and have a couple on my links. I hope not. Let me know if you catch one. And speaking of being suckered, I hope you haven't fallen for the scams that are targeting artists now. You get an email that a guy just loves your art. Sometimes he names specific pieces. He sends you a money order, usually for a greater amount than the sale, and you're supposed to send him the balance when you ship the paintings. Of course, the money order bounces and if you've shipped the paintings, they're gone forever. One artist emailed a scammer to pay by PayPal and that made him disappear. I'm done ranting for now. Tomorrow I'm doing two lectures on color for a knitting guild in Dayton, always fun. I love fiber artists.