It’s been years since I’ve seen this art-related scam in my mail or email.

However, it was back in my email today.  I was amazed.

I was also worried that an artist unfamiliar with this scam… well, he or she might fall for it, and even think they got a good deal.

Here’s how this scam goes:

An editor of a major art magazine — or at least one with an impressive title — contacts you.  The editor has visited your website, or seen your Flickr photos, or your photos file at Facebook… or so they say.

He or she says how much your artwork has impressed the art magazine’s staff.  In fact, you’re one of the country’s better artists, and they feel honored to be among the first to discover how talented you are.

They’d like to feature you — and several color photos of you and your artwork — in the next issue of their art magazine.

Of course, they have expenses to cover — professional photographers to take pictures of your art, the cost of sending a journalist to interview you in your studio, and so on — but they’ll take care of most of the fees themselves.

All you need to pay is $500.  And, after all, that’s less than you’d pay for an advertisement in an art magazine with their level of prestige and circulation. (Sometimes they even mention the glossy pages, as if that’s going to impress you.)

Umm… no.  Don’t fall for it.

What absolutely amazed me today was the title of the magazine that made this offer.  It was about art of the southwest.

I was born, raised, and still live in New England.  That fact is prominent in all of my marketing materials, on my website, and so on. I have never painted in the southwest, and only visited briefly (Arizona? New Mexico? I forget…), on my way to somewhere else.

In other words, nothing connects my art with the southwest.

The email seemed very personal. They used my name and even spelled it correctly.  It was sent to me alone (not a mailing list), and it was eloquently worded.

The rest of it…? It practically had SCAM written all over it.

Yes, I’m fairly visible, online, and have been for many years.  I’m not sure if that made me a more likely target.

I doubt it.

My point is: If you receive one of these letters, ignore it.  I’m sorry, but they haven’t a clue who you are.  It’s a scam.

Also ignore requests to include you in variations of “Who’s Who” directories, when a fee is involved.  (That scam usually offers to sell you one to five copies of the published book at a “special honoree price.”  It’s always ridiculously expensive, and preys on your vanity.)

Desperate times lead to desperate measures.  It looks like we’re there now.

Legitimate publications don’t charge you to be featured in them.

If you’re paying, that’s an advertisement, and you’d better be very sure you’re getting good value for the money you’ll spend.

Requests like these, from (fake?) art magazines and “who’s who” directories, are fraudulent.  Don’t take them seriously and don’t reply to them, or your email will fill with other, similar scams.

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