I received an email today with the subject line: “Artwork acquisition inquiry.” And guess who it is supposedly coming from? The pop star Madonna, no less. How exciting would this be? An international music star such as Madonna wants to collect my paintings (3 of which are available for sale, above, and 2 more below), and certainly her high-powered group of friends will see my work in her collection and they’ll all want some and I’ll become rich and famous in no time … right? Not right, as I’m most certain this is a scam.
Let’s analyze this too-good-to-be-true email. First of all, she humbly introduces herself by saying “My name is Madonna, and I recently came across your art collection on Instagram.” Considering the email came from “Madonna Official Art Collections,” I don’t think she needs to re-introduce herself. She then tells me “I was deeply impressed by the originality, technical refinement, and emotional depth present in your work,” and also “I am reaching out to express my sincere interest in acquiring one or more of your pieces. To facilitate an informed and respectful dialogue, I would be grateful if you could provide the following details at your earliest convenience.” She then asks for a list of available art works available for sale, with title, dimensions, medium, year of creation, etc.
This is the first clue that this is a scam, as my Instagram posts all list the title, dimensions, medium and year of creation. If she was so impressed by seeing my art on Instagram, all she would have to do is tell me which pieces she saw that she liked.
An even bigger red flag is this: “Madonna” (or rather, the author of this email) asks if I’m “open to bank transfers, or cryptocurrency transactions.” This is the typical method for a scam – if I replied yes, the sender would most likely ask for my bank account info so that they could “transfer payment” to me, when in fact they want my bank account info in order to steal from me. Same with the crypto angle – the sender would probably want crypto wallet info in the hopes of robbing me. No, and no, and no thanks on any of these requests.
Next is an odd angle – the sender (“Madonna”) says she would like to continue this conversation via Microsoft Teams, “where I typically conduct formal art-related discussions and acquisitions.” Ok, maybe, but why would she then say “I’d be happy to guide you through the setup, it’s free, secure, and efficient for professional communication.” Wow, how about that? Madonna will personally offer me tech support to help walk me through the steps of setting up Microsoft Teams! Does Bill Gates pay her for these services? Haha, this is where the scam gets a bit ridiculous.
Next, our “Madonna” writes that she hopes this will “mark the beginning of a meaningful and lasting creative relationship.” Wow, that’s pretty awesome – little ol’ me and Madonna will have a meaningful and lasting relationship! She then offers a Gmail address in which I can contact her. Do you think Madonna uses Gmail? That’s her preference rather than her own @madonna.com address?
Lastly, she signs off in this email with the signature “Madonna/Madonna.” That’s an odd way to refer to herself. Should I write back and sign it “Mark/Mark?” She adds for good measure that she is a “Private Art Collector / Value of the collection: around $100 million.”
This post is for all of you other artists out there who are also (like I am) hoping to be “discovered” and have people express interest in buying and collection your art work. Things like this might seem tempting – I mean, what’s the harm in replying? The first harm from replying to this scam is simply having someone waste your time – I’ve gone through that several times before – but the most-obvious harm is that the scammer gets some valuable information out of you – don’t share any bank or crypto credentials with anyone!