The Israeli Art Students Are Back

"Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness

Gillian Butler suspected she was being scammed by a con artist, who claimed to be an art student from Israel.

Still, the Cochrane woman fell prey and spent $360 for a pair of reproduced canvas paintings, because she wanted to help impoverished students supposedly on an exchange program to Calgary from Israel.

“They’re targeting residents who are just moving into their houses because they know they’d need something to put up their blank walls,” said Butler.

Last week, a young man came to her door with a portfolio of oil paintings on canvas.

The man claimed that he’s a member of a group of Israeli art students.

“When he showed me the art, he also told me stories about the paintings,” said Butler.

One piece he showed was supposedly created by a third-year art student and explained to her what technique was used.

“You’d really buy into the whole story.”

She was also coaxed into buying frames for the paintings so she could save money because stretching and framing them could be costly.

The framed art works were delivered to her last Thursday by another person who came in a rental van, which raised Butler’s suspicion, especially when the delivery man ripped off the packages before walking to her door.

“I was watching from my window,” she said.

Butler said she had a feeling something wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t pinpoint what.

She went to search for the phrase “Israeli art scam” on the Internet and found entries upon entries of materials written about it.

She also found a website featuring the paintings, which were printed in China and on sale between $15 and $5.

“They probably paid less if they bought the paintings in bulk,” said Butler.

As soon as she found out she had been scammed, she cancelled the $500 cheque she gave the delivery man.

RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said con artists usually try to make transactions go quicker.

“These people usually want an answer right now because they don’t want to waste any time on you if you’re going to check into it,” he said.

“And if something is too good to be true, it usually is.”

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/08/19/10523156.html

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