The art student scam is a confidence trick in which cheap, mass-produced paintings or prints are misrepresented as original works of art, often by young people pretending to be art students trying to raise money for art supplies or tuition fees.[1][2][3][4] In some early instances of the scam the sellers represented themselves as Israeli art students, but the scam is now international, with instances of Chinese, French, Chilean, and other nationalities posing as art students or dealers in Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the United States since at least 2000. The art is often sold door-to-door, bypassing exhibition sites or art galleries.[4][5][6][7][8]
Mass-produced paintings
editMost mass-produced prints and paintings originate in Asia. Some are essentially posters, sometimes referred to as "Hong Kong horrors", printed on rough paper, making the lack of brush strokes less apparent. Oil paintings are mass-produced in China, which does a booming business in legitimate replicas of old masters. In Dafen, in Shenzhen, China, 10,000 painters produce up to 30 paintings a day and some five million paintings are exported each year, about 10% of which are not copies, but original works. The paintings sell for as little as US$10 each. [4]
United States
editSee also Allegations of Israeli espionage operation 2000-2001
From the summer of 2000, news outlets in the Pacific Northwest, reported young people posing as Israeli students selling mass-produced oil paintings, both copies and originals, for US$80-$200 each. The 'art students' were said to be going door-to-door, targeting residential neighborhoods and primarily businesses with people "who might like art". They claimed to be studying at art universities in Israel, in the United States selling works by talented fellow students to raise money for art supplies or school fees. [3]
Through the early 2000s, some 130 separate incidents of 'art student' encounters" were reported across the United States. Allegations of Israeli spying were raised after the leaking of an internal DEA report suggesting a connection between the art scammers and a spy ring.[9] Several dozen Israelis in their twenties, including supposed art students, were deported for undertaking paid work not allowed by their visas.[10] Israel dismissed claims of spying as "nonsense."[9]
Australia and New Zealand
editPeople posing as Israeli art students were reported in Australia and New Zealand from as early as 2003.[11] [4] The paintings are worth around AUD5, but are passed off as being worth hundreds of dollars.[5] Three backpackers, an Israeli and two Chileans, were taken to court in Dundedin for the scam in 2003, but were discharged as the judge said that they were "minnows" in the organisation. They reportedly made NZ$15,000 in three weeks from the scam. The NZ Consumers' Institute suspected that an Auckland man was the organiser of the operation.[8] A 23-year-old man was arrested in New South Wales, Australia, for operating the scam and 50 oil paintings were found in his car.[12] An adviser for the New Zealand Consumer Affairs Ministry said that "All around the world, students from various countries are doing this". She suggested that the scam's organiser may place advertisements in backpackers’ lodges to recruit students.[13] The scammers have also claimed to be Greek, Argentinian and French.[14][15]
Canada
editIn 2004, a group of Israelis said to have been selling mass-produced paintings as their own work, for hundreds of dollars each, were deported from Canada for working in violation of their visas.[16] The scam recurred in 2009 in Calgary, and Warman, Saskatchewan; eight people claiming to be students from Israel, Germany and France were arrested and 100 paintings were seized by the RCMP and Border Services.[17].
China
editIn China, scammers approach tourists at popular attractions such as the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.[18] The scammer speaks English well enough to get into a conversation with the foreigner. The scammer claims to be an art student whose works are on display at a nearby exhibition which is part of the scam and sells mass-produced art reproductions at exorbitant prices. There are warnings about this scam in tourist guides.[19][20]
References
edit- ^ "Scam art ripples Peninsula 'Students' up-sell cheap, mass-produced works door-to-door". Peace Arch News. The (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada). August 10, 2004. p. 1.
An Israeli art scam with suggested links to espionage and fundamentalist fundraisers may have turned up on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. At least half a dozen locals-probably more-were likely duped by the hoax, which has for years puzzled North American authorities.Young Israelis posing as art students travel door-to-door hocking mass-produced art as their own. The works are worth little, but still sell for hundreds of dollars to naive customers.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|pmd=(help); More than one of|work=and|newspaper=specified (help) - ^ Wilton, Suzanne, "Art-sales-scam ringleaders ordered to leave Canada", Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, B.C.: Aug 7, 2004. pg. A.8.
- ^ a b "Information On An Israeli Art Scam". Komo News. August 30, 2006.
- ^ a b c Moyes, Sarah (5 March 2010). "Warning on art scam". East And Bays Courier. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Foreign students caught up in fake art scam". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 18, 2008.
- ^ Gandia, Renato (August 19, 2009). ""Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness". Calgary Sun.
- ^ "Oil painting scam hits the Border". Border Mail. April 22, 2009.
- ^ a b Dye, Stuart (February 4, 2004). "Brush with law reveals art scam". NZ Herald.
Coulter, Narelle (January 18, 2006). "Door slammed on 'original' art scam". Star News Group.
Feek, Belinda (January 19, 2010). "Warnings out over art scam". Waikato Times. - ^ a b Guttman, Nathan (May 7, 2002). "Spies, or students? Were the Israelis just trying to sell their paintings, or agents in a massive espionage ring?". Haaretz.
- ^ "Israeli student 'spy ring' revealed". The Guardian. London. March 6, 2002. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
- ^ Rogers, Sy (2 March 2009). "Beware of "Israeli" door-to-door art scams!". Design Federation. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "Police arrest 23yo over alleged art scam". ABC News. Australia. 13 December 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ Robinson, Michelle (4 March 2010). "Door-to-door art scam". North Shore Times. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ Thomson, Alister (12 April 2010). "Bogus student touting art fakes around Clive". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "Art sellers painting a suspect picture". The Northern Advocate. 18 April 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "Scam art ripples Peninsula 'Students' up-sell cheap, mass-produced works door-to-door". Peace Arch News. The (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada). August 10, 2004. p. 1.
An Israeli art scam with suggested links to espionage and fundamentalist fundraisers may have turned up on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. At least half a dozen locals-probably more-were likely duped by the hoax, which has for years puzzled North American authorities. Young Israelis posing as art students travel door-to-door hocking mass-produced art as their own. The works are worth little, but still sell for hundreds of dollars to naive customers.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|pmd=(help); More than one of|work=and|newspaper=specified (help) - ^ Slobodian, Erin (4 September 2009). "Scam 'Artists' in Warman". News Talk 980. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "The famous art show ripoff in Tiananmen Square was recently cleaned up for the Olympics. This was a pretty funny one, where English-speaking 'art students' would strike up conversation with overseas visitors and tell them they happen to be in town for an art show across the street. The show was closing today when I first heard the spiel in 2006, it was closing today when I returned to Beijing in 2007, but the pre-Olympics cleanup really seems to have closed the collection of knockoff art." [1]. See also [2].
- ^ Frommer's China, Wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-52658-3, p. 140. [3] "You should also be leery of any English-speaking youngsters who claim to be art students and offer to take you to a special exhibit of their work. [...] The art, which you will be pressured to buy, almost always consists of assembly-line reproductions of famous (or not-so-famous) paintings offered at prices several dozen times higher than their actual value."
- ^ China Tourism Scams