The peoples' democratic blog of Matt Hayward

Comment from Zoe
Time January 10, 2008 at 1:40 pm

In phoenix, Az (United States). Just happened to me about 3 hours ago!!! Felt suspicious, so I came to surf the net. Not sure why I was targeted. May be they are targeting people at random. Will report to police.

Zoe

Comment from Angela
Time January 10, 2008 at 10:09 pm

It happened to us here in Brisbane earlier this evening. Lovely young lady, very convincing. I was just about to hand over a cash cheque (several hundred dollars) for 3 paintings but got quite suspicious and I told her I’d think about it. Luckily I remembered something I had seen on TV. We contacted the local police but they’re unaware of the scam but are looking into it.

Comment from Melanie
Time January 15, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Happened to us last night (14/1/08) in the Hills district in Sydney! We live in a quiet cul-de-sac in the burbs – not sure why they targeted our area. We were suspicious (I asked lots of questions and while very pleasantly answered, they were a little evasive and blamed lack of information on ‘bad English’), but we liked the artwork.

Our guy claimed he was on a ‘project’ from the Israeli art school he attended and they travelled round the world offering the ‘unique’ chance to buy quality art done by up & coming art students. He said he was staying at Bondi (no where near where we live). (He also sounded more French than Israeli!)

He tried to get inside a few times by saying he’d bring different prints in so we could see them on our wall – not sure if he was trying to case the place and come back later and break in. He was also pushing his ‘framer friend’ who could supposedly do professional work for cheap prices if we gave him our phone number to give to him.

Comment from Todd
Time January 16, 2008 at 10:00 am

Interesting the exact same thing occured at our house in Newcastle last night. A young Israeli art student selling painiting. he was very friendly and even did some juggling for our kids before trying to sell paintings. He said he was with a group of 95 students selling art world wide for an art project. Cost $ 200 for a painting or 2 for $ 350.00. He was not the artist as they are not allowed to sell their own works. Said if we give him name an phone number someone will contact us to frame the pitcures.

I have no idea what is going on. Maybe he is legimate and it is just our untrusting nature that meant we did not by one.

Comment from allen heart
Time January 18, 2008 at 10:21 am

Last night, a young woman came to our door in Flagstaff Hill, a suburb of Adelaide. She carried a portfolio of paintings she wished to sell us. She said she was part of a group of 75 “International” Art Students. I asked where she came from and she replied, “Israel.”

The paintings looked like cheap reproductions that she was selling for $100-200 because “art galleries were charging too much”. Thanks to computers and digital cameras, almost any art can be transferred to canvas very cheaply.

I’d heard about Israeli art students in the US and Canada, associated with the young Israelis reported dancing and celebrating as the first plane hit the WTC north tower on 9-11. Later they were detained by police and explosive residues were detected by dogs and connections to Mossad were revealed. A few months later they were deported to Israel.

Israeli art students had been reported living very close to the so-called “Arab hijackers” in Florida and others were attempting to gain access to secure US federal facilities.

Are they just cover for Israeli spying? I don’t know. A few years ago two Israelis were caught in New Zealand trying to steal the passport of a helpless handicapped man and they spent a few months in prison. Are Israeli “art students” polling Australian neighbourhoods in search of opportunities to steal passports, ascertaining goyim gullibility, or merely selling cheap art at double or triple the cost? I don’t know…but I certainly didn’t need cheap art on my wall for $200, unframed.

Comment from Monique
Time January 29, 2008 at 10:30 am

I’m in Quakers Hill (2763) and we had them come here. I figured it was probably a scam with mass produced paintings being sold marked-up, but I also liked some of the pictures so thought – well if they are a price I’m happy with, why not?

However we got suspicious when discussing Van Gogh and were told he died in the 70’s……..hmm and then that his Cafe Terrace painting was in the Louvre museum, which I know isn’t coz I’ve been there!

Once I read the terrorist stories online (freaksihly identical speech and description of process) I called the Suspicious hotline number here and spoke to a lovely old man who kept saying – oooh really?????????? and he took down the details to add to the files.

Then I called our local Police and reported them as suspicious.

I don’t think it’s linked to the terrorist thing, I rekon they’re just illegal immigrants trying to make a quick buck.

We managed to get one of them on webcam video!!

Although I really did like the picture of the Tour de France………………..

Comment from Warren
Time January 29, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Hi,
I had a similar incident yesterday. The guy selling the paintings looked more of a spanish origin that israil. He claimed to be a student. Any way i got 2 paintings from him. It was clear to me that there was more than what meets the eye. He was really suspicious. I got his telephone number and called him today. He answered the phone. He also gave me acontct number for a guy who does frames.

Comment from Barry
Time February 6, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Orchard Hills NSW Wednesday 6 February. A skinny dark skinned woman, early 20’s claiming to be an Israeli art student selling paintings of her co-students. Said her name was Yaara & gave the mobile phone number 0401 165 825. Was not allowed to sell any of their own work. Had a good range of paintings, landscapes, abstract, etc., and yes she did have the Tour de France painting too. Spoke with a VERY French accent. Said she had a mobile framer who would come to the house if we bought. Said she was leaving for New Zealand at the end of the week.

Comment from Michelle
Time February 21, 2008 at 6:42 pm

Hmmm ok well now they are in Ballarat, Vic! I just had two people come to my door, a tall young man with an beautiful accent and a young short pretty girl. Again it was the 75 international students selling art. They said they were leaving Ballarat in the morning to continue travelling. The art was gorgeous and I was tempted, but my husband is the art freak and he was working and isn’t home until midnight. Hmmm wondering now if I escaped a nasty scam?

Comment from Mike
Time February 21, 2008 at 7:19 pm

We’ve had two visits in our leafy cul-de-sac in Sydney’s inner west. Last year a pretty Irish girl, tonight a pretty French one. Sorry but I’m just not that gulllible.
I suspect they are simply backpackers getting paid a commission to hawk grossly overpriced ‘art’ door-to-door, and if we investigated we’d find ads in the paper or somewhere aimed at recruiting these people. If the pics are mass produced it would have to be pretty lucrative for the people operating the scam and it’ll be a while before the world is onto it.

Comment from Stephanie
Time March 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm

March 6, 2008

We just had a young girl hawking these paintings in Chandler, Arizona. A new twist is that she said it was just her and a girlfriend. She wanted in the house…um, yeah, no. She said each painting was $150. Also, she claimed the paintings were hers and some friends from Tel Aviv. We didn’t buy any. Debating on calling the police.

Comment from Rob
Time March 9, 2008 at 3:20 pm

I had a similiar occurance happen the week before Christmas. A young man with a strong accent came to our front door selling us paintings that his fellow students had composed (the artwork was priced between $150 – $200, and he mentioned that art was too dear to buy from art galleries). He had roughly 30 paintings with him that he stood on a stand to present to us.
He did also mention that he was waiting to be picked up by his friends and was staying in Sydney. I enquired about a website or an email address, and he said that one had not been developed as yet. I did not purchase any of the pictures and did not take or give any details to him. The next week a girl came to our front door with the same artwork.
Perhaps some kids trying to make money.
Who knows?

Comment from Kim
Time March 11, 2008 at 3:30 pm

The Tel-Aviv Art student scam has reached Chandler, az. I just had one here at about 6:30 p.m. I smelled scam, so I called the authorities.

Comment from Esther
Time March 13, 2008 at 5:38 pm

We are in Perth, Western Australia, and we just had a similar incident. 2 young girls, said they were part of an international art group, going around selling their oil paintings. I would like to know if this really is a scam. They said someone would give us a call back who could do the framing.

Comment from Craig
Time March 15, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Yes its a scam…but no it’s nothing to do with Mossad etc…I had a similar experience in New Zealand a couple of years ago when Orlia Mirov (a cute young israeli girl) turned up on my doorstep. After awhile (4 weeks after I started dating her….) she confessed that most students in israel are aware of the scam and try to use it to fund trips around the world. There is a supplier based in Australia who provides the guys in Australia and New Zealand and they pay about $40 – $50 (NZ dollars) per print. If your looking for your money back by all means e-mail her at orliaa@walla.co.il.

Comment from Alan
Time March 16, 2008 at 10:03 am

THESE ART SOLD IN GALLERIES FOR THOUSENDS IS THAT MAKES GALLERIES A SCAM ?

JUST GIVE THEM A BRAKE , IT’S BETTER TO BUY FROM THEM THAN SPENDING 10 TIMES AND MORE IN GALLERIES.
YOU WOUNDN’T LIKE TO SPEND 5,500$ IN VEGAS GALLERY (LIKE SOMEONE THAT I KNOW) AND THEN MEET THESE GUYS AND UNDERSTAND YOU’VE COULD BUY SAME KIND OF PAINTING FOR MUCH LESS!

WELL I GUESS THERE’S A CAPS LOCK FREAK WHO CAN’T SPELL IN EVERY PACK ISN’T THERE!

Comment from Sam
Time March 16, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Well i don’t know folks , i have seen thier art before… I think that whether it’s been painted by them or someone else it’s still looks good and thier price are much reasonable than everywhere else .

Comment from kim
Time March 16, 2008 at 11:44 pm

Door to door is a great way to make money for young people.
We are all loves oil painting. Aren’t we?
It’s better than buy stupid things at the mall

Comment from Peter Linn
Time March 18, 2008 at 6:03 am

They just hit Brisbane – same story, same (I suspect) mass produced “art”. Many paintings familiar from cheap outlets here

Comment from Cliff
Time March 19, 2008 at 1:07 pm

Hey i was working as a gallery-framer before , my boss always told me he gets the art from students and yet he offered the paintings for a retail price of at least a grand for a piece !
some galleries selling the same kind of art , so i guess it’s better (and cheaper) to get your decor from these dudes. still they’re selling thier reproductions for much less than thier recommended retail price. and just so you know – an original one of a kind piece will cost you not less than your annual income.

Comment from Sharyn
Time March 22, 2008 at 4:33 pm

Yes, now is Brisbane. Pretty young Israeli girl saying she’s from a company called Mondyam (which has an Israeli website, pity we can’t read Hebrew!).

Comment from Jenny
Time March 25, 2008 at 9:53 am

I had a visit last night (March 24 2008) from a young French man, Pierre, selling paintings. He claimed to have won a prize of a trip to Australia from the Paris Art School. The prize did not include accommodation, so he had to sell his paintings. In a gallery he would charge $1300 but he was limited in selling them door to door by law, for $250.00. I liked some of the paintings and hecame into the hallway to try them on the wall. I didn’t buy anything, but in speaking to a colleague who lives in a neighbouring suburb, that she was visited lasrt week by two ‘French’ girls with a similar story. I reported the incident to the police as I wondered if they were looking for places to break into at a later time. The police were going to follow up on the matter.

Comment from Carol
Time April 3, 2008 at 4:46 pm

Just had a young woman here at Lindfield. Said she was from Brest in France and had gone to an art school in Paris. She said she was staying at Manly backpackers.She said that the paintings were $200 but usually sell for $500 in galleries. Some were of Provence and others were of Africa. Some traditional and others very modern.We didn’t buy any.

Comment from Angie
Time April 9, 2008 at 11:26 am

We live North of Sacramento, Ca and I just had a guy show up at my house today selling the art. He told me the same story except he said he painted some of the pictures. I guess they go every where.

Comment from Sharon
Time April 10, 2008 at 12:42 pm

April 8 2008
In response to your israeli art scam, to let a bit of light on your questions it is a scam as far as price goes to a point. we were targeted and bought three prints which we love and look great, however they are not original pieces they are reproductions some more than others. You can look on ebay and see them for sale as low as $50.00.I do not know what they sell for once bidding is done.Do your research on the net. There is an isreli power seller which sells alot of the prints on offer and im sure you can buy them cheaper that way. The quality appears great and you can really smell the oil, however I am not an art expert. The framer does come in and frame them at reduced price compared to retail outlets and is very polite. we probably did pay art gallery prices but if you likr the prints bargain diligently with the price.

Comment from Sarah McGrath
Time April 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm

Hi Everyone – These “students” have just hit Carindale in Brisbane. I bought one of “their” paintings (Venice scene) for $220. But you know what? I like it and I have artwork from art galleries and they do cost much more! However, I have cancelled my credit card to be on the safe side and did not give them my details. Also got “Avi From Israel”’s mobile phone, and to be cheeky, I rang it infront of him. Tee hee, he nearly sh*it himself! But the mobile number is legitimate – 0415 507 292. I told him I didn’t need a framer and both (a girl, “Julie”) were not invited into the house. The way I see it, I have just helped some international backpackers have a better holiday in Australia, so I won’t bother calling the Police. Funny thing is, they were both so nervous I had to have a laugh!!! Hope doing the wrong thing is worth it for them…

Comment from Nicole
Time April 16, 2008 at 1:34 am

Hi,
Feel a bit ill reading all of these posts. We are in Kalgoorlie 6430 and were targeted tonight. Just thought to Google door to door painting scams after the hubby said ” There’s nothing suss about what we just did is there?” We are a bit naive I guess and were totally won over by the sweet, honest, french sounding 26 year old hawker by the name of Carine. We had neither the money or intention to buy art at 6:30pm on a Tuesday when you are dealing with the kids but I guess she is very practiced in the subtleties of sales. We bought 4 canvases for $600!!! A lot of clams for us, but I had just purchased a print for $160 as a wedding pres and thought what a steal. Happy I guess? with our purchases but will definitely steer clear of of using ‘their’ framer after reading the posts and very regretful of giving our contact details. I will be ringing the local paper first thing in the morning to suggest an article on these goings on before more Kalgoorlie residents part with their hard earned cash.

Comment from Karina
Time April 16, 2008 at 2:08 am

I just bought two for $ 150.00 each. They are worth the money….I guess the scam part is the israel student story which I did not believe anyway. The frame girl just came by and she has the frames in her car..they are much cheaper than the stores..still a good deal!!.

Comment from Paul
Time April 16, 2008 at 3:16 am

The Oils are from China and are massed produced originals. The average cost for the 20×24 is $5.00. The art is consigned to the kids for $75.00. I owned one of the larger art factories in the US and ran into the owners of this worldwide scam. It is amazing how they have sold all over the world saying the same pitch.

Comment from Dina Stephens
Time April 17, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Hi there,

It actually happened to us couple nights ago, here in Brisbane. A young woman name Emily (not sure if it’s her real name) came to our house and told us from Tel Aviv and all… showing several paintings, very persistent. We happen wanting to buy an art work for a birthday gift so we ended up buying one of it.
And then she was offering a discount if we buy more than one, which we declined and then she called her supervisor, David, who eventually came and gave more discount. At that moment I got suspicious. However we ended up only buying one worth $170 They even had this phone number which they refer it as their office. (02) 66803264 and an ABN 55626494798.
Not sure if this details are all true.

Comment from lina
Time April 24, 2008 at 11:28 pm

I got scammed too! I bought but don’t mind the painting in fact i love it! A Paris street with the Eiffel tower in the middle in blue and white tones. Would have preferred the honesty and still would have bought. They were selling for $200 but i only paid $150. I figured she (Juliette)a pretty young woman with green eyes was working her way around Australia and was making some quick money. She said she was a French art student traveling around and has been to Sydney already and seen Bondi, Manly and the Blue Mountains. She said they were planning on going to the 12 Apostles this weekend. No offer of framing.

Comment from jen
Time April 29, 2008 at 8:12 am

Hey there! I am in Aberdeenshire,Scotland, UK and I just had the Israeli art student thing happen. I did buy one though knowing that it was kind of a scam. I really liked the painting I bought but then thought I would check others experiences. He used the lavatory( I kept an eye) and he also had a glass of water( I have his finger prints, ha,ha!)He asked for my telephone number and said only if he gave me his, which he did and made him show me it on his mobile phonebook! He looked confused and I think he left wondering who scammed who! He said a framer would be in touch. I said , ‘oh do you frame as well as paint and interior design’ and he seemed uncomfortable with my questions and said that he couldn’t speak great english! I just wanted to give him a run for his money and mine!

Comment from Viv
Time May 3, 2008 at 1:30 pm

A nice young lady called Nofar came around to my place last night (Sunshine Coast Qld). The paintings were really nice. She said she could take a small cash deposit if we didn’t have the money and later we could transfer money to her. I asked for her number in case I decided to buy one later. She said she didn’t know her # but offered to ring my phone so I’d have her number. It was 8pm and I think all our lights were off as we were putting the kids to bed, I wondered whether it was a front to break-in, though the area where I live is not very rich, neither are we so she lucked out there. She said they were travelling around Australia, about 75 of them from Israel. Where can we buy these nice China rip-offs for $5 – I want one!

Comment from Cathy
Time May 6, 2008 at 11:48 am

I was scammed last night 05.05.08, in St Clair NSW (Australia). Young Russan man came to my door to sell me some very nice art work. I am an old art student and really admired the paintings. But after paying for one painting total $180.00, the Russan gentleman about 20years old kept pushing to buy more. I did think maybe it is a scam, but I did get a nice picture out of him.He kept telling me I could just leave a dept and get back to him later. But I live alone and was worried about if it was a scam, I could be robbed and be home alone at the time. Just hope nothing bad happens now that I have made a purchase.

Comment from R
Time May 13, 2008 at 11:12 am

Looks like they are in the western suburbs of Sydney NSW again. The first time around January it was youngish south american male and on Sunday (11th May) it was a dark skinny Isralie male from tel aviv – also youngish.
Thanks to this site i have now been giving this some thought and will be more wary next time – im sure they will be back again !

Comment from Vanessa – Brisbane
Time May 15, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Well we had them here in Jindalee last night – we didn’t have the cash so they offered to come back. I got concerned when they said that we could drive to the ATM ! Despite that we bought one that we loved tonight when she returned.Sweet girl – Gwen came back tonight without the guy from the previous night. Checked and it is an oil painting and is on canvas ie not glazed posters. They said they were students from a French art school on scholarship with their teacher backpacking around Australia. We had been backpackers – know how tough it is .I am not sure if they painted the pictures themselves as he tried to tell us a picture of obvious trees by a waterway was an abstract picture of the Pinnacles in WA ! which we had been to so pretty much knew what we were looking at.Though we are still happy with the price and the picture – now just worried that they might come and rob the place !
When Gwen left she had to walk around the suburb for another 45 minutes ( at 7pm ) until her ride came back – which I was a bit concerned about. She looked tired and broke like most backpackers so maybe we helped her a bit . I hope it is nothing more than that.

Comment from Lindsey
Time May 15, 2008 at 11:03 pm

They have hit england!! bought some paintings in Berkshire last year from a door to door israeli student… very strange!

Comment from tezza
Time May 19, 2008 at 11:25 pm

Yes we unfortunately became one of their victims a month or so ago in
Mt Gambier,South Australia,we found we were scammed in a news article a couple of days after the framer had been.
The worst part for me was the lies,so much so we have removed the paintings from the wall. The boys seemed so genuine,we invited them into our home, made them coffee and gave them something to eat, talked about our cultures & even offered to take them out for a meal.I did find it strange though that one of them was struggling to make eye contact most of the time.Sadly I guess this is the way of the world these days,through it we did learn a valuable lesson,from now on it’s once bitten twice shy.

Comment from Kathy Grant
Time May 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm

2 Guys name Ethan and Matt came to my house in Birkdale Qld last night and scammed me out of $2500. Took plenty of time and care going around my house, designing a new look in my new home. I asume that the reason they may have targeted me is that we are in a new home and that they knew that I may be in need of some paintings on my wall. They took the time to say the right things about my interior design and aranged pictures on walls to see how it looked. I always swore that I would never be taken by these type of people, but they knew the exactly what to say, and how to say it.

Comment from Sharon
Time May 22, 2008 at 12:31 pm

I live in Townsville & I had a visit from these so called artists last night. Same story, a young guy & girl selling art for students back in Israel. Thing is that they sounded kinda French! The art was very nice & I was interested in a painting of 2 blue elephants for $140. I was a bit suspicious & told them I would have to think about it. I discovered my elephants “original” on the internet, a guy in the U.S. posted it on there after being scammed. They called me back today & when I told him about my discovery he said oh, maybe it limited edition! I told him I thought he was lying & that he should tell the truth..he abruptly said goodbye & hung up. My relatives in Ballarat actually purchased one of these paintings 3 months ago.

Comment from No Monet
Time May 23, 2008 at 7:12 pm

Just had a guy at my door tonight in The Gap Brisbane – after he said “I am a French Art Student’ and proceeded to show his ‘works’ – I angrily said “I am not interested” and slammed the door shut. Afterall – it’s dinnertime!!! Now I read these posts, I am glad I did!!

Comment from Aft Idiot
Time May 26, 2008 at 9:43 pm

Monday 26 May 2008
Since I am posting – obviously been ripped off too! Tonight in Highfields just north of Toowoomba Queensland Australia. Same deal as everyone else same price. We like the paintings and my husband handed over the money which was really weird that we even had cash on us. Instantly after he left I felt sick that he was probably casing the place and would come back to rob us! at least I am sure after reading this that that wont happen they were just after the quick buck from very gullible idiots!
Will be ringing local police to inform them tomrrow.

Comment from ruiku binx
Time May 29, 2008 at 4:57 pm

GREFFR GRFFER

Comment from Eric
Time May 31, 2008 at 5:12 pm

We’ve just had two fellows selling paintings at our home in western Brisbane. After seeing the paper work, I thought I’d do a quick check. I don’t know if it is a scam or not, but I like the paintings I bought.

In the conversation there was nothing suspicious, Gabrielle told us about the project, how they travelled in different parts of the world bringing art to people in their homes.

It wasn’t until I invited my parents over, (my father has a very good eye for art and design) that Ethan, noticed my mothers necklace that has her name in Hebrew letters. He read the name and asked if my mother was jewish. She isn’t, but this was the first indication that these fellows were Israeli. My parents have traveled to Israel and they were able to talk about a number of places they had been.

The paintings are definitely oil and not digital photos put on canvas. I’ve done these myself. The painting I’ve purchased have texture (in the paint itself) and have an oil paint smell. They might be copies but they are very good in my opinion.

We did ask if they were one off originals and we were assured that they were not.

I believe we got good value as we had been considering actual prints from an art store that were certainly more that the ~$170 we paid per painting. I think it was a fair exchange.

Comment from judi
Time June 6, 2008 at 1:44 pm

The other night on the Gold Coast a very nice young Israeli fellow came to my home and I bought a painting from him for $160.00, he explained it was not an original but a copy and was painted by a student. It has a strong oil paint smell and two white paint smudge marks at the top of each corner as if it had just been painted. A friend has said it is a painting but of course a copy and asked me if I liked it, I think it is beautiful and even though I could not afford it I do love my painting and I guess that’s all that matters.

Comment from Brett
Time June 8, 2008 at 8:13 am

Yes we too had the same thing happen in Keperra in Brisbane a few weeks ago (May 2008) – a french male art student came door to door selling original paintings for $200 each. We had him inside for coffee – he seemed like a sweet kid. We bought one – a naked lady – very lovely – and although I felt a little sick when I read this I agree that it was fairly reasonably priced, we still like it. The only worry is whether they might come back to our house at a later date but I agree with some of the other people, I think it is just a scam to make some money, I don’t think they will come back at a later time (I hope). They probably do an area in a few weeks and then leave.

Comment from Nick
Time June 8, 2008 at 10:05 pm

I actually worked as a sales person selling paintings door to door.

In total I think the customer gets a good deal.
NO they do not cost $5 they cost more then that, but there is profit in it like any product.

Regarding the story I can truly say that in general it feels like the customer actually asks for the art student story, as it is the only thing that gets you the customers to listen, and the guy/girl get to show you their product. After 5 days per week of hundreds of doors slamming in your face (some times in a rude way) well some times it’s easier to say you are an art student and actually talk to the people then to get another door in your face.

So in total just remember that the guy/girl is already having a harder time then most people.
do not believe the story but if you like the art (and it is really an artist sitting and painting this art with oils) i will not recommend to pay more then 190$ (gallery’s do sell reproductions for much much more).

If you did not find what you are looking for you can check this website : http://www.rtgallery.com
I have already ordered from them and the quality is great.

Comment from Robyn
Time June 11, 2008 at 11:26 am

We live on the Gold Coast, Queensland and were targetted with the art student – Iraeli girl selling paintings about 2 years ago. And yes we did buy paintings and we did get them framed also. I guess we were fooled like many others.

Comment from E
Time June 12, 2008 at 10:19 pm

They were in Wilston, Brisbane tonight ~6pm.
Girl who did the talking with a guy. I’d seen her earlier by herself walking down the street – I thought she was a student heading to uni. Bit suspect that they waited until after sunset before door knocking.

They were apparently French? Girl quite tan, shoulder length sun-streaked thick brown hair. Green top. Guy short, skinny with closely shaved head and stubble – looked a bit rough. Dark shirt with writing on it. They were carrying two A1 folders/portfolios – one green, one blue.

I was busy and had no money anyway. Asked for a business card or something but they didn’t have one. After they left, I got concerned that maybe they were casing the place. Lucky we’re the poor people in the street nothing worth stealing here.

Then when I returned home around 8:30pm, they were sitting at the end of our street(dead end)in the dark. Looked suss so called the police. Better to be safe than sorry. I think they were gone by the time the cops arrived.

Comment from john Carter
Time June 16, 2008 at 8:25 pm

French student “Manu Charrier” (did the tour de france painting, the square apple tree and the 2 nomads) came tonight in Toowong Brisbane with a colection of his friends paintings. $200 a painting. Nice pieces, smelt real but all the paintings looked too familiar. Probably reasonable value but if I am going to buy a copy would prefer to buy one I selected.

Comment from elaine
Time June 17, 2008 at 10:50 am

This exact same thing happened to me last night on the Sunshine Coast Qld.It was around 6.30pm and i had not long got home from work when and Israeli girl knocked on my door with all these paintings in tow.Strangely i was stand offish the whole the time but still proceeded to purchase one,that i cannot work out as i was suspicious the whole time as she showed me no identification at all.I am kicking myself now at how i handled the situation last night and wish i had of slammed the door in her face to begin with.Alas i guess we learn from our mistakes and all i can do now is enjoy my painting(which by the way does have a strong oil smell as mentioned in other messages) and cut my losses and move on.I am still deciding weather or not to report it to the authorities.

Comment from louise
Time June 22, 2008 at 8:56 pm

Grange, Brisbane today @ 4pm and I invited him back when my husband was home @ 8pm. Stupid stupid us bought two for $550 but luckily I paid by cheque and therefore now have the paintings but cancelled the cheque. I am more than happy to hand the paintings back should he come knocking again. I had a tall ‘french’ bloke, though husband was suss on him being French. He said he paints under the name Claude but real name Louis and we bought a black and white Canal of Versailles and then a blue Tour De France painting by Anne – apparently real name Christine. I seriously feel extremely stupid and whilst I always do silly things like this my husband doesn’t so I blame him

Comment from andrew
Time June 25, 2008 at 7:57 am

Last night a student called “David” knocked on our door at around 8pm offering us about 10 works of art at about $100~$150 a piece. I carefully inspected each one whilst carrying a conversation and then picked the piece that I thought most caught my eye. Then I went back inside to get the $100 he wanted for this piece that his “friend (signed by Leony)” had painted – a group of colourful musicians.

All through this I didn’t even suspect that it could have been suspicious. Only after the deal was done did I then Google it, just in case. And of course this came up! Along with all the other comments as recent as the 22nd… Silly me.

“David” also clamed to have served his stint in the Israeli army and that he was not a religious Jew, only going to Synagogue for special occasions.

Well, that was my story. The painting is still rather nice though. I think I will display it.

Comment from Michelle
Time June 25, 2008 at 2:02 pm

I have just been hit in Canberra, Australia.
These guys really do get around huh?

Had a student looking type come to my door, said he was from israel studying art here, in his first year. and proceeded to show me the portfolio of artworks. none of them were priced over $200 though. I asked him to exchange details so i could think about which one i wanted and get in touch with him. So i have his number at least. and i ahve rung it and gotten his voice mail, same guy.

but what’s more concerning to me (the art was nice, i didnt buy any but wouldnt feel too ripped off i did) is that he might have been casing my house for a break in. I would like to know if anyone has suffered any further consequences from these door knockers? has anyone been broken into after theyve come past?

Comment from Michelle
Time June 25, 2008 at 4:27 pm

UPDATE: Have since reported my suspicious visitor to the local police. turns out they were aware of him cause one of them got done themselves! haha. he said he wasnt too dissapointed cause he still got a painting he really liked but felt a bit silly. as far as they are aware there have been no follow up break ins linked with this incident as i explained this was my main concern. so im relieved to know that i shouldnt be expecting a break in soon.

Although i must say, to the people who have been ripped off for thousands… you should really be a bit more cautious of handing out your money so freely. i couldnt imagine handing out that sort of figure for some paintings that i havent researched.

Comment from Rob
Time June 27, 2008 at 6:49 am

6/23 – Hit in Kanas, US. We bought some paintings, became suspicious and found this site as well as others. I cancelled the check and we have contacted authorities. I called back the Israeli art student who painted all of these wonderful paintings. I let him know we were aware of his fraudulant sales tactics . . . of course he pretended offense and said he would be by to pick them up. I told him we were waiting to hear from the police and more than likely, he would be able to pick them up from them.

Comment from Melanie
Time June 28, 2008 at 4:46 pm

well I feel both stupid and relieved! I haven’t bought a painting.. yet. Avo (a French sounding Israeli) came around selling the same art student story ( he did say that he had done a couple of the pics). I liked one of them but didn’t have money on me so he left the pic with me and arranged to come back in an hour. It’s been a couple of hours now and I haven’t seen him again. While I’ve been waiting I decided I didn’t like the pic as much as I originally thought and was suspicious about a few things: he didn’t seem to know some common art terms, blaming not knowing English; not selling just his own stuff; and I couldn’t understand why he would target this area to sell art as it is largely industrial and state housing. It all seemed a bit weird so I thought I’d do a bit of an “art scam” internet search and found this site. If he comes back I’ll be giving him his picture back. Fortunately he was intimidated by my dog so if it was a set up for a burglary then hopefully they’ve been put off!

Comment from Wayne
Time June 29, 2008 at 2:41 pm

This is really really nice !! to see that people are so active about the legal side of operations.
The person you see at your door might be a traveler , the one i’ve bought paintings from made a pencil portrait of me in 30 minutes – a good one !
These paintings are hand painted and they’re sold in gallery’s around the world for 900$-10,000$.
I guess in total people get a good deal, as every one knows nike make their shows in china and it cost them around 3$ but can you buy a real nike for less then 100$ ? and if you go to the mall you will pay for the same nike 200$ cuz of the rent.
In total it is up to you if you buy or not.
i still like the pieces i got, who ever made them i sure they worth every penny .

Comment from Joe
Time July 1, 2008 at 7:38 pm

You know guy’s, I am reading all of these comments.
I think if you look at the general picture what Nick said before is probably the most true.
We all try and make money what ever we sell, and I guess door to door is a hard way and so they need a larger profit to compensate for the trouble.
I think if you payed $150-$190 you got a good deal, I saw paintings in gallery’s in cains that for sure where not original but where still sold for over $3000.
Anyway in the end I decided to order from the website ( RTgallery.com) Nick told us all about and I am happy with the 2 Van Gogh’s and Monet that I got.
Thank you Nick for the good tip
Joe.

Comment from Scott
Time July 4, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Wow,
Scam? Someone has still painted these pictures. I have five and love them all. Yes I am concerned about the same old, casing the house thing but as far as art go’s it sound like most of you should visit one of those two dollar shops, you might find what you are after in their. What do you expect for $150-200?

Comment from Scott
Time July 4, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Wow,
Scam? Someone has still painted these pictures. I have five and love them all. Yes I am concerned about the same old, casing the house thing but as far as art go’s it sound like most of you should visit one of those two dollar shops, you might find what you are after in there. What do you expect for $150-200?

Comment from Victoria
Time July 5, 2008 at 7:57 pm

They’re in the East riding of Yorkshire, UK now!!
I had a girl come to my door last night using them same story, she was trying to get a cheque out of me but I couldn’t afford to buy paintings at them moment she wasn’t happy but tough I’m not giving cheques to complete strangers because of the risk of identity theft for starters. I knew from the start she wasn’t teling thr truth.
Even if you get the paintings they’re all still scam artists because they lie and I’d be worried about them targeting vunerable old people etc. I reported the incident to the police.

Comment from Alicia
Time July 10, 2008 at 1:39 am

The only people I think that are getting scammed here are the poor Chinese sweat shops that are producing these paintings! Regardless they are all authentic, copies or not, they are still actual oil paintings! Victims are the people that are doing the painting, cheap are the people that are complaining. I agree with Scott (July 4th) if you are worried you are getting ripped off then you should visit the 2 dollar shops. I absolutely love my two paintings and could not be more proud that I got such a deal (2 for $260.00). I will buy more when they come around again!

Comment from Rebecca
Time July 11, 2008 at 4:29 am

That happened here in San Jose, Ca last week!!! We were going to have them at another building tomorrow!! We almost bought the tour de rance painting!!

Comment from Philip
Time July 12, 2008 at 12:48 am

They come through Green point near Gosford on the 08/07/08 saying they were from Israel
We loved most of the Paintings and decided to buy 4 of them but told them they would have to wait till the end of the week to pick up the money. I started to worry about who I was giving our money to and had a look on the Internet and found this article that describes what happened and describes the paintings that we had shown to us. So I called the police on 131 444 and they are coming tomorrow to check out what is going on. Every one of you people should do the same because you have no idea what you are funding how would you feel if you found out you were supporting another terrorist attack like what happened in Bali or 9/11 how would you feel if your finger prints were pulled off cash found on a suicide bomber or even a drug runner selling ice or heroin. If there is nothing nasty going on here then why all the lies and why wouldn’t they advertise in local papers and have a website. I would have been mighty upset if i had these paintings hung in my house and a visitor had pointed out that i had been scammed. So PLEASE call the police 131 444 and turn the tide on these scum bags weather you like the paintings or not and of course you are going to like them after all they are world famous paintings well copies of any way.

Comment from Storm
Time July 13, 2008 at 7:20 pm

We bought 2 paintings which are pretty damn good. The price was good. The weird things are, thes guys drive around at night in vans knocking on peoples doors, the guy who sold to us said he was from Israel but couldn’t spell Israel in english.???? When he came to pick the money up, he had no receipt book. When you hand money over , you expect a receipt yes? I wrote one myself. The deal was done but he wouldn’t just leave. He was just stalling for some reason.I got a phone call tonight asking to make an appointment to stretch these paintings. I declined as my partner is heavily pregnant. I asked for a contact number to maybe get it done in the future, but he wouldn’t saying we wouldn’t be able to catch him as he is ‘mobile’ all the time.
I don’t know if this is a scam or just a very unprofessional business for travelling students in Oz.
are there any connections with the customers they target? jobs etc?
maybe we are just paranoid. i like the paintings though.

Comment from Michal
Time July 15, 2008 at 5:32 am

Happened to me today in Tullamore in Ireland, a girl named Alinoe (Ellenoe?) claiming to be from Israel selling pictures. Her English wasn’t great, she used a word ‘beautiful’ a lot trying to emphasize in front of my housemate that she was not that bad looking. She was even cheeky enough to ask for bank details, she would accept cash or check, wanted 110 euro for a painting. Also she had a contact who could speak English better than herself, it was all very suspicious! I usually smell scam from a distance so we sent her away wishing good luck.

Comment from Nicole
Time July 15, 2008 at 11:38 am

A young French man came to my door last night, (Perth) very pleasant, quite good English. Said he was in Australia for 12 months traveling with his art teacher. Spoke of the Bozart Gallery ??? Paris where he said he shows his art. I became very suspicious when the paintings looked all too familiar and the signatures varied or no signature at all. I didn’t buy anything as I like original art but I tend to agree that if you can get the price down and you really like it, buy it.

Comment from Dani
Time July 19, 2008 at 7:26 pm

Hi there,

happy to read all these reactions.
A young Russian (sounded more Israeli) guy visited us yesterday evening (we are living near Amsterdam, The Netherlands). He tried to sell oil paintings from co-students for a cheap price (120- 150 EUR). We didn’t like his collection so he called his Team Leader to drop by. Indeed….we found 3 paintings which we really like. A couple called “Woman in Red” and “Woman in Green” and anotherone from Africa. By the way, they also had the “Tour de France” in collection . Well, we didn’t have enough money at home so they just left the paintings with us and will pick up the money today. In total we have to pay 360 EUR (70 EUR discount included). I think I’ll talk to them this afternoon when they come to pick up their money. I like the paintings but I don’t like them lying to me. Promoting art students, hahahahahah, cheap copies fron China.
Will let you know more this afternoon….
Cheers
Dani

Comment from Perri
Time July 29, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Hello….I just bought 2 of these paintings for $50 each! I love them! The girl who sold it to me was very nice and I suspected that she was a traveller (from Israel of course!) I certainly wasn’t prepared to pay $150-$200 for each possibly because I suspected that it was a scam. Still, I liked the pictures, paid the money into her account and hopefully, she’ll be able to travel abit more before her 2 weeks is up in Melbourne. Even if they only paid $5 for each and made a profit of $45, I don’t feel ripped off because I used to have door to door sales people in my business, and I know how hard the job is! The value of these paintings is really in the eye of the beholder as far as I’m concerned! I don’t think this girl was lying to me because she was very knowledgable about army and navy conscription for young israeli’s, so I guess I paid for some of her knowlege too!

Comment from colin
Time August 2, 2008 at 4:01 am

had an Israeli art student to my door selling oil paintings here in Ireland.

Comment from Juice
Time August 5, 2008 at 10:29 pm

Guy came to my door (Inner West, Sydney). Same Israeli art student story, probably same pictures (incl Tour De France). Seemed to have a good speil about each painting. Said he can’t sell his own stuff in case he gets offended. Wanted $150-180 per painting depending on the ‘number of foils used’ Also wanted to come in and see how it would match my decor. I said no. I can’t fork out that money (plus don’t keep that cash anyways) and have to consult with my family. Gave me name and contact number 0401648406. I liked the paintings, Santorini and some children playing, but I won’t be calling back. If they come back I’ll offer them $30 each .. haha. Seemed like a nice guys and pretty genuine but then I found this site. Good stuff!

Comment from Peter
Time August 6, 2008 at 9:46 am

Sunday, August 3rd, after 8.00pm, they rang on our door in Ropes Crossing (St. Marys approx. 50km west of Sydney). Already dark, the last bus gone and than two art students from Israel try to sell paintings walking from house to house???Thats too heavy. I did not even have a look on their paintings. I guess todays it is not only scary for people who let them in – I felt also sorry for them to be in that kind of business. For your safety and also for that young peoples safety at least don’t buy at night and don’t let them in!Thanks for this site! Job well done!

Comment from No Monet
Time August 6, 2008 at 10:29 am

had another visit from ‘art student’ last night at 8.30. I didn’t even bother to open the door, just waved him away and turned off the outside light. What a nerve! Where do they get off ringing peoples doorbells after dark?? I can’t believe people seriously invite them into their homes and then hand over cash?? What the??????

Comment from DK
Time August 12, 2008 at 10:25 am

They are in Kingston, Ontario Canada, nice looking prints…bought one for $90 CAD.
No regrets!

Comment from Barbara (Vancouver)
Time August 13, 2008 at 6:01 am

Hi, report from Vancouver:

About five years ago, a young man came into the local laundrette where a group of us were washing his clothes. He had a strong Hebrew accent (I know, from having spent some teenage years in Israel on the stereotypical kibbutz).

Anyway, he pops open his faux-leather portfolio bag which has about a dozen prints in it. He has a long story: a group of international art students are in Vancouver trying to set up an exhibit but require some funding for this and that. Most people ignore him, but I took a fancy. Anyway, to get to the point, he expertly worked my nostalgia, and I ended up buying one of the works (for $CA90).

My wife immediately recognised it as a mass produced piece made out of very cheap oils and using a poorly constructed paper frame. After a year, the colours had run considerably, the frame crumbled, and after a Google search I know have a funny story whenever people ask about it.

I got conned.

Comment from Goose
Time August 14, 2008 at 2:48 am

Yeah, add another goose to the list. I’m in Toowoomba and they are doing the rounds again. Normally I don’t give anyone that knocks on the door a chance, but I must admit pre exam stress and an opportunity to procrastinate…meh, excuses.

Luckily I paid by cheque, and I have now issued a stop order on it, and will contact them telling them no contract. Being charitable I might opt to post it back to them rather than have them come around again. Don’t like that idea much. Though once I know the bank has effected my stop order, I guess I lose nothing by leaving it on the verandah for them to pick up.

Interestingly, they say on their leaflet that their customers have the right to exchange/cancel in 7 days. Under the Trade Practices Act and various state Fair Trading Acts, the actual time is 10 days for door to door sales.

It is an offence under these acts to misrepresent the rights customers have, such that it renders the whole contract void.

Comment from Goose
Time August 14, 2008 at 9:35 am

Continued…

Ok, so I am too late to stop the cheque. Will see if they make good their refund policy. Somehow I doubt it. Will probably report to police to be sure.

Comment from Libby
Time August 14, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Same story in Bundaberg Queensland. Felt sorry for the young girl knocking on the door and did really like one of the paintings so I bough it. But it just didn’t feel right!

Comment from Goose
Time August 14, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Interesting development. Got a phone call about the framing. Said I wanted to return picture for a refund. They have made an appointment to pick up…let you know how it goes.

Comment from Goose
Time August 17, 2008 at 10:49 am

Ok, so a dude did turn up to pick it up…but they insist on getting an account number to process the refund. Uh-uh.

Now in case you are wondering what the big deal with giving account number out is – it is this: they could potentially transfer more money in as an “innocent” mistake, and then ask you to send the over payment somewhere. Congratulations, you’ve just participated in money laundering. Personally I would only give that info to someone I really trusted, and had prior dealings with.

Comment from Ernest
Time August 17, 2008 at 5:02 pm

People CHILL OUT !!
there is no f#^king scam
,there’s no damn money laundering conspiracy and definitely unquestionably
they’re not supporting terror or what ever bullcrap you’re discussing here
these poor bastards don’t have college fund
like YOUR KIDS you arrogant upper mid class As@#$%%s !!
so that’s thier only chance to save money fot school .
still feeling scammed ?
go get your house decorated at the local galleries , pay some high retail mark-ups and call it a decent bargain !

Comment from sam
Time August 18, 2008 at 11:05 am

the real story
hello my name is sam i am chains’ that lives in Sidney and i import paintings from china to Australia
cost price of a painting in whole sale is 6 us dollar from my supplier in china
plus tax and import duty its come out as 10 used renting a big storage its 150 dollar a week
i sell the paintings to anyone that want to buy in 35 dollar

the students mostly a few travelers meet up and buy a car or a van to be mobile
and paying for petrol and more things
in the end every painting cost them about 50 dollar with all the expenses
they sell between 2 to 10 paintings a week not a easy job at all
normally i get people from a frowners country’s but there is more israelis then others
i guess because their currency is wroth less then european euro or American dollar
and they spared the roomer that this is a way to travel

people are happy they can keep traveling

Comment from Lisa
Time August 21, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Just had a fright from a knock on the door at 8.00 tonight. Probably spooked as my husband is out. A heavily accented voice said “I have art to sell. Open the door’. (I’m home with two kids alone in a quiet suburb in Sydney). I said ‘who are you?’ He said ‘open the door, i have art to sell’ I said no, please go away or i’ll call the police. He repeated it again and I started getting a big frightened so I said ‘I’m really going to call the police’. The guy said don’t do that and ran off. I ran upstairs and got a glimpse of someone with an art folder under their arm. I did call the police to see if this was fair dinkum and the officer asked around and two other officers had recently had people coming to their doors trying to sell art. Regardless of whether they are con artists or poor students, illegal immigrants etc it’s a fairly strange way of going about selling your ‘art’. Seems a bit ’strong arming’ and he certainly didn’t back off when I told him I wasn’t going to open my door to him. I’m the first to give someone a break, have needed them myself at times, but this was surely a tad creepy.

Comment from rachel
Time August 22, 2008 at 7:28 am

TO EVERYONE HERE CLAIMING THIS SCAM HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH “TARGETING” PEOPLE OR TERRORISM….THAT IS RIDICULOUS. im from israel, over here its extremely hard to make a good living. alot of kids want to get out and travel a bit. these oil painting sales programs provide tickets and living expenses for cheap or free in exchange for these kids going door to door. yes the art isnt original, yes they r ripping u off but no there is nothing overly shady going n here. they r just young kids who want to see another country and cant afford it any other way. maybe give em a little break. som of the paintings r quite nice. but yeah its dishonest….but some kids dont even now theyre gonna have to rip people off till they get there. my ex boyfriend went on one of those programs to england and found himself stuck there with a bunch of fake originals, which he HAD to sell to pay his ticket home. so remeber not to judge people too harshly….

Comment from Swamy
Time August 22, 2008 at 10:01 am

All right, I understand they’re poor buggers trying to make a buck or so, and their stories are kind of interesting, mind you, but I would prefer the truth…you would be helping employ a poor Chinese bugger to make the piece, and you would help me travel.

Personally, I find their paintings a bit tacky and they obviously have not been done by art students who would be encouraged to find their own original style ( these look mass produced…like the ones the guys on ‘learn how to paint’ on tv produce in less than a minute!)…but I did consider giving him money to fund his…study? travels? whatever…only prob…is I’m broke right now!

Oh well! Maybe he’ll come back and I can at least help him pay for dinner…for the entertainment that he provided!

Comment from Craig
Time August 23, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Earnest and Rachel…

The real problem here is the way they sell. Not the product itself (overpriced yes but not as much as some products).

Fact: The vast majority of the people selling these have NO WORK VISA and are not eligible to be selling them. They also LIE to get the sale.

Comment from Craig
Time August 23, 2008 at 2:42 pm

…continued…

if this is acceptable to you then maybe you need to rethink your code of ethics?

For those of you that have just met one…ask for proof of their work visa and see their reaction

Rachel…in NZ we save our money and then apply for the appropriate visas. We then work in legite jobs if we need extra cash while o-seas(knowing we have the right visa to do so). It’s called planning and forethought and not really that hard.

PS If your wondering how I know about the Visas then refer to my earlier post

Comment from Ernest
Time August 23, 2008 at 3:33 pm

15. Craig Says: < < < (Quote)
March 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
… After awhile (4 weeks after I started dating her….) she confessed that most students in israel are aware of the scam and try to use it to fund trips around the world …

same craig ha ?!

upset on your old israeli girlfriend ?
and all of a sudden you are the authority
talking about visas and Sh%^ ??
you lucky new zealander bastard ! born on your peaceful island raised with no worries and eligible to do what ever you wish
ha ?!
who are you to judge the circumstances that brought them over to sell thier art ?
have you ever encountered suicide bombers and terror acts in your homeland ?
or been drafted to the military for 3 years at the age of 18 ? probably not

you don’t know crap about the life in the middle east

they might not be as lucky as you are to
born with the same opportunities

you spilling your rage here upon these guys because of your old girlfriend
but who are you to judge what’s right or wrong? any of you !

Comment from nan
Time August 30, 2008 at 11:14 am

while you may have been put in an awful situation..that is not an excuse to con,scam and cheat people. That is still a choice you make!

Comment from dale
Time September 1, 2008 at 7:54 am

I’m in Mount Isa ( Far western QLD, 12 hours west of Townsville). We had a young lady, Danni was her name, from Israel. Sold us 3 paintings for $150 each. I knew they were copies/mass produced, the moment I saw them but hey, at $150 each, they are no more than what you’d pay for the same thing sold by so called ‘reputable’ companies. Out here there isn’t much opportunity to buy this kind of stuff. I reckon they’re just travellers out to make a buck. They probably wait till after dark so people will be home from work to buy their paintings. I don’t feel ripped off at all. Quite happy thank-you. But I do agree they should be honest about the origins of the paintings. People would still buy them I’d imagine. I have since seen two young men here doing the same thing…..

Comment from Blue nude
Time September 1, 2008 at 12:44 pm

I bought one. I don’t really care where or who it comes from. If i like it, i’ll buy it. A bit impulse bit it will look good on my wall. I think i’ll give the framer the swerve tho’. I’ll just do it myself.

Comment from avi
Time September 1, 2008 at 4:08 pm

im an art student from israel and i go door to door to sell paintings , paintings that students from all over the world painted including me and we sell them in very low prices only to pay for our travling here in australia but what i dont like is when people pretend to be israelis and sell their lies

Comment from Ads
Time September 6, 2008 at 10:03 pm

Want to know the origins of your paintings
Check out this site: http://www.doupine.com/

Comment from attitude problem!
Time September 7, 2008 at 6:19 pm

My brother-in-law just got ’scammed’he is very kind hearted and extremely generous. He just paid $1500 for 4 prints that he cannot afford. Yeah he shoulda said NO but they kept badgering him and they did successfully talk him into buying what he couldn’t affort. He’s disabled and in a wheelchair and certainly not an “arrogant upper mid class As@#$%%s !!” as Ernest (above) so delicately put it. It pisses me off that people like Ernest go ranting and raving and frothing at the mouth like a lunatic assuming that no-one else knows squat. Well guess what buddy, you should pull your F*&king head in and shut that ugly hole in your face. You don’t know everything, so get over yourself and stop making a fool of yourself. Your the one doing the judging, who do you think you are eh to assume every bastard is loaded? They did a pull a number on someone who was just over generous and now he is suffering because of it. I got no problems with people trying to make a buck if that’s the case but within reason. Spoke to the police today and they said it was a SCAM. So Ernest if you feel like writing back and frothing at the mouth again, go for it buddy I have absolutely no intention of coming back on this site again as I have the information that I need. You should take a long hard look at the way you communicate to people over the ‘internet’….gutless spring to mind.
Ciao!!!

Comment from Roy
Time September 9, 2008 at 4:41 am

Hey guys , i’m a kind of person that spent hundreds of dollars getting all kind a stuff
online , TV commercials you name it … most of them are still in the closet unopened . no one ever forced me to buy them , i did it out of a free will .
the guy above make it sound like a blackmail , which if that is the case that’s a whole different deal !
i got some paintings before and i’m pleased with them (i haven’t found a better deal somewhere else) . i got sales people coming around , and where ever i go there’s some one tring to sell something . no matter how much people talk me into getting something i’m the one that make the call regardless to how much i being pushed to get it .
each individual is a master of his own will
period .

Comment from melbourne
Time September 10, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Got this skinny guy come to our house in epping (3076) yesterday named josh from israel, Art student of an international group and wanted to sell some oil paintings. Told him to come tomorrow. Next day he arrived with his supervisor a petit blonde called diana from germany. They showed us some art work which we really liked and we end up chosing 3 nice paintings. the prices were 900,900 and 700. then she gave us discount of $100 each which extended to $150 each. then she called her supervisor and came back with 550, 550 and $400 prices. They also had a framer friend who would have givien to us 40% off. but some thing came over us and we told them to come back tomorrow and we will get em.
As soon they left I jumped on the net and wollah! I found this.
Thanks God.

Comment from George
Time September 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Ive just put $20 down as a deposit,as I didnt have the $120 cash, their comming back in a couple of days, Ive got the painting. Same story as above, boy and girl from Israel, art students etc. This is the second time this has happened (small world if there are only 60 students). The first time there was nothing I liked, it was a different guy.
I enjoyed the experience as my 16yr old son and 9 yr old daughter were participating. We invited them in once we had found one we liked and tried it on a wall. Im no artist and have never bought a painting, but I like this and the kids do too. (wife hasnt seen it yet )
I figured there was more to the story, but gee, I never figured them for Mosad, the girl would have made a great honey trap. Come on! Their just kids who know the value of a buck. Good on em.

Comment from Andrew
Time September 15, 2008 at 11:20 pm

We just had them here in Adelaide Hills. Nice people and the prices are quite affordable given what you pay for prints. We told them we had to think about it and they politely left. When they left I jumped on the net and nearly fell off my chair. Something was suss but like others if you like the art who cares.

Comment from Annika
Time September 17, 2008 at 9:30 pm

Hi – Just happened to me in Glen Iris Vic….gorgeous guy, tried to get him to admit it was a scam but to no avail. Bought a canvas from him for $250 and happy with purchase!! Shame they just don’t say “Backpackers selling repo art for extra travel money!!” Honesty would be better – or maybe it is a true circumstance for French Art Students!!

Comment from austie
Time September 23, 2008 at 5:33 pm

Selling goods overpriced is not in itself a breach of law. However, the modus operandi of these salespersons and their co-ordinators do breach consumer laws in Aust.
The practice of not providing a document showing dealer’s id and supplier’s address is in breach of Section 40 of the NSW FAIR TRADING ACT ( CONSUMER PROTECTION section dealing with door to door marketing).
Examples of ther breaches happen in the presentation of a false cover story and false information about the paintings’ origins (Sect.44 FALSE REPRESENTATIONS) and the giving out of false contact information (Sect.42 MISLEADING OR DECEPTIVE CONDUCT) which is how I became involved.

Comment from Andrew
Time September 24, 2008 at 11:05 am

We got scammed in Artarmon, (North) Sydney, Australia. We thought we were helping out students, they are very convincing and good con artists. We felt sorry for the guy, which is why we bought a painting for $150, to help struggling artists, little did we know you can buy the same painting off the internet from China for $5 after we did some research. They should be ashamed of themselves and giving Israeli people a bad name. If anyone tries to sell you art door to door, just say no thanks and close the door!

Comment from Neat
Time September 30, 2008 at 7:46 pm

Just to let you all know they are in Adelaide Today. I bought one of the paintings which i really like. the girl was pleasant and non pushy but she did come in to show it to me on the wall and also again when she came to pick up the money as she asked for a drink of water and I invited her in to have one.
I’m mad with myself as in the back of my mind I knew I’d heard something about this being a scam but didn’t look on here until after the 2nd visit – dumb hey?
Never mind I’ll put it down to experience I do like my painting and I should have looked on the net earlier.

Comment from French Art
Time October 3, 2008 at 8:43 am

Young French guy was in Eastwood (Sydney) last night (2 October ‘08). Said he was from Art School in Paris & these were paintings from third year students. He couldn’t really answer me when I kept asking “but why do you have them”. He was VERY, VERY convincing (but we didn’t buy anything) & quite a nice guy. I think he’s just trying to see Australia but PLEASE DON’T LIE TO US!!!!

Comment from Chris
Time October 19, 2008 at 10:36 pm

we were scammed too sun 19/10/08 2 30 pm plumpton nsw bought a painting of a Paris street with the eifle tower in the back ground in earthy tones young girl then she called a guy who came over to show us larger prints he was a bit pushy telling us we need a large canvas on the wall we showed them I did not give in to the large paintings nothing I liked he also wanted to send the framer in i said no to that I really love the painting I bought. wont do that again regadless

Comment from Howy
Time October 21, 2008 at 6:45 am

Hi a young girl and guy claiming to be art students from Israel just visited my home in North Leeds UK. On average israelis turn up every month or so pedalling paintings usually I have a chat and send them packing but this time I decided to buy but only after haggling from £150 down to £25. Who knows maybe I could get one even cheaper off ebay? But I suppose the message is if you wan’t one of the paintings don’t pay the asking price

Comment from Christie
Time October 21, 2008 at 11:02 am

We just had Ruby from Isreal come knocking last night. Very charming, bad english, and some nice paintings. I didn’t buy any. They were looking to sell from $150-$190 which I thought was reasonable for the quality of some of them. Is it really a scam? Although it seemed suss, I still can’t really see anything that has proven its a scam to me?

Comment from Christie
Time October 21, 2008 at 11:04 am

Actually I do have a mobile phone number of the guy… do you think the police might be interested? Also I did think it was suss that they didn’t have a card to give me with a company or uni’s details on it.

Comment from HCC
Time October 24, 2008 at 11:08 am

These are ISRAELI spys.

Look up “Israeli Art Students” and “AMDOCS” and “COMVERSE” online.

Comment from Natascha
Time November 3, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Hmmmm, Well last night In Newington NSW, we too have been scammed and I feel so stupid. We had one Iraeli ‘art student’ turn up at the door, who then phoned his friend who is the ‘Australian leader’; Ariel, who had more pictures and after much insistance (which in reflection now was very strange) we allowed them to come into the house to see how the art work would look and we bought 2 for $340.00. THe ‘framer’ was coming around today, however since viewing this site we have called him and cancelled…What can we do??? Still like the pictures, they have just lost thier initial charm- Just hope the house doesn’t get done over- No reports of such an occurance though…PHEW.

Comment from Shane
Time November 5, 2008 at 8:06 pm

haha, we just had a guy and a girl come to our house, we’re in NE suburb of Adelaide. His name is Ilya hers is Julia he was from Israel she was from Brazil.They showed us all the smaller paintings first which looked great for $170, but then he bought out the larger ones which he blue tacked to our wall and tried to suck us in, then told us they where $710. I think he thought he had a couple of suckers so tried to take the scam to the next level, we really did like the pic but im glad we didnt buy.The strange thing was he offered to leave the pics with us for a small deposit hmm maybe i should have taken him up on the offer then when he came back for the rest of the payment deny them ever being there……lol Just kidding

Comment from paddy
Time November 10, 2008 at 5:49 am

Just got a knock on the door tonight from an Israeli boy called “Ethan”,selling the same crap,in Dublin,Ireland. Said he painted some himself-black and white one supposedly from the film Gladiator. Also rips off of Van Gogh. Listened to his spiel. he said they had a website and could he use my computer to look it up! Told him no,then he went on about holding painting up to the light etc,told me to feel the texture etc. Had a funny feeling that it was a scam-wanted €200 each,would knock it down for €90 each.Told him I’d think about it. Some paintings are by artist named “Anthony”!!
As it happend there’s a art gallery sale in RDS,Dublin next week,mentiioned it to him,and he hadn’t a clue about it! If he was legit they’d be attending ! then he said he’s staying in D4 Hotel,Ballsbridge,Dublin!! Think I’ll ring Joe Duffy show tomorrow.

Also “Ethan” was looking around the room-I let him stand in the hall-as its a wet night and I saw him out of the corner of his eye looking around the place. I got a bit scared then that he might be casing out the joint-but then I showed him the door. I went out after him to see where he went and sure enough he knocked on the next doors house-but they ran him!

Also wanted told me about a local framer,named “Michael” who’d frame them for 10% discount.

There you go-live and learn. http://www.dophine.com has got all the painting he showed me tonight! Might as well print them off instead.

So,just wondering——anybody been broken into after the artist visit??!!

Comment from paddy
Time November 10, 2008 at 5:56 am

Also,he wanted to know my name-gave him my first name,then he pushed for my second name-fishy!- repeated my first name again,he backed off and gave me the spiel that it was a common Irish name etc. little f****er. What the hell wanted to know my full name for??!!

Comment from Matt
Time November 12, 2008 at 8:09 pm

Yep happend to us last night in Avalon Sydney a very nice young lad showed me paintings and by the sounds of it they are the same as the others mentioned in some of these comments. I ended up buying one for the kids room of children in a colourful hot air balloon paid $150 for it and was happy to us I didnt mind the painting and I felt sorry for the guy. He too called his team leader who came in and showed me the larger paintings none of which I liked. They said they were living at Boni and were soon going to Melbourne . Watch out Melbourne! I’m not unhappy as the painting is great for the kids room and a reasonable price. Will let you know if the house is broken into.

Comment from Danielle
Time November 16, 2008 at 12:22 am

They are nothing more than backpackers trying to make some money as their govt will not negociate working holiday visas like we are lucky enought to get. Most have relatives in Australia so they come here for a holiday after the army. How do I know u ask? My ex-boyfriend is Israeli & he did it for awhile. They are doing door to door sales – i personally wouldn’t let any stranger into my house Israeli or Australian!!!

Comment from Big W
Time November 17, 2008 at 10:32 pm

I was paid a visit by one of these door-to-door art sales people just two hours ago (2008.11.17 20:45). I liked the paintings but it felt really suspicious so I put it off and searched the Net. It’s freaky how similar the lines are – Group of art students. Israeli. French accent.

Comment from Ausan
Time November 19, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Yep, you’re right, they’re in Melbourne now. Check out this interesting web article which gave me the creeps! http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=162902&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=162902

Paid $320 for 4 art pieces. They’re definitely not art students because their sales tactics were professional and one thought my reprinted Van Gogh (with raised brush strokes) was real. Maybe the scammers themselves were scammed and didn’t know that they were selling photocopies instead of hand-painted pieces. (check out this web site http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=162902&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=162902 ) so at least there’s no Chinese sweat shop involved here.

The prints were cheaper than my reprinted Van Gogh and the raised brushstrokes looked real. The pictures were nice (unlike hand-painted copies that look out of proportion and unlike their originals). Doubt if they are spies as we are not worth spying on and I have since checked the prints and frames (open wooden ones they installed for $15 each) for bugs but couldn’t find any. Didn’t like their illegal sales methods but after all they are door-to-door salespeople, about the same conditions as buying from a market!

Comment from Ausan
Time November 20, 2008 at 9:17 am

Oops sorry about the duplication of websites. Here’s the actual one: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3880686.html

For the ‘painting’ I bought many years ago using this technology (the Van Gogh came with a limited edition certificate), the raised brush strokes really look and feel authentic. Could fool many like me!

Comment from Donald
Time November 25, 2008 at 10:12 pm

I live in Oakleigh, Melbourne. Had a knock on the door when we were having dinner tonight. Nice young Israeli duo said hello, and claimed they are raising money for a scholarship for students who have no money to go to art school. They showed me some of the prints and I liked one of the prints. And since it was for a good cause, i decided to buy one. Only had $70 so she said she would come back to following day for the rest of the money ( total price was $170). My wife, son and I are from Singapore and are not very rich, saving money for my masters degree next year, was I thought they were genuine and wanted to support artists and kids that wanted to be artists. They came into my house, saw my musical instruments and played the “hey, we understand how difficult it is to be a struggling musician angle”.
They left the house and I sat there admiring the painting with my wife and realised I never asked for any information about the scholarship. Chased after them and found them a couple of doors down and asked them about their organisation and scholarship details. They said they did not carry any. Asked for a website – none available. They called someone on the phone and spoke for a while in Hebrew and finally said the best they could do was a receipt. I was nice about it and told them I wanted to be sure my money was going to someone who needed it and would it be ok if i returned the painting and got a refund. They returned it readily without much fuss and said they understood if i had my concerns. I wished them luck and we said goodbye.

I would have bought the picture if they had just simply said “Hi, we are poor backpackers, would you like some paintings for cheap? It will go a long way in helping us get around Australia.”
Instead, they lied and took advantage of our charitable nature. The paintings are nice and cheap but it is not the point here especially with the way they lied about the money going to needy aspiring artists from war-torn countries.

Comment from tish
Time November 29, 2008 at 6:56 am

we are in quakers hill in sydney and got hit by this on Wednesday night. Same story. Guy comes to the door claiming to be from isreal and participating in a programme called “art for everyone”. Guy sounded french to me and called himself Pierre. We purchased some “paintings”. They pushed for a cash cheque which we handed over. They spun us the whole story about having a framing contact who would contact us etc. These guys will find that when they go to cash the checque that there will be a problem with it (the cheque has been cancelled!! ) What these guys is doing is illegal and immoral. If they come back for thier money I will be calling the “bank” (read police) while they wait outside. These guys are “obtaining benefit by deception” which is a criminal offence. I dont care who they are of which crap hole of a country they are from.. There is no excuse.

If you see these guys do your neighbors a favor and call the police.

Description of the offender

early to mid 20’s
Skinny/slight build
Black curly hair (mop style)
about 170 CM tall
French sounding accent

Comment from MC
Time December 5, 2008 at 10:07 am

Leichhardt got hit 2 weeks ago. Bought a painting, had no idea about the scan. Only found out when I went to the frame shop. Feel totally ripped off. I really like the painting but from now on -when I look at it, I just feel foolish. Young pretty french girl came to the door – very believable. I hope the police get them.

Comment from Brian
Time December 7, 2008 at 11:13 am

Lane Cove , saw a girl walking around all day carrying stuff, did nt think to much of it .. then it was after dark i was driving home and she was sitting under a tree .. asked if she was alright she said she was fine .. i invited her to my place she didnt even try to sell me the paintings .. i asked to look at them and we talked …. she was so beautiful … i fell in love when we locked eyes … she was picked up by a friend who was pushy in selling me the paitings …. she can knock on my door any time .. happy to talk to someone so beauiful …. only wish i had the courage to ask for her number

Comment from Lee
Time December 8, 2008 at 10:36 am

I got done last night, same background story as Donald in Oakleigh. I’m in Dingley, so it’s not so far away. Being gullible sucks!! At least I only paid half price.

Comment from Sean
Time December 15, 2008 at 9:14 pm

About four weeks ago, on a Sunday evening, a young israeli man, who sounded french and looked South American came to our door. He spent a good hour at our home, showing us his ‘friends’ paintings. We ended up buying two black and white paintings, and we managed to haggle him down to $300 for both, and said his ‘mate’, the framer would be in conact with us. And we ended up buying the most expensive frames, paying $250 a fortnight. He said he’d coem back and collect the money, but he never showed up after the first fortnight. We ended up seeing an article in the Sunday Mail about an Israeli Art Scam, so we contacted the Police, and found this website. We found out we had been shafted. D:! He has phoned twice tonight, but I have not answered until we hear back from the Police. If he does come to the door, he’ll be getting chased down the street with a cricket bat! NOT HAPPY JAN! D:!

Comment from Mii
Time December 19, 2008 at 11:55 am

We (in canberra,ACT ) got conned last night. I spoke to the crime stoppers today and they said that since we purchased the paintings on our free will, no crime has been committed and that they can’t do much about it but it seems that they had received a lot of calls regarding the same and are fully aware of what’s going on.

Comment from Joanna
Time January 5, 2009 at 3:12 pm

Yup, got done on Saturday night in Berowra…. I’m so disappointed in myself. My boyfriend and I aren’t art connoisseurs, we’re into photography, and my boyfriend wanted to support the “up and coming local artists”, so we bought 2 for $320. Now we find they’re not worth the canvas they’re painted on and spent $320 we really couldn’t afford. Have phoned Hornsby police though and let them know…

“sounded french and looked South American ” exactly!!!! I was trying to think where she was from, she said Israel but I didn’t think so….

Comment from Josh
Time January 5, 2009 at 9:49 pm

“French” student named Emmanuel was selling prints for $250 in Caulfield, VIC. Very believable, I quizzed him for about 15 minutes about each painting. I bought one. Came inside, checked the Internet and found this. Drove down the street and got into an altercation and managed to get my money back.

Comment from Judy
Time January 12, 2009 at 11:35 pm

2 things: Number 1: the paintings are obviously copies, but I liked them and bought one just over a year ago. Their spiel might be rubbish, but I was prepared to pay for the painting regardless. My decision. I knew it wasn’t “cheap” but I liked it. Number 2: this year I said no thanks….and the next day they knocked the street….again?….I was out….my home was broken into and I was robbed. Have seen one since, could get NO info on the company/organisation, NOR a phone number from them…very evasive. Don’t think there’s much the police can do. Just a bit of a coincidence?

Comment from liv
Time January 14, 2009 at 1:07 pm

I live in Sutherland in Sydney and have had a number of Israeli art students knock on the door over the last 3 years. I always invite them in and always purchase paintings from them. They have always maintained that the paitings they are selling are those done by the students at the art school over the last year or so. They have always been open and honest about the fact that they ARE reproductions of famous artworks and NOT original … however, they experiment with different techniques and materials. A friend of mine purchased a mass produced frangipani “painting” from the base for more than what I paid for a genuine oil painting, so I don’t think it is really a scam. I’d rather pay $160 for an unframed oil painting done by an Israeli art student, backpacker, whatever, than pay the same price for a framed print from the base. They are good quality paintings … reproductions or not.

Also, if you know anything about the history of Israel and her people, you would know that there are many Israelis with varied origins, frensch, spanish, italian, etc … it all goes back to when the jews were exiled from Israel into the Diaspora. This would explain why they don’t look and/or sound like your stereotypical Israeli.

Comment from Lucy
Time January 22, 2009 at 5:06 pm

I had a visit from a young French art student named Louis Connan (yes I know it sounds like conman!) he said he was a student from the Breaux art school in Paris which does exist. He said he was funding his way around Australia with their art teacher. His narrative was well rehearsed for each painting which I suppose is the key to a good scam. He sounded and looked French but not having met any Israelis I could be wrong! My brother in law showed up and bought a painting and after I suspected it was a scam I trawled the streets looking for him. Of course nowhere to be seen. I don’t know why he targeted our house it is pretty ugly and dilapidated. we are in the inner west of Sydney. I felt bad as my brother in law paid $250 though it is a very large picture and smelt like oil. don’t mind the payment just hate the lies that go with it.

Comment from Elle
Time January 22, 2009 at 10:22 pm

Should have checked the internet (this and the NT police warning) before I’ve bought a painting tonight. Israeli bloke Avishay Kelich sold me a painting, claiming the whole international student spiel. I was uncomfortable but felt sorry for him. I think he is just a traveller funding his way around Aus. I’ve googled the name and found the person on facebook – can you believe it. Phoned the police and reported it as suspicious but they were not very interested.

Comment from sybylla
Time February 10, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Western Sydney… a young “Israeli” guy knocked on our door Monday night with a stack of paintings. He was very nice, very friendly, he had a schpiel but he also seemed to be honest. He told us he was a backpacker (didn’t say he was an art student) and that he was trying to make enough money to go to NZ and we talked about NZ for a bit. Then he showed us the paintings and told us they’re imported from overseas and the company he works for employs backpackers to sell them door to door. Also he told us we’d be contacted by a framer but he encouraged us to call around and get our own quotes to get the best deal.

He had a story for each painting, so I found the hour or so he was in our home a fun experience. When he came to the “sell” he said he has to give his “team leader” $90 from each sale, but he was happy to just charge us $90 as he’d just sold a number of paintings to a family in our neighbourhood (which was probably true). In the end my husband and I bought 2 picasso style paintings for $120 each as I believe that was a fair price based on what I have seen of similar stuff in stores, markets, and our local cafe/gallery.

We’re a young couple just starting out, don’t have a lot of money but if we see something nice we like to splurge every now and then. Also I run a retail business so I understand how ridiculous mark up can be sometimes, and even if the company’s getting these paintings for $20-30 each, well that’s the nature of retail isn’t it?? As far as them not being original, or being a computerised print with paint over the top, well… if we wanted “serious” art we’d have saved up and bought something from a legitimate seller.

So really, I don’t consider that we’ve been “scammed”. We had a nice chat with a pleasant person, were entertained while he showed us the artwork, and now we have two nice paintings to hang on our walls that we really like. But if our house gets robbed I’ll let you know!

Comment from Esther
Time February 25, 2009 at 6:42 pm

Just was visited 20 minutes ago in Macquarie, ACT, so they’re in Canberra today. A friendly, handsome, blue eyed guy with dark curly hair and golden brown skin named Joshua was selling art door to door with an accent that seemed to fit his Isreali art student story about the Art Project. I bought a really nice painting (probably a print) for $180.00 after looking through a large portfolio of picasso, van gough and other artworks. I gave him my email, home address and phone number for information about the artist and for the framer person. He didn’t come into my house and he let me take the painting inside to see how it looked on the wall out of his view.

Little dissapointed that I was scammed but I do like the print. I am worried though, about them coming back to try to burgle my home later now they have my details but don’t mind really if they are students travelling the world with the money I guess, except that’s my dream when I finish uni and earn a decent living. Don’t know if I should contact the police or not?

Comment from Johnny Soulos
Time March 2, 2009 at 2:33 pm

I just read this article today http://www.designfederation.net/general/beware-of-door-to-door-art-scams/ so it seems like they are still in action

Comment from Tulipse
Time March 3, 2009 at 9:02 am

Seemed like they’ve crossed the Tasman. They visited us last night in Wellington, New Zealand. Feeling a little foolish now after reading all the comments as we’ve bought a painting from them.

If they are really earning for their travels, we’re happy we could help in some way (although we’d prefer if they are more honest about it). If they out to scam us, then we pray, what goes around comes around. Definitely a lesson learnt!

Comment from Kerri
Time March 10, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Had a knock on my door about 2 hours ago from a “student claiming to be from Holland” wanting to show me some paintings he had for sale. Politely i said no thanks mate we are having dinner and as he packed up his portfolio he called me a bitch. In front of my children. How nice! Look out fellow friends living in the bayside, qld.

Comment from Audrey cater
Time March 11, 2009 at 7:43 pm

They came to Point Cook, Melbourne tonight, I was just about sucked in, then my gut said no. So I googled Israeli art. I would have been so annoyed if I had been scammed & I now feel like running down the road to find her.

Comment from Monica
Time March 14, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I’ve had the israeli art students come to my door. I did buy from them and found out they weren’t artists afterwards. But I do know they’re not spies. They’re in America trying to make money. And yes it’s not right that they didn’t do that art and say they did, but how can buyting art work be a scam? If you got scammed you wouldn’t be getting anything you paid for. So it’s a little over the top that everyone calls it a scam. I don’t appreciate being lied to either, but I still like the art I bought…

Comment from Matt
Time March 15, 2009 at 3:50 pm

We live in Springwood QLD and just had a visit from an Israeli backpacker with a big bundle of oil paintings. H claimed to be just out of the Israeli Army, having fought in 2 wars, the most recent in Gaza. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but was checking our house out a bit too much for my liking. I took his photo, and hopefully it is just an art scam and not a prelude to a break and enter! The paintings were very nice, But we had the suspicion that something was not quite right. I have no problem with them doing this, as it is no different to what big retailers do, but hopefully that is all it is.

Comment from Rich
Time March 17, 2009 at 5:27 pm

I just received one of these ‘art student’ visits in the Blue Mountains, NSW. This guy didn’t look like any ‘artist’ I’ve ever seen – except martial artist.

Seemed like he was ‘casing out the joint’.
I have reported the incident to the local police.

Comment from Brenda
Time March 18, 2009 at 11:46 pm

We live in Lesmurdie WA and just had a visit from an Israeli with a whole lot of paintings. He too claimed to be just out of the Israeli Army. He seemed like a likeable, believable guy. When saying we had no cash he said we could pay over the internet. We paid the first $40 there an then, with him a little too close for comfort; overlooking what was being entered into the computer (have since changed bank pin number). Did three more future weekly transactions to pay for the $190 painting. Very friendly fellow but once he had left we decided to google ‘art scam’! We have promptly deleted the three subsequent payments and hope that we have no repercussion. I do have a mobile number of 0410718323 and details of a bank account number and name, being Y Talmor. Hopefully this is just an art scam – the picture is good! He took our mobile number so that his friend framer could give us a call!

Comment from lisa
Time March 27, 2009 at 9:20 pm

We had an isralei woman come to our home at 9.00 pm selling artwork. Oil paintings on canvas. The painting were beautiful and sold for $120 – $160 each. We offered her $350 for 3 paintings, and she gave them to us in plastic bags with the art for all logo printed on them (and website artforall.co.au which subsequently we discovered doesn’t exist. We looked up the details on the website after she left and couldn’t find it, instead we found details of an Isralei Art scam on: http://the-riotact.com/?p=7548 and http://gorey.com.au/archives/2185 and the painting we purchased for hundreds of dollars are available from a chinese website for $US5.95 … see http://www.doupine.com/Seascape/27_3.htm . We were told that the Isralei girl painted one of the paintings herself, but we have seen the exact same painting available on the Chinese site, which is mass produced. We are fairly naive, and are disappointed we fell for such a scam and were scammed in our own home. We are please though that nothing was stolen and that we didn’t give out our credit card details etc. She asked us to fill our name and details into a book and there were other peoples names and details in the book also from all around auckland, who had also purchased art.

Comment from Caroline
Time April 2, 2009 at 3:18 pm

Wow this list is huge! good job I googled this as I have one of these sellers coming back to my house in a few hours. We live in Warner, Queensland, and have had them come around several times, usually after 8pm at night. They claim to be students not selling their own work but selling for a not for profit organisation called Art for the World. The pieces looked lovely and I thought they were a reasonable price but since reading the posts above and finding out their mass produced I am certainly going to give it a miss. I thought I would ring the local police to be sure and they advised me there was no information reported regarding these sellers but not to buy the art in case it has been stolen/forged etc. Thanks for the heads up everyone!

Comment from H
Time April 2, 2009 at 5:12 pm

Shiraz is currently touring the suburbs of Seatoun in Wellington and my first thoughts were this might be a prelude to burglary, too many personal questions although having been burgled before I am well aware I have developed an unhealthy skepticism about people knocking at the door. I can see other people have had similar thoughts but did any of those fears materialise?

Comment from K
Time April 24, 2009 at 3:03 pm

We “feel for” this in December 2008 and haven’t had any repercussions (as far as break-ins, etc) so far.
I have to admit that I did find it odd that he said he was showing artwork from students from all over the world (in Australia to study), naming places like Africa and France, but then when his supervisor turned up, he happened to be an Israeli too.
They were both very nice and actually came over to our house around 4 times; we even fed them dinner once! They stayed for hours chatting, and my husband – who knows a lot about the history of Israel – talked to them about their country. They showed us pictures of them from their time in the army on about the 3rd trip (one brought a laptop and was looking for something else, but then decided to show my husband the photos because he asked).
I also looked them both up on Facebook, and they were there. So I have no doubt at all that they were from Israel (what an awful lot of effort to go to if they weren’t), so all those people who doubted their origins, I don’t think that’s in question.
I do like the pictures we bought, but am a bit miffed at the sales trick, because I specifically thought it would be good to support the students. And I also thought “you can tell they’re real” because of the brush strokes and texture, so to discover that’s just a trick is annoying.
The pictures are nice and I hope they had a good time with our money, but just wish they could have been honest about the whole thing. Who knows, I might have even purchased one thinking “good on them for their honesty”.

Comment from K
Time April 24, 2009 at 3:13 pm

oops, sorry, 2nd word in my last post should have been FELL for not FEEL for. lol

Comment from larry
Time May 9, 2009 at 7:46 pm

this is all very familar,

I have a similar story. French student – won a prize – with all the students work from his school – supposed to come and talk to people about the art and we can buy it if we like. He gave us his name and I found him on face book so he was real but just looked like he was a backpacker as he had been in australia for well over a year. Had a story for every style too so he did sound very convincing. Read Comment from sybylla
Time February 10, 2009 at 7:28 pm – this guy just told the truth. I have a friend a long time in the framing business and they came to him early on but he told them where to go – then the immigration dept came to him looking for help trying to find him. The “art” is mass produced in china and the dude running the whole thing is jewish. Does it all over the world. Only redeaming factor for me is that at least his cut of the cash I gave him probably went straight back into the aus economy via the local backpackers pub !

Comment from K
Time May 11, 2009 at 12:12 pm

Just happened to me last night. Brought some paintings from him. Debating on contacting the police. What do I do!!!!

Comment from Israeli
Time May 14, 2009 at 4:05 am

Hey there~!
I read some of the posts here and i’ll like to expose this top secret.
All of us Israelis- doesn’t matter how we look and what u been told. Even if he look Russian and talks Russian he is Israeli (Israel welcome immigrants from all over the world). Some people will think we are French/Spanish/Swiss because our accent and appearance.
If u really would like to know behind this scam u have to ask 2 questions: 1) why to do it?
2) who make the benefit from it?

A little background: the young Israeli guy join to army when he is 18/19 years old for 3 years (girls only 2 years), he been suffering there, seeing his family once a week in good cases, 3 weeks and more in others, sacrifice his life for defending his homeland..ext… and yes, it’s compulsory- means u get only 100-200$ a month (!!).
After this 3 miserable years all u looking for is to escape from this country far as u can! That’s why u will find Israelis traveling all over the world.
So why we don’t work in Israel before we take the first airplane abroad? It’s simple- First of all we do- it’s depend where we want to go. India, south America, thiland, china, Mexico, Africa- definitely work here. U.s, Canada, Australia, great Britain, Europe, and Japan- to work there is better, from few reasons-
to meet the locals (this is such a good way!)
to improve our English
to make some money for the trip (later on i’ll tell u about that)

Due to our wonderful nation we can’t have working visa in Australia, Britain. in the u.s it’s possible but takes long time. Our country frightened from the possibility that young people after finished their army service will leave forever, therefore put obligations over us- true.
We can’t have working visa like the Europeans so the only money we can earn is black capital.

There is a heaps of companies which offer us this job world wide.
Basically what they do is to buy these mass productive paintings in thousands of pieces from China. The only way to get a paints in 6 USD is to buy more than 100 pieces.
The real cost : (for 100 oil paintings)
6×100+4×100(shipment)+350(customs)=1350$, and 13.5$ for paints.

The local police almost always knows about that- surprise hehe… but we talking on such a small profit that’s nobody really care. Day in custody will cost you more.
Just go to your nearest paintings shop and see how much it will cost you to buy the same product.

Anyway those companies gives the hawks the oil paintings, and require 100-120$ for each paints that was sold. They stays in a rent apartment somewhere around, and pay 15$ for the stays there each day.
Everyday they doing presentation for practicing, learns about design and how to fit the price for the costumer, what to say and how to say (we are jewish- it’s genetic <-;).

They goes to work from 3 to 8 and afraid like hell to work in the street without working visa and doing this scam thing. The only reason for the lies is to make this story more realistic and reasonable to u, that actually there is people that working illegal in your hood. It’s good way to talk with u, and maybe even sell something. Nobody really want to lie, they almost have to! This is a low scam, but even if u know that is a scam I reckon for u to hear what this guys have to say.
The framer is another backpacker who knows how to deal with frames and they are really good with design therefore they can sell u more paints, and help u a bit.
For every frame that you buy from the framer the hawk who sold u the paints get only 10$…

very good ’salesman’ will make 600$ a week and bad ’salesman’ will earn nothing (and even loose money for the rent). Just for compare- the minimum wage in Israel is 1000$ a month, and the average is twice. Is not that lucrative for a scam as u think hahaha..
the owner of the company makes most of the money, and shortly after he leaves the company he start to travel till he runs out of money, so the ‘workers’- they will do it soon or later.
After all, all of them come back to Israel with nothing left in their pockets after spending all this ‘fortune’ in your land.
They are not immigrants and this has nothing to do with the Mossad or this kind of bullsh** hehehe…

Hope that I helped u to solve this mystery… and don’t hate these travllers, they love u and admire u so much (and will tell u that only if they had the chance).
Goodbye….

Comment from H
Time May 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm

Brisbane, Norman Park area – Thursday night aroun 9:00pm – Just had a guy claiming he was french but sounded more like he was dutch or isreali to me, I even questioned him on where he was from because I could tell he wasnt french. Told him I wasnt interested but straight waya did some google sluthing when I closed the door, instant hits on this scam! Be careful people, the sad thing is, most people wont realise they’ve been scammed and read these posts till its too late.

Comment from S
Time May 25, 2009 at 12:32 am

Well, they have now arrived in Westleigh in NW Sydney. 2 young Israeli guys knocked on our door this evening at around 6.30pm and showed us a selection of paintings. There were a few of the Tour de France and Paris and I see from earlier messages that other people have seen similar paintings. They claimed to be from an art school in Jerusalem and travelling around Australia as part of an in an “Art for All” project to fund scholarships for other art students at their school.

One guy, Shmole did most of the talking, explaining that his friend didn’t speak much English. He showed us a painting of the Byron Bay which he claimed to have painted. They said that they had both completed military service in Israel, were of Russian origin and currently staying in Bondi.

I don’t normally let sales people in, but they looked very young and they caught my interest standing at the door on a quiet Sunday evening with lots of artwork at their feet. We bought a fairly schmaltzy black and white oil painting of Paris which I wouldn’t have normally chosen elsewhere, but I actually quite like it!

I don’t really mind that we bought the painting, but would have preferred it if they had been up front about how they were funding their travels and spared us the elaborate story about scholarships for struggling Israeli artists.

If they came to check us out for a future break in, they would have realised pretty quickly that they could do better elsewhere – we have 2 small children and a houseful of toys!

Oh well, live and learn.

Comment from tom
Time June 5, 2009 at 8:42 pm

Hey last night i had a middle eastern bloke come to my door with paintings claiming he was french selling them from his peers (students). I told him to come back tomorrow because my mrs would be home. Sure enough He came back tonight but this time his team leader came aswell.. Fed me so much lies I was still in my army uniform and he was saying he respecected pople in the army even though they were lying to our faces!! lucky enough we didnt have enough money at the time so we said we could pay next week on thursday. They said that was fine and left the 5 paintings here It was only because my mrs and i were arguing weather or not they were just printed (i was saying printed.. lol) Jummed on google all I saw was SCAM, SCAM ,SCAM.. They are still coming next week. what to do what to do.. Immigration? Customer protection? Police? Intimedation.. who knows??

Comment from tom
Time June 5, 2009 at 10:16 pm

also one of the men said they were the same age as me 20yrs old

Comment from Israeli
Time June 11, 2009 at 5:25 am

Just look what I posted before (may 14),
it might help you to make a decision…

Comment from CODY-boise, idaho
Time July 5, 2009 at 11:48 am

A 20’s girl knocked at our door, supposedly selling art work from israel. Then couple of friends showed up with large paintings. I would have bought the paintings, if the background story was true. I prefer helping the original painter (who probably makes 50 cents an hour at a sweatshop in China) rather than the scammers. I wish there was a legal website where you could buy paintings, and a sizeable chunk goes to the starving artist and not to these so called art students (who take advantage of the sympathy people show for them, in the ongoing conflict). Also, by the way on one of the paintings which we considered buying there was no artist’s signature. He was supposedly driving the van, he came and signed the painting with a sharpie:) Right and I should buy the painting. HELL NO…

Comment from tmalfa
Time July 12, 2009 at 8:26 pm

A young man just knocked on our door stating the same thing, had some nice painting though. I didn’t make a decision straight away asked him to come back when my husband was home. So he came back, my husband saw it and also thought it was nice but we wanted time to think about it. He then came back 5 min later saying he needed a jump start for his car, so my husband kindly obliged. He then offered my husband a discount but my husband declined.

Comment from Sally, NSW
Time July 14, 2009 at 12:43 am

Got scammed, better than the first one in canberra in the holt region, was selling for 350 a piece um had no cash lol… so now in wattle grove near liverpool cost 1000 for 7 pieces was 142 each so wont complain cant wait to get them framed said from israel sounded legit, got their number n so I like the pics they are so cool! lol even said where they are from , kinda have a sis iin law from there will see if they are ok with re ringing. no harm done regardless if the police says wrong I mean got the guts aand yeah what ev.. I mean they are real ppl. and yeh i looked this up so I had a weirdish feeling… lol my parents would be shocked:)

Comment from boise, idaho
Time July 21, 2009 at 6:32 am

Ok, I bought a painting from a guy very much like these other people describe. The only difference is I cancelled my check and returned the painting. Now they won’t leave me alone. They park across from my house and still knock on my door. If these are friendly guys then why are they so creepy?

Comment from Hey Cody boise, idaho
Time July 21, 2009 at 6:48 am

I left the message about these guys being creepy. You are the only other person from Boise who has posted. I want to file a formal complaint but I would like to know what the van looked like and who was driving. I have the vehicle license plate but I am curious how many people are involved and who was driving. The guys who sold me my painting was fair skinned and the other was dark skinned. The person who parked across from my house had bushy white hair. The van was blue and the license plate spelt out art dealer sound familiar? Thanx

Comment from wade
Time August 7, 2009 at 10:31 am

HERES THE REAL DEAL!!! I PERSONALLY WORKED FOR THIS COMPANY.. im not israli but all the other guys were except for a couple backpackers from other countries. this is a total scam. but its like any other business, buy something for cheap and jack up the price 500% or whatever but in this case more like 1000%. they are cheap oil paintings from china. they had many of the same paintings but slightly different cuz they are actually painted using a projector and traced. they probably cost around 3 dollars. they told us to sell for as much as possible just had to give the boss $100 for each small size. we were trained to lie about EVERYTHING and we were lied to to get us to work. I was told it was a legit buisness in auz and the owner actually had a business liscence/ work visa, but they are liars for a living so i couldnt trust them. none of them were actually art students or students of any kind for that matter. i am however an artist and i refrained from lieing. in australia they travel everywhere from cains to melborne sydney etc. they target newer houses and suburbs. most the money goes to a fat greedy israli who just sits there, collects and sends the money back to israel. they joke about scamming everyone and they are trained to scam. i hated this shit so much, it was discusting. i felt so horrible what i felt like was ripping off people who were just ignorant & gullible. so i quit selling the paintings and instead worked on building their frames which also come from china and are shitty. i lasted 2 months with this company. these guys are just backpackers mostly israli, who cannot get work visas (like me) and couldnt find work elsewhere and wanted to travel your beautiful country. most the time i would just talk story with people and let them make the decision on their own and never forced a sale like i was trained to do.i would even give clues about the scam and mostly sold my own artwork to survive. i had some great experiences with you awesome auzzies, you invited me in for dinner, cookies, drinks, cones, etc. you people are so awesome and deserve to know about this scam. one lady who made me a healthy organic dinner bought a painting to help me on my travels, i felt horrible and made her return it for a full refund. my advise would be kindly send them on their way. the sales guys are mostly geniune good people trying to make money to travel and eat but some are scumbag scam artists especially the “supervisors” and worst of all the owner/boss. some sales guys make over $1000 a week scamming you guys. I personally gave all the information about this company to the local police including phone numbers, names etc. they were very aware of this scam. they are hard to catch because they move from house to house city to city very quickly. these guys come around alll the time and you should expect them to come back. put a sign on your door saying no sales or whatever. anymore questions you guys might have i would love to share more info. i love you people and am truly sorry i sold you cheap paintings for a selfish profit. i really learned a lot from this experience.

Comment from Shidiq
Time August 12, 2009 at 9:22 am

They also travel in Amstelveen, the Netherlands.
We’ve bought a very nice pair of paintings, framed for a bit over 500,- EURO’s.

We know nothing of art but we asked around with some people in the art world and found we got a very good deal compared to a gallery.
A friend of us has an art gallery and she told us.

Indeed i was fed the story about them being art students collecting money for their own gallery.
When i buy a second hand car, i always get offered a car that belonged to an old lady.

So what, that’s just the art of selling and business in general.

I was a little worried after i gave away the paintings to the framer the next day, because then i would have paid and got nothing in return.

Then i found this site…
But they have kept their word.

So i’m a little surprised to see everybody here call it a scam.

The only people i read about being scamed on this page are the “art students” themselves when people here have the painting(s) in their posession and canceled their checks.

Shame on you folks! (with canceled checks AND paintings in your posession)
That’s pure hypocrisy.

You’ve scammed a hard working kid of their hard earned money.

I have some jewish/israeli friend and i know a few things about the army there and about how life is in general with bombings everywhere around you.

So i immediately believe they’re fresh out of the army to travel the world and maybe forget the horror they’ve just been through.
Hopefully these journeys give them what they’re after.

Normally when a group of people without money want something they take a criminal path and take what they want.
These guys and girls decide to work for it. By bringing art to people they make something positive from the situation and making the world a bit more beautifull with art.

And trust me, these guys are smart and skilled enough to really scam people.

We dealt with three persons. The sales lady, the framer, and another framer who delivered at the end.
And yes they were looking around in my house and complimenting about the house.
We have a modern style house but i could see on all three they genuinely felt it was a beautifull house.

I grew up on “the streets” so i can recognise when someone cases you to rob or scam you. I have never had that feeling with any of them. But sure, i could be fooled to.

I have spoken to them about life in israel and am a bit dissapointed because i would love to hear more to better understand their situation and points of view.

They all told me how difficult it was to make a living in israel.

All by all, it’s an adventurous group of entrepeneuring people.

The delivery guy told me about the journey he has planned and i told him i’m happy to have contributed.

Hope you guys give them a break and have a little faith in mankind.

Comment from Big Daddy
Time August 13, 2009 at 5:21 am

Not sure it’s a scam, but more a door-to-door hawking of nice looking but cheap art. Don’t be so paranoid. If you bought a nice-looking real oil painting (not a print) for $100 or so, then you got a good deal. We bought several, and I don’t see any evidence of a scam other than the obvious lies the salesgirl told to get our attention (i.e. “we’re Israeli art students”)

Comment from Erik, The Netherlands
Time August 14, 2009 at 10:53 pm

I had a similar guy at the door. His name was Oleg and he claimed to be an Israeli art student originally from Belarus. After having a look at his artwork is was clear to me that although he signed all his paintings, they where not his. They looked mass produced. I had a look at them but did not buy any, hell I can paint them better myself. These people seem to be all over the world.
I must say the only thing I believed was hime being from Belarus originally….

Comment from John
Time August 15, 2009 at 1:14 pm

Same happened her in the Denver Tech Center. Claimed they were in for an exhibit for Israeli artists and wanted to get opinions on the art. After looking at the oil paintings (6.99, made in China) offered to sell smalls for 90 – 125. and large for 400. Then, would also frame for around 300. and 500., respectively. Yours truly purchased two for around $1100.00 total (framed). Check has already cleared. As such, I am looking into what other actions I can take at this point. Thanks.

Comment from sojoli
Time August 22, 2009 at 11:37 am

Have just read alot of these messages and I feel sick that I didnt do my homework before I spent $800 with these scumbags. I was conned, and feel absolutely stupid for it. How dare they!! I do get some solace from your stories and I thankyou for sharing them, as it makes me realise that I am not the only one who cannot read scumbags at first glance. I hope I can still admire my 5 paintings as much now as I did when I purhcased them, thinking they were originals and in reality if I was to purchase any art work in my home, I would of probably spent alot more than that, the only disadvantage is that I have helped out dirty, lying scums that need to leave honest Australians alone.

Comment from Philip
Time August 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm

They’ve been active in Toowoomba Qld too for at least twelve months. Some people I know have purchased paintings .

Comment from tom
Time August 25, 2009 at 1:58 pm

I got scammed earlier this year in Bentleigh, Victoria. Paid $200 jus for the canvas then another $175 for a frame from his framing mate that now I realise was in on the scam too !

Anyway, I recently came across a company that sells nice affordable art and I don’t mind giving them a plug.

http://www.creativestrokes.com.au or ph: (03) 9533-0535

They are a legitimate Australian company and provide a receipt / invoice or whatever else you require. Whats more they know all about the Israeli scammers and spend some of their time hunting these guys down.
His name was Bradley and it’s a shame hard working guys like him are losing out to these frauds.

Comment from Pascal
Time September 4, 2009 at 5:04 am

I bought 4 paintings from an Isareli guy presenting himself as ‘Alex Makarov’ from the organisation ‘art4life”, part of’art4all’. I like the paintings very much. I admit I was also very suspicious because after I bought the paintings and did some googling I found allegations of all this being a scam. I visited various art experts though and they all confirm that these are genuinely hand-made oil paintings made by acryl paint on canvas. You can even still smell the paint as if it was fresh. Indeed, people refer to various Chinese websites where you can find the very same paintings for 6 USD a piece, but these Chinese companies make prints instead of paintings; they are the ones to blame, not art4all. Seriously, do you really expect to buy a hand-made oil painting on canvas for 6 USD? These people put a lot of effort in their work. If they ring at my door again I won’t hesitate a single moment to let them in and I would recommended their work to anyone around the world.
Anyway, to conclude: there’s only one rule of thumb: do you really like the paintings badly enough to pay what they ask? Once framed these paintings can easily last for 30 years.

Comment from Amanda
Time September 12, 2009 at 11:21 pm

In my case it was an absolutely gorgeous young frenchman with porcelain skin, ruby lips – very angelic and innocent, with Paris art student glasses. This was no terrorist. We were all charmed, and bought his story told in a heavy french accent. I thought what is a guy like this doing in suburban Wembley in Perth?
I didn’t care, I could have gazed on that face all evening. People who are this beautiful, surely have better life pursuits than scamming door to door? I bought his cheap chinese imitation of a Paris streetscape anyway and it reminds me of him…The Gorgeous Scammer

Comment from deep
Time October 18, 2009 at 3:25 pm

I know many of these Israelis personally, and recognise some of the names of people and locations posted in this blog (which are often misspelt). I am a sole unit, with no connections to any organisation, military or civilian. I infiltrated this network on my own, as I was suspicious that they were an intelligence operation, and I have been autonomously investigating the intelligence links behind the WTC attacks for many years now (with much success). The summary of my 3 month investigation into these individuals is as follows –
1) Almost none of the individuals involved have anything to do with art in any way.
2) Almost all are ex-military.
3) All are working illegally on tourist VISAS
4) The operation is extensive, involving hundreds of Israelis in Australia alone, and probably thousands over the life of the scam.
4) This is NOT an intelligence gathering or related operation, however it would work well as the basis for one.

From my extensive first hand involvement with these people and the main players behind its organisation, I deduced that they are what they appear to be – a relatively motley bunch of chronic cannabis smokers, almost unanimously on the run from their former selves and traumatic experiences that they went through as active soldiers in a conflict zone. Due to the restrictive nature of the Isreali government, they are generally not allowed to permanently move to other countries – therefore they generally cannot get work VISAS. As a result, small businesses have sprung up around the world to financially support Israeli ex military service men and women by illegally employing them to sell art while they spend 12 months travelling the world. Of the hundreds of Israelis I met, probably 90% fell into this category, including the people behind the operations.

Although it is unequivocal that Israeli elements are involved in intelligence gathering in Australia and US, this particular group/scam did not appear to be organised or motivated enough to be able to conduct such operations.

Regards,

Deep

Comment from deep
Time October 18, 2009 at 3:30 pm

For the people who are wondering about the value of the paintings, they are indeed hand painted by chinese art reproducers, and are spat out on a kind of conveyor belt style art reproduction operation. They are almost universally copies of known artworks. They are imported from China at around $AU5 for the cheaper paintings and $AU15 for the more expensive ones

Comment from deep
Time October 18, 2009 at 3:32 pm

A final comment: These people are mostly harmless and to be honest I liked most of them and pitied all of them.

Comment from chris
Time October 22, 2009 at 6:01 pm

These N00bs are back in quakers hill, NSW

Comment from Jez
Time November 9, 2009 at 10:56 am

This just happened to me (in the UK) – an Israeli woman (about 22) – very confident and charming. Soon as she went I did a ‘google’ – found this site – and stopped the cheque I gave her! Good job I took her name down in my cheque book. Strangely, she wanted my photo against a painting – I said yes – I REALLY REGRET THAT!

Comment from almost taken
Time November 11, 2009 at 10:57 am

He hit Sinnamon Park, Brisbane last night. Lovely French chap called Jerome.Made him show us paintings outside at first & then he built up this wonderful rapport with us & of course…. we let him in to show us them inside. They were all $250 for the large one’s & $200 for the smaller one’s (gone up in price I see!). Gave him a drink, took lots of photo’s of him holding the paintings up & I even said I would email him some which I had taken of him & his first ever viewed possum (lol). He gave us the spiel that he was a French student (2 in total I think) on a trip with his art teacher. He was 4th year & the sale of “his” paintings would help fund his trip. They were off to Melbourne in 3 days. Busy boy. His teacher was picking them up at 8pm down the road. We said we needed time to consider (hence the photo’s we took). He gave us a mobile phone number, which of course he was unsure of the number, so I promptly phoned it to check. I also got am email address but then anyone can invent one of those (it was hotmail in France). I asked why he hadn’t signed any of them & he said he wasn’t permitted since he was a student & his teacher had signed them.
I wondered too after he had left as to whether he (is) scamming the place.
He had the tour de France painting too (wheels look like barbed wire fencing). They are nice chunky oil paintings.
In all honesty it’s not that he’s selling dime a dozen artwork, it’s the lies that make me feel sick in the stomach. I now have an instant distrust toward him. I wasn’t scammed but feel invaded that I let him in & was so welcoming to a liar. I will still email him his photo’s & quite possibly tell him of my disappointment. We will be contacting him to let him know that we’re not interested (feel bad that he wasted 1 hour with us & could have been off “selling” to someone else!) – but had he been honest he may well have made a sale today! I phoned police merely to check if there have been any extra reports of break & entering in the area (which was no). But please be AWARE that you have INVITED them into your home & there isn’t much that can be done about it until you make a formal complaint about the painting you have purchased etc.
Shame I liked the black & white Moroccan women’s faces.
I smile now at his descriptions….. I painted that one starting with classical music & ending with jazz….. I lived with a group of Moroccan people & painted this family portrait (has bees wax on it)… just soo entertaining now that I know!!! Enjoy the pieces if you purchased them – what’s the difference, one only ever views art.
Let’s hope they haven’t pinched anything or steal my child (who LOVED) him.
I still have a horrible “gut” feeling about all this.

Comment from almost taken
Time November 11, 2009 at 12:54 pm

Oh & by the way I’m having a huge chuckle remembering how he told me it took “him” about 14 hours to paint the Moroccan family painting

Comment from mim
Time November 18, 2009 at 8:28 am

We brought 3 paintings for $150 from a young guy, probably 20ish, sounded french.(Keilor Victoria).
He came to collect his money, as we didn’t have it on us at the time, then told us his framer would be in touch.
Sure enough the framer comes out and shows us chipped frames, offers the 3 to us for $280. Says he will touch the frames up and no one will notice and that it was very cheap. We agree but tell him it’ll have to wait till pay day the following week. He seemed very insistant on some form of payment but we stuck to our guns. He said he would go to the local Bunnings and do them on the spot and we could transfer the $ to him the following week.
Well the jerk never came back. I just thank our lucky stars all we lost was $150!
Just worried now we’ve welcomed strangers into our home and were probably sussing out what we own.

Comment from Stu
Time November 18, 2009 at 12:18 pm

Same story here in Wellingto NZ. Leon, an Israeli “art student” sold us two paintings for $400. Later – out of curiosity, I googled and and found lots of similar stories. Thing is, if they hadn’t lied, I may well have bought the paintings anyway. I like them, they look like real oil paintings and yes, they’re overpriced, but not ridiculously so (well not down here once you pay for shipping and currency coversion).

Comment from J
Time December 3, 2009 at 8:39 pm

Same here in Wellington nz. When i first saw the paintings i definately believed it was real. It was some Italian student. I decided to buy two paintings for $400. It was rediculous.. I though it was a huge bargain and the painting was absoulute gorgeous..

As everyone here has said the framers are the next step.. Well the framers were very nice. There was two of them one was Israeli and another was French. They kept going on about how this was a great painting, and how he is enjoying New Zealand with his girlfriend. They framed it perfectly and it looks perfect.

I got a call from the bank and they asked if i had bought a painting recently and I said Yes… They asked if i was aware of the scam that has been recently happened in my area and i found this news. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3111640/Painting-scam-an-artful-dodge
I felt betrayed by the kindness they showed was all a lie… The banker asked if i wanted to still let the money go… and i said it was fine… The painting goes well with the house and it looks great…

But it definately makes u think twice about buying one next time.. I bought the two paintings of Paris in black and white

Comment from FRENCH ARTIST
Time December 16, 2009 at 2:07 am

ALMOST TAKEN.. I understand u, its not easy… Jerome is a good seller, i tell him everyday…

the teacher… )

Comment from almost stupid
Time December 18, 2009 at 12:00 am

listen people…what’s wrong with you? So you bought a painting from a nice lad, but it turns out that this guy is not a painter and it’s a mass produced painting….so what ?? I bought one myself years ago, a friend told me about the “scam”…well, I still have my painting hung on the wall,I still love it, I still enjoy looking at it…you buy art only because you like art !! not because of what it’s gonna be worth in 10 year time…and these young lads coming to your door, do you know who they are ? .. backpackers…you know, the same ones that we love to see working in our fields under a massive hot sun for nothing…(I think it’s around $40 to $70 for 10 hours of work)picking the cheap fruits and vegetables we are delighted to eat… so all I’m saying is “fair enough”..they “got” me but I’m happy they came to my door and sold this painting… So they lied saying they are art students…well,who never lied to get a job or some cash…? they’re just trying to get a living out of their lovely paintings…and you know, I paid $200 for a painting that is worth $20…but I’d rather pay this to a nice lad than a very expensive crappy print and crappy frame in Ikea..and made in china ! (as well…) instead of that,I have an oil painting painted by hand…
and please be serious, unlike what I read above these people try to sell paintings,they are not scanning the place so they can rob you..they are lovely guys, interesting to talk to and honestly, I had a nice chat with this French seller..and what’s hilarious is to read the ones that called the police and that are hopeless coz they can’t do anything about it…of course they can’t !! the guy comes to your door, you let him in, he shows you paintings, you take one,two,or even more and you pay for it…that’s it!! you are the one who bought it…I think police has far more serious things to deal with than this..so stop complaining for god’s sake, enjoy your art, you are the only one who decided to buy it because you liked it… everyday I see my painting and I think ” I just love it” and I’m happy to share this feeling with other people that have the same one at home lol!
take it easy, enjoy your art and if you are that furious, next time you see them at your door, just say “no”" and be happy that this time they didn’t get you…!

Comment from almost stupid
Time December 18, 2009 at 12:09 am

listen people…what’s wrong with you? So you bought a painting from a nice lad, but it turns out that this guy is not a painter and it’s a mass produced painting….so what ?? I bought one myself years ago, a friend told me about the “scam”…well, I still have my painting hung on the wall,I still love it, I still enjoy looking at it…you buy art only because you like art !! not because of what it’s gonna be worth in 10 year time…and these young lads coming to your door, do you know who they are ? .. backpackers…you know, the same ones that we love to see working in our fields under a massive hot sun for nothing…(I think it’s around $40 to $70 for 10 hours of work)picking the cheap fruits and vegetables we are delighted to eat… so all I’m saying is “fair enough”..they “got” me but I’m happy they came to my door and sold this painting… So they lied saying they are art students…well,who never lied to get a job or some cash…? they’re just trying to get a living out of their lovely paintings…and you know, I paid $200 for a painting that is worth $20…but I’d rather pay this to a nice lad than a very expensive crappy print and crappy frame in Ikea..and made in china ! (as well…) instead of that,I have an oil painting painted by hand…
and please be serious, unlike what I read above these people try to sell paintings,they are not scanning the place so they can rob you..they are lovely guys, interesting to talk to and honestly, I had a nice chat with this French seller..and what’s hilarious is to read the ones that called the police and that are hopeless coz they can’t do anything about it…of course they can’t !! the guy comes to your door, you let him in, he shows you paintings, you take one,two,or even more and you pay for it…that’s it!! you are the one who bought it…I think police has far more serious things to deal with than this..so stop complaining for god’s sake, enjoy your art, you are the only one who decided to buy it because you liked it… everyday I see my painting and I think ” I just love it” and I’m happy to share this feeling with other people that have the same one at home lol!
take it easy, enjoy your art and if you are that furious, next time you see them at your door, just say “no”" and be happy that this time they didn’t get you….!

Comment from real world
Time January 7, 2010 at 2:20 am

Had a poor girl lugging ard a pack of art heavier and more cumbersome than her size today around our townhome estate. Charming girl, claimed to be an art student herself, from israel originally. She doesnt seem very keen to sell the art pieces but mentioned that she has a team leader who will be bringing more art. So they did pop over a few hours later and brought a lot more art with them. Bought a few primarily coz we like how they look. The team leader who came looks seasoned, anxious and experienced in pushing for higher sales but we kept our grounds anyway and stuck to only those that we felt was worth buying, knowing they are not “professionally” painted. We knew from the start it was art mass-painted and nothing was original anyway. We just played along getting them to present their art pieces for over 2 hrs and having a reasonably nice chat overall. Guy (team leader) was the pushy one, and the girl was just sitting around observing, keeping quiet and doesnt speak much English. Both are young in the 20s, charming looking guy and girl, and there was another person who drove a van around.

The team leader tried to get our phone contacts to have their framing services friend who will be in our area tomorrow to help us frame it for a “cheap price”. We just refused and they left.

Fingers-crossed they are not up to no-good. If you like your paintings, they are well worth the price they cost. Sadly much of the money does not go to these travellers or to the poor China / India artists who paint them for peanuts; but to the local businesses / business people who runs them.

Comment from Got Scammed
Time January 25, 2010 at 10:07 pm

Just got scammed in Seaford Meadows, Adelaide SA (25.01.2010) by an israeli young girl claiming to be from an art school there. The same MO was used as in most of the comments here. We especially liked the “Tour De France” painting and the “Three Trees” abstract.
I just wished we googled ‘Israeli art scam’ earlier.
I’ll be calling the local boys in blue shortly…!
Makes sense they’re targeting new suburbs.
Watch out for a girl named Shiran 0415536290

Comment from Donna
Time February 24, 2010 at 10:46 pm

I too! so embarrased to say! fell for the scam. Us Aussies are just too bloody nice!! I love art and like other Aussies out there, thought I would help out.
This guy comes to my home, tell me lies about these paintings makes me feel sorry for the poor pennyless painters out there. I was so close to buying $1500 worth. When I asked for the best price he went off to make a phone call, I could hear that the lady at the end of the phone was saying “The number you have called is not connect” SPRUNG BADLY.. I played along making him think that he was going to score tonight. I too made a phone call and then told them that I was not going to purchase the paintings. The Israli was P— Off. He wanted me to make an EFT payment to his account. NO CHANCE, told him that my husband didnt want me make the purchase. He insisted! So lesson number one if you see them coming tell them to nick off. If you open the door hit them with as many questions as you can, WHo painted them? Where are they from exactely? What do the paintings mean?
Then tell them that you know that they are mass produced in China, watch them do a double take! or tell them that you are going to ring the police they leave really quick.
Thanks to you guys and your comments I cancelled my chq and they got beaten at their own game…..YEAH!!!!!

Comment from a
Time March 23, 2010 at 12:22 am

Hi
I know this is very old, Iàm from Israel and saw these, they are normaly not Mossad or any thing just Israeli kids after the army tring to make easy money. It’s actually became quite common for kids to to this here. The pictures are from China and it’s pretty nasty making us Israelies look bad. They go to all kinds of countries also in Europe and the States, ust looking to earm money. Sorry for my country it’s happening.

Comment from UK-bloke
Time March 23, 2010 at 2:53 am

I think this scam maybe in the United Kingdom now – February 2010. I bought a few paintings from very charming and attractive looking 25-30 year olds claiming to be doing a university student program to sell students paintings. One was a girl called Elizabeth (phone +44-7775-576-204) and two other guys called Antonio and Avid I think (phone +44 7868-329-396). They also sold me frames which they made from a choice of selected styles. I did get some nice paintings but he didn’t stretch them over the canvas properly so they looked bubbled. I noticed this afterwards in a certain light. They wouldn’t come back to fix them. There was something very dodgy about them. Their team leader Avid was also claimed to have had a car accident which is why they couldn’t come back – so they claim. Sounds like a con to me. They also refused to answer my calls or call me back. I must have tried about 80 time to phone them in 24 hours repeatidly dialling them.

Comment from Anon
Time April 9, 2010 at 8:11 am

At my house twice over the years, these art students and I have the simple solution to what they are doing if what is claimed is correct. Identity theft, not for stealing money but for ID and covert activity. People might pay with Cheque or fill out name, thats it. And funding for living…

Comment from Jason
Time April 15, 2010 at 10:23 pm

Hi well like so many of you same Israli scam Gold Coast AUS 13/04/2010 they left me with 4 paintings pretty girls 1 came around yesterday and framed 2 of them. They asked for AUS$1000 I said i would pay via internet banking thought i would check first and found all this it seems all up they are worth about $60 thanks to all of you the scam is now on them

Comment from Busted
Time May 11, 2010 at 8:23 pm

I had a visit from a young art student in Point Cook, Melbourne Victoria at 7am on Tuesday 11 May 2010. The girl is from Israel. Unfortunately for her I am lawyer. She left the goods with me, as I stated my wife would be back later in the evening with the CASH for the purchase of two wonderful Chinese oil paintings at a price of $85 a piece.. Fortunately she will be met by our local law enforcement!
GOOD LUCK combating the scam..

Comment from Oliver
Time June 1, 2010 at 10:16 am

Just adding to the hundreds of comments already but mine is a little more detailed.

I was hit yesterday by the same group. A nice tall dark guy in his 20’s knocked on my door and immediately after I opened the door he started to open up his A1 portfolio. This really took me aback because I never saw sales tactics on my doorstep like this before and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

After some time he showed me all the paintings and I questioned him, A LOT about who painted them etc. He seemed genuine and he didn’t lie too much but I did notice the paintings looked similar to ones we got from Greece in a souvenir store and we only paid about 36 Euros each and they were smaller. I asked if he was an artist and he said ‘not professionally’. He definitely was Israeli and he had a second guy who was also young who was also Israeli.

The second guy arrived in a white van which looked like a 2000 model Mitsubishi Express (courier model with no side windows).

They asked to come in because it was cold out so I let them in my hallway. I didn’t let them go around my house as it was a construction site anyway. The second guy was very pushy and tried selling more than one painting. He was giving me decor advice and said he was trained as an interior designer.

He went out and got another A1 portfolio and in that time, the first guy stayed back and saw my empty RAAF munitions case on the floor and asked “do you know what that is?”. And I said “you know what that is”. And he talked about how in Israel its a common thing to see because the soldiers carry them around on the streets. In Israel, I think the youngsters serve compulsory time in the military as well just like in some European countries.

After some time I declined to buy the prints they recommended and were bargaining with me. At one stage he picks up his phone and says he will call his supervisor to see if he can make it cheaper. He walks outside out of view. I at that moment suspected that he was just talking to himself. I just feel bad for people like these. haha

Both guys were nice, but they were beginning to piss me off because I wanted a specific painting that they had but they wanted to sell me more. I said I only had 200 to spend and in the end I bought a $150 painting of a large villa scene with a fountain. I did understand that it most likely is a copy and wasn’t original but it was oil on canvas and the technique used on the canvas was definitely in haste but not bad. Chinese maybe?

I didn’t have cash at the time so they asked if I wanted to go to the ATM and I declined. I had the flu, it was night time, I couldn’t be bothered.
They suggested that I can do direct deposit and thought it wasn’t a bad idea. Besides I have their account information now and the name on the account is DEFINITELY of hebrew origin.

They did refer a framer although I don’t want my paintings framed as I do my own framing. I am also an artist so I knew what I was dealing with and decided to frame the painting the next day because the paint was still fresh.

They aren’t bad guys but they definitely are doing this for the money. If they are students/tourists then I feel better about that.

Either way if you are suspicious, the best thing to do to any door to door salesperson is to ask for information on paper straight away and a phone number and ABN. Don’t stand through their spiel unless you are truly interested.

Another note, your house is not a marketplace. Businesses have put their foot in your door through the internet, tv, the phone and now personal sales to your door. Think about where this is leading.

Comment from Philip Stewart
Time July 15, 2010 at 3:09 am

An extremely beautiful girl arrived on my doorstep just outside Oxford UK at 9 p.m. on Monday 12th July, said she was an Israeli art student selling paintings. I told her I shan’t buy Israeli goods as long as Israel is occupying the West Bank and besieging Gaza. She left.

Comment from Art Lover
Time September 8, 2010 at 12:21 pm

I myself sold art, door to door.
I have to say that it is a controversial subject indeed.
At first I was quite repelled by the stories I’ve heard about people lying and saying they painted the art and so forth. I decided to give it an honest try.
I’ve sold these beautiful paintings for 2 months. I haven’t used a single lie in any sale, and I was the top seller in my team.
These paintings are amazing. They were indeed painted by hand as far as my untrained eye can tell, since I see 2 of the same painting and they are quite different from one another.
Almost every product we buy today is made in China and these aren’t so very different. Do you know for how much the factory in China sells your Nike shoes? No more than a few Dollars probably.
Furthermore, every product in the world today has mark-up. That means that the prices go up from the factory till they reach the client and that’s exactly how it should work. The product we provide is of top quality, brought to the customers door so he can try it in his house, framed for him within the week in the convenience of his house, and handed to him on a silver plate. Just show me another company that provides people with that service, and still keeps the costs lower than any painting you can find in galleries today at that level and quality.
We, the students and young people who sell it, work very hard day after day to provide this service and we earn an honest living. We are also taught and trained to be polite and nice since we are invading the people’s private space and sanctuary and we treat them with the utmost respect. Someone who is rude, too pushy or aggressive in his sales will quickly be off the team.
In any profession you will have dishonesty, lies and deceivers. Especially sales is a tricky business. Even the simplest salesman in any clothing store will show you the “nice side of the truth” so to speak. Does that make it the “great clothing stores scam”?
The bottom line is that we provide an amazing product, at low cost, to your doorstep, work very hard for the customers to find something that they love, and change the misconception today that art should be only in museums and galleries. Please forgive the ones that don’t believe in the product enough that they feel they must lie and deceive. I try to stop that phenomena as best as I can and explain to them that the truth is the most efficient sales “tactic”.
Hopefully we can get rid of that phenomena soon and continue providing people around the world these beautiful paintings.
(posted this comment in a few other places because I think it’s important to hear this side as well)

Comment from Sucker
Time September 15, 2010 at 3:24 am

They’re in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) now, same pitch as described above. If you get “got” cancel the check. If what they’re doing is legit, they’ll come back for new payment or to reclaim the artwork. I’m still waiting for them to come back…

Comment from Puzzled
Time October 3, 2010 at 8:41 am

This “scam” has been going on since at least the late 1960s (which was when I first encountered it in England). What is peculiar/suspicious about it is that although the paintings always seem to originate in China, the sellers/students are always Israeli. So, why are young Israelis (in preference to other nationalities) traipsing the world selling dodgy paintings?

Comment from Nicolas
Time December 19, 2010 at 4:16 am

Hi folk,

I feel like sharing with everyone, hopefully you’ll feel all a bit better.

First let’s say the most important: those guys are not only Israelis, they are backpackers from all around the world who don’t really know what they do. I’m French; I did it myself and am not proud of it. Although it’s the only job I found to pay my travels.

I feel bad about the whole thing but in the same time, some of the buyers will never know and they were so happy to buy a real painting with a story behind it for 100 bucks, really happy. I truly hope they will never read those blogs so they can still enjoy those beautiful colors in their homes.

In the same time I think I really earned this money, walking 8-10 hours in 30-35 degrees and forcing doors was really hard. I was so happy when I finally could stop this terrible job and have enough money to discover your beautiful country.

The money you gave me guys, I gave it back to your economy. I had only 200 bucks on my bank account when I got back home but thanks to you I had thousand of beautiful landscapes in my head.

Those young students do this door-to-door job as any other shitty job they could find to pay their travels. Before judging those poor young guys, check what motivates them to accept those sad jobs. Working for 3 or 5 bucks an hour in a restaurant does not pay. Have you ever checked that the pizza you have in your plate at the restaurant has not been prepared by a poor backpacker (yes for me 3$/hour is a poor salary). Hope you’ll do it next time.

Yes those canvases are probably made in China. And what? You like one of the canvas? Good for you, buy it. Do you think you have paid more that what it was worth? Where would you have bought art? How much would you have paid?

Next time you have one of those backpackers at your home, don’t yell at him. Tell him/her that lying about the origin of a product is not fair. Advise him to tell the truth about the product. If there is a canvas that you like, tell him you would love buying one for what is fair for you and help this young guy/girl to understand a bit of life.

Hope I have not hurt anyone.

Regards.

Nicolas

Comment from Mel
Time January 17, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Ok I have just been scammed too!
Had a really nice girl knock on my door at 7pm in Doreen melboune Australia area.
Silly me thought it was all really odd & that the paintings
were re-productions. But we brought 2 for 260. So I don’t feel totally ripped off lol.
And I do love the paintings. Will not be getting them to frame it though. Sounds way to dodgy.
Even though they r from china, I’m happybwith them lol
But I knew when I asked her about if they had a website or business card that something was off when she said they didn’t have one!
But hey love the paintings & will be hanging them even if they r cheap replicas.
Mel

Comment from John
Time October 9, 2011 at 8:33 pm

Its not really a scam when you CHOOSE to hand your hard earned money over.

Comment from ISRAELI GUY
Time October 13, 2011 at 11:09 am

HELLO EVERYONE! I WAS WORK THIS DOOR 2 DOOR SALE SOME PLACES IN THE WORLD !
MANY PEOPLE HERE FEEL THAT THEY SCAMED AND I THINK IT’S NOT SO TRUE.
1. U ALL DO KNOW WHAT U PAY FOR U KNOW IT’S A PAINTINGS ,U DIDN’T GOT SOMETHING IN A BOX AND DISCOVER OTHER THING! U TOUCHED THEM SMELL THEM.
2. THE PAINTINGS ARE FROM CHAINA…SO WHAT? IT’S STILL BEAUTIFUL. IT’S STILL SOMETHING U LIKE AND SOMEONE TALENTED PAINT THEM. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH CHAINA ? YOUR CLOTHES SHOES OR TV AREN’T? THOSE PAINTINGS ARE REALY HAND MADE AND I WAS CHECK IT BY PUT THE “SAME” PAINTINGS NEAR BY AND U CAN SEE THE DIFFRENT
THEY ARE REPRODUCTIONS BUT NOT A COPY OF ANY MACHINES! THIS PRODUCT STAY FOREVER I’VE ONE IN MY ROOM FOR YEARS AND IT’S LOOK 100% SAME AS I GET IT!
3. THIS WAY MANY PEOPLE CAN AFFORD THEMSELF ART IN THEM HOUSE AND NOT PRICES OF GALLERY.
4. EVERY COUNTRY IS DIFFRENT PRICES
WHEN U BUY COFFEE IT’S COST U 4-6 DOLLARS. WHY U PAY SO MUCH FOR THE OWNER OF THE COFFEE SHOP IT’S COST SOME CENTS IS THAT A SCAM???? NO!!!!
IT’S BUISNESS LIKE ANY OTHER BUISNESS EVERYONE WANT TO EARN THAT’S THE WAY IT GO!

THE PEOPLE WHO SELL IT IT’S NOT A STUDENTS OF COURSE. STUDENTS ARE STUDY THEY DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS
THOSE PEOPLE ARE A SELLS MAN OR BACKPACERS WHO ACTING AS SELLS MAN!
AND THAT’S THE WAY U SHOULD TREAT THAT. WHO CARES IF THEY ARE A GROUP OF 75 / 95 OR 1 MILLION!!!! AT HE END IT’S JUST ONE OR TWO GUYS KNOCK YOUR DOOR AND TRY SELL U SOMETHING .

THIS WAY MANY PEOPLE CAN TRAVELL YOUR COUNTRY SO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD CAN’T TRAVELL IN AUSTRALIA FOR EXAMPLE U R REALY HELP THAT WAY AND THE MONEY BACK TO U SOMEHOW AND STAY IN YOUR COUNTRY ! MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO DOING THAT ARE REALY OK AND GREAT PEOPLE OPEN MIND AND I’M SURE SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THIS PAINTINGS LIKE THE SELLS MAN AND TALK WITH HIM NICE CONVESATION!!

IM NOT AGREE WITH LIES ON THE PRODUCT! IT’S ALL NEED TO HAVE GOOD VIBES FOR MY OPINION THIS IS REALY GREAT THING 4 EVERYONE !!!!
BE POSITIVE!!!!

Comment from Tina
Time October 27, 2011 at 2:40 pm

In China, scammers approach tourists at popular attractions such as the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.[20] 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. Tina from canvas oil paintings