Peter Olson: Art Scam

Recently, an artist I know was approached via email with regard to a purchase of some of his paintings housed in an online gallery.

The email was from Peter Olson, peter_olson_5@yahoo.ca with a now defunct UK mobile number. 44.702.406.2701

Initially, it'd appeared to be an interested party who wished to buy a few pieces for his home in Middlesex, England. While in 'negotiations', a few things didn't add up. Googling and two subsequent phone calls further fueled the doubt. Turns out he was fronting a classic certified check scheme ala Catch Me If You Can.

Luckily, before my friend deposited the check, they'd called the bank to validate its legitimacy. It was a fake. I'm pissed and want to report this fuck to any and to every fraud protection/enforcement agency around. I told the friend to submit the check and the envelope in which it came to the authorities.

My friend just wants to let it go.

I say to hell with that.

Dear readers, if you're in the situation, please report fake scams to the National Fraud Information Center/Internet Fraud Watch, a service of the nonprofit National Consumers League, at http://www.fraud.org/ or (800) 876-7060. That information will be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement agencies and these pieces of shit will get what's theirs.