My latest Nigerian scammer is an artist in the UK

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Doesn’t this sound like the chance of a lifetime?

Greetings,

My name is Michael Willard, I am an artist with my
wife Elizabeth Willard and we are the owners of Willard
Gallery.I live in London,United Kingdom, with my two
kidsthe love of my life my wife Elizabeth.
I make original Sculptural Paintings and sell Limited
Edition Prints. I create artwork that combines
sculpture and painting using sheets of wood,metal and
glass to create depth. I fragment images into illusive
shapes and paint abstract compositions on the
manipulated surface. I have been selling my art for
the last 3 years and have had my work featured on
trading cards, prints and in magazines. I have sold in
galleries and to private collectors from all around
the world. I am always facing serious difficulties
when it comes to selling my art works to the U.S and
Canada,they are always offering to pay with cheques
and money orders,which is difficult for me to cash
here in London,United Kingdom. It takes minimum of
four weeks to clear our banks here in the U.K as they
are been treated as an out of country cheques.
I am looking for a representative in the states who
will be working for me as a part time worker and I
will be willing to pay 10%for every transaction, which
wouldn’t affect your present state of work, someone
who would help me receive payments from my customers
in the United States. I mean someone that is
responsible and reliable, cause the cost of coming to
the united states and getting payments is very
expensive, I am working on setting up a branch in
the state, so for now I need a representative in the
united state who will be handling the payment aspect.
All the payments are in certified cheques and my
customers will issue them (payments) in your name and
send to you. So all you need do is to take the cheques
to your bank and cash them, then deduct your 10% and
wire the balance back to me. This business will not
cost you any amount of money,my customers will send
payments to you through registered mail
or courier company and the courier company will
deliver the package to your doorstep as soon as you
receive the package from the courier company,just take
these payments to your bank and have them cashed.
We are grateful for your attention. Your email was
forwarded by www.monster.co.uk at our request, because
you or somebody else has subscribed for the delivery
of the job offers on the Internet.

If you are interested, please get back to me as soon
as possible.We wish you good luck and happiness.

Friendly Regards,
Michael Willard.
WILLARD GALLERY
3B Devonshire Road,
London, W4 2EU, UK

Oddly enough, Google reveals no Willard Gallery in London, although there is such a creature in New York.

So, any London Dopers curious enough to check out the address of this putative gallery? Any speculation on what might actually be there?

[Sierra_Indigo]

According to locallife.co.uk 3B Devonshire St is as follows:

Knight Newsagents
3b Devonshire Road
London W4 2EU
Tel: 020 8994 3711

[Nancarrow]

Huh, that’s in Chiswick. I’ll actually be round that area on Wednesday, I’ll try to remember to have a look. Should I ask the guy at the till if he’s Michael Willard?

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@Nancarrow

Huh, that’s in Chiswick. I’ll actually be round that area on Wednesday, I’ll try to remember to have a look. Should I ask the guy at the till if he’s Michael Willard?

Cool, yeh! Ask to see his latest work too.

[Vlad_Igor]

But but but how do you know for sure he’s a scammer? He HASN’T WRITTEN BACK IN ALL CAPS, RIGHT? I mean, he could be legit, you know?

In his defence, I’ll say that the letter is well written, and not the usual study in slaughtering the language. Otherwise, I’d give him a pass.

Vlad/Igor

[Khadaji]

Mine comes from Japan. I had to run it through Google languages, and it was almost incoherent, but I’m pretty sure they wanted to give me millions.

[Mangetout]

Where do the IP addresses in the email headers resolve to? My bet will be some ISP in Lagos.

[Harmonious_Discord]

@Nancarrow

Huh, that’s in Chiswick. I’ll actually be round that area on Wednesday, I’ll try to remember to have a look. Should I ask the guy at the till if he’s Michael Willard?

It would be nice to let the real owner of that property know the address is being used to commit fraud, after you determine that is the case.