Credit card conmen get £200,000 art haul as they target top galleries
LONDON’S private art galleries are being targeted by fraudsters stealing works by renowned modern artists in an elaborate credit card scam.
The conmen are thought to have struck at least 10 showrooms and have succeeded in stealing as much as £200,000 worth of art. Each time they have picked individual pieces worth less than £20,000 and bought them using stolen credit card details of unsuspecting cardholders.
Alexandra Mazzanti, 40, the owner of the Dorothy Circus gallery near Marble Arch, says she has lost £20,000 after being targeted twice by fraudsters.
On both occasions people rang the gallery to purchase two pictures — With A l l He r Wo r d l y Po s s e s s i o n s a n d Launderette — by Ray Caesar, the “grandfather of digital art” whose work has been collected by Madonna, as well as a separate sculpture.
The sales were dealt with by an assistant but Ms Mazzanti said: “They gave the impression they had visited the gallery, describing the pieces in detail, they knew the artist and seemed knowledgeable. They were very plausible. Payments went through without a problem so we did not think there was an issue. The pieces were delivered to the cardholder’s registered address by courier.”
However, days after one sale WorldPay, the payment processing company, contacted the gallery to demand a refund saying the genuine cardholder had not authorised the payment. Further inquiries by the gallery revealed the delivery driver handed the pieces to someone standing outside the cardholder’s address.
Another gallery, which did not want to be named, confirmed it had lost an artwork worth £10,000, and the fraudsters also tried but failed to obtain a Banksy piece.
James Freeman, of Islington’s James Freeman Gallery, said he was also targeted last October when a man rang and asked to buy a Ray Caesar picture. He agreed the sale over the phone and processed a credit card payment for £5,500. Initially, the buyer said he would collect the picture but at the last minute rang to say he was sending a car to collect it. Mr Freeman became suspicious and when the buyer called again to p u rc h a s e a n o t h e r p i e c e wo r t h £13,000 he said he would only agree to deal in person. He never heard back.
Ms Mazzanti says she contacted 10 other galleries in London who have been victims or been targeted. She said she tried to report the frauds to the Met but was referred to the national fraud reporting system Action Fraud.
She added: “This is a clever, wellorganised scam. I ploughed a big chunk of my own money into refurbishing and opening this gallery and this means a lot to me.” Mr Freeman said: “You ring Action Fraud and there is no answer. Someone has stolen £5,500 from me and got away with it.”
Action Fraud said 250,000 cases a year were reported to it and “not all can be passed for further investigation”.