Scam Or Not?

What is your handle on TikTok?

I'd love to see your videos.

you have some amazing drawings, glad people found them and bought a ton, really amazing work!!!

the fact you have to pay upfront is wrong

why would the other guy pay even more

5 figures for drawings? Picasso maybe, not me, you might get a few thousand......

be careful

out of the country is usually always a scam, all the best

Seems suspicious that a high profile art dealer is stalking people on tik tok. Look at the contract, his website, any person who has dealt with him. Not sure what a private auction is exactly. The fact that a stranger wants you to pay to get into his unknown auction is the flag that would send him packing.

Places exist because scammers use those names to exist, if you contacted that place I wonder who would pick up. Anything where you have to pay - I would be very wary of. And how he found you - that is also super weird.


But read that contract very carefully, a few words off and it could be a real hassle. That said it may be a hassle either way.


----Mike Savad

David, thank you. My handle on Tiktok is remrov_artist. On Instagram it's also going really well, because another account has shared my Tiktok video and has about 20 million views right now. On Instagram my handle is the same.

Thank you Nina, I'm thinking the same. However the 'broker' who contacted me lives in the US. And in the contract there are addresses and names and phone numbers of lawyers and other involved parties as well. I guess they could be just made up. They say in the contract that if the artwork doesn't sell that I get the money back, and so will that broker.

Just looked for myself @remrov_artist very impressive marketing. Exceptionally well done.

This has been going on for a while.

Frankly, your marketing puts the rest of us to shame. You do not need our help.

Thank you Mike. He contacted me on Instagram indeed. I have read the contract but I'm very bad at understanding such difficult language (the way every contract is written), I'm autistic and have trouble understanding a lot of things like that. He did mention a few times that I should get a lawyer or legal representative who also has to sign the contract. If he was a scammer, would he recommending me getting a lawyer? By the way I have searched for the name of the man who contacted me, but I can't find him anywhere else than on Instagram, he also doesn't have his own website. At least I can't find it.

Thank you David, throughout the years I've become pretty good at marketing myself. However I have a lot of difficulties with understanding certain things, like contract for example. I'm actually still looking for an agent who can take care of the business aspect etc.

That's when a lawyer gets involved and they are real expensive. Could you post it on here? Maybe one of us can interpret some of it. Scammers can tell you to get whatever. But the fact he wants money up front, and claims high figures - did he at least give you a list of other artists that he sells? A list of contacts? Like that contract, may be totally legit, because its a boiler plate that isn't related to auctions at all so it looks valid. I don't see how a contract is needed for auctions.

As said, if your gut is sending a warning, I would avoid it. You could lose your work and your money even if its legit, how do you get the money? What is his cut? 90%? Who knows.


----Mike Savad

be really really careful

the man can say he is from the US and then he lives in China, Brazil or Nigeria, these scammers are very sophisticated

contracts are difficult, even without autism, they might hope that because you announce that you have autism that you are an easy victim, don't let them take your money or your art

That strange combo of a broker in the US, a dot com in Cyprus (lots of financial shenanigans in Cyprus) and an upfront payment in Sterling would make me weary right off the bat. And then there is this: https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/nomitedge.com
Be very careful.

Surprised he didn't say pay me in crypto. Unless that's how you get the money.


----Mike Savad

Thank you everybody!

Thank you Mike, Well, he did mention Ether, also in the contract, but it says I could choose to get paid in Ether or US dollars. And his email address is marketingnonfungibletokens@gmail.com. So that raised a few issues for me.

Thank you Western Exposure. I didn't even see that yet about Nomitedge. Their website itself looked pretty professional.

I think I already know enough, I'm not going to fall for it.

Https://www.nomitedge.com

they have a lot of random things. If this is the same place, I see watches, sculpture, wine, then weirdly a smart watch? Didn't see any drawings. More so, any site can claim any amount because its private. With a ny address and a curious phone number - 123-456-7890 one would think they would have checked on that. And 123 Street, Old Trafford, NewYork, USA and the server is in france... If this is the same place, just that phone number sends me away. I mean its listed right at the top.


----Mike Savad

There you go non fungible tokens? As an email? And its a gmail account and not from a real site. I think this is just another fancy NFT scam reworded. And there is no nomitedge in cyprus.

If that is the same page it was registered

https://who.is/whois/nomitedge.com like a week ago


----Mike Savad

123 Street, Old Trafford, NewYork, USA appears to be a non-existent address used on many websites. Auto parts, construction equipment for example,

Its like one of those pop up christmas tree stores, here today, gone tomorrow, they didn't even bother filling in the bits. Probably AI generated, stock photos. Weird how they show s $46,000 watch, then show a digital one.


----Mike Savad

He will ask you to put up money or Eth. Avoid him.

You need a lawyer more than an agent. You have business questions over my pay grade.

This sounds highly suspicioius to me.

I would either write Nomitedge an email or phone them and ask if this man actually works for them.

Email from their site is info@nomitedge.com
Phone number is 123-456-7890

Your work is truly incredible! I'd hate to see anybody taking advantage of you. Best of luck!

Peggy that number is fake - its all the numbers in the alphabet. And the site was set up only a week ago.


----Mike Savad

Thank you all very much for your help and advice. Now I know for sure, I won't fall for it.

Casey,

Just saw your instagram videos.


I'M SPEECHLESS !!!!

@Mike, I did wonder about the phone number...how weird! (Wait a minute though...all the numbers in the alphabet??) How did you find out the site was set up a week ago?

Casey, I'm glad you came to the forum to run this by everyone.

Peggy, if you write to the scammers they will tell you anything......
that number is the first red flag
boy, such crooks

I did a whois on the site. Shows when it was registered.

As Western said, to me the 'Cyprus' thing already sounds fishy. I would ask full documentation and online references on the auction he mentioned. Don't fall for it. Nowadays over 90% of the 'great' offers are scams. Some made by con artists, people who are mastering the scamming.

And although you aren't planning on working with him, there is nothing wrong in playing with him. Ask him about past auctions, how long he's been doing it, what his actual website is, see a list of references, where exactly is this auction located, how do you get paid out and when (one place only paid like quarterly when I used their contract), how much is their cut etc... Just to see what he says, so at the very least you can be the person to tell others how much of a scammer he is.


----Mike Savad

So what I understand that not Nomitedge has contacted you, but a private broker. You should check/ask what background he/she has. Based on a quick search, Nomitedge looks legit.But what about this broker?? Is there any contractual agreement? Or even you could try to contact Nomitedge if that 'broker' is indeed a known broker to them.