Who says thieves are stupid? Item Number: 100036 $0.00

DescriptionI love a devious mind! My mother-in-law has used this expression to describe me on a number of occasions (don’t think she ever used it as a compliment though). I bring up this topic now because this week we got a new type of scam in our email that I’ve not seen before.

Historically, I guess my assumption has always been that most thieves are stupid, because if they were really smart, would they have to resort to thievery to make a good living?

But lately my thinking has begun to turn 180 degrees. It now occurs to me that many thieves must be actually quite intelligent to get away with what they do. I’m still convinced they’re lazy because they’re always looking for the quick score, the easy way to make a few bucks because hard work seems to go against their grain.

Most of us are very familiar with the traditional Nigerian email scam –“Dear Mr. Dodge, We have $2,000,000. waiting here in Nigeria just for you. Just send us a few $thousand and it will be on its way to you in no time.” Hard to imagine this scam being so successful, but this campaign has earned these guys $millions over the years… and they still email on a regular basis! Also makes you wonder the type of person who actually believes this and sends them money… but that’s another email entirely.

A variant of the Nigerian scam that’s been tried on many art dealers is the “I will pay you $5000 for your $2000 piece of art. When you receive our “certified bank check,” please drop us a Western Union Moneygram for the difference.” Think this doesn’t happen? I know a dealer who sent them the balance. In this case, it seems as if the thief might have been a bit sharper than our dealer friend…

Let’s face it, most every dealer I know gets dozens of emails each month from folks around the world offering them wonderful collections of freshly-uncovered treasures. About one in 100 actually has anything real to offer, and some are asking millions for things you might buy at a “Fakes R Us Superstore.”

And if emails don’t work, then let’s take the thievery to eBay. eBay has been the worldwide safe haven for the lazy thief for years. Go to the Cairo bazaar, pick up a tourist piece, glue dirt on it and sell it as a precious artifact for 10x your cost. Brilliant! But very lazy! So much harder to actually trudge into the desert and uncover a treasure and sell it via the black-market. Digging is very hard work! So simplify the process! And we can look to the Bulgarians for a brilliant and cost-saving solution! They have actually set-up a cottage industry making tens of thousands of fake Roman bronzes and selling them on eBay for profit. Make them in your backyard; cover them with donkey poop, and viola – a true antiquity, ready for sale!

Along similar lines, I think most of us know a dealer in New York by the name of Michael Sadigh. You can be your own judge about whether the guy is a thief, but the bigger question in my mind is this - just because the vast majority of the items he sells are fakes, does that make the guy a thief? I have a strong opinion here, having helped several clients get refunds in excess of $35,000 over the last year or so. But you be your own judge. I will tell you this – Mr. Sadigh does appear to be somewhat of a marketing star. As far as his ability to market himself and his stockpile of cheap tourist trash as genuine, I can’t think of too many top-notch marketers who have done better. And talk about exposure. We see Sadigh’s name appear on the internet all the time – and not just on the sites called “Sadigh sells fakes.” He recently sent out Press Releases featuring blatantly fake pieces in honor of the Tut Exhibit in New York. And to keep his name out there on an on-going basis, he is even “ballsy” enough to advertise his blatant fakes/non-ancient treasures in such esteemed publications as The Smithsonian and Biblical Archaeology – there is a bit of sick humor in that one! So if both publications actually accept/print his ads, surely his pieces must be authentic? That’s how it appears to the unsuspecting reader. Shame on both publications for not addressing the problem (repeated communications to both publications from us regarding this horror have not been returned or even acknowledged).

And to keep things fresh and current, this week’s email scam comes from “Detective” Obrogon of the Peruvian High Tech Crime Division. Seems Detective Obrogon wants us to send back four Peruvian Pre-Columbian items currently listed on our website, or pay a reasonable fee for his office to look the other way. Funny, I never knew the Peruvian Police used a Hotmail account.

‘Stupid is as stupid does?’ That memorable quote from the movie Forrest Gump may be telling of a lot of things, but in the case of these clever thieves, their ‘stupidity’ is based more on their actions then on how they may think. And the fact that their actions get ‘rewarded’ to their financial betterment, leads me to believe that they’re not so stupid after all.

Happy, and safe, collecting!
Bob Dodge