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The art student scam is a confidence trick in which young people pretend to be art students and try to sell overpriced artwork claimed to be of their own production. The scam is international in nature, with instances reported of Chinese, French, Israeli, and other nationalities pretending to be art students and the scam being reported in Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, and the United States.

Variants

Chinese and General Version of Scam

In a Chinese version of the scam, scammers approach tourists at popular attractions such as Tiananmen Square and inside the Forbidden City. The scammer speaks English well enough to get into a conversation with the foreigner. The scammer claims to be an art student whose works are on display at a nearby exhibition which is part of the scam and sells mass-produced art reproductions at exorbitant prices. There are warnings about this scam in tourist guides.

A variant of this scam has been reported in various English-speaking countries at least since 2001. In this way, the art is sold door-to-door, approaching the marks in their homes without the need for sham exhibition sites or art stores.

Suspected "Art Student" Spy Ring

The scam was operated by some Israelis in the United States and Canada beginning in summer 2000 or earlier. After it hit numerous facilities and private homes of staff members of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), a DEA officer suspected an espionage program. Both the DEA and the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive released reports about the suspicious behavior of supposed Israeli art students. The media initially reported on the military training of those involved, which is compulsory in Israel, and caused confusion. Some of the people involved in the art scam were deported for immigration offenses. An internal DEA report, leaked in 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, gave rise to an urban myth that shaped much of the reporting about the scam, such as the idea that Israeli agents had been tracking the terrorists before the attacks. Allegations of spying were never validated, though art student scams continue.

In response to criticism that the idea of an israeli art spy ring was an "urban myth," a salon.com article stated "The Post's apparent debunking was far from convincing, even to the casual reader."....."To someone not familiar with the 60-page DEA memo, or to reporters who didn't bother to obtain it, the fact that a disgruntled employee leaked a memo he wrote himself might seem like decisive proof that the whole "art student" tale was a canard. In reality, the nature of the memo makes its authorship irrelevant. The memo is a compilation of field reports by dozens of named agents and officials from DEA offices across America. It contains the names, passport numbers, addresses, and in some cases the military ID numbers of the Israelis who were questioned by federal authorities. Pointing a finger at the author is like blaming a bank robbery on the desk sergeant who took down the names of the robbers."

References

1. ^ Sarah Moyes and Michelle Robinson (2010-03-5). "Warning on art scam". East And Bays Courier. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "Foreign students caught up in fake art scam". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 18, 2008.
3. "The famous art show ripoff in Tiananmen Square was recently cleaned up for the Olympics. This was a pretty funny one, where English-speaking 'art students' would strike up conversation with overseas visitors and tell them they happen to be in town for an art show across the street. The show was closing today when I first heard the spiel in 2006, it was closing today when I returned to Beijing in 2007, but the pre-Olympics cleanup really seems to have closed the collection of knockoff art." . See also .
4. Frommer's China, Wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-52658-3, p. 140. "You should also be leery of any English-speaking youngsters who claim to be art students and offer to take you to a special exhibit of their work. The art, which you will be pressured to buy, almost always consists of assembly-line reproductions of famous (or not-so-famous) paintings offered at prices several dozen times higher than their actual value."
5. China Tourism Scams
6. Gandia, Renato (August 19, 2009). ""Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness". Calgary Sun.
7. "Oil painting scam hits the Border". Border Mail. April 22, 2009.
8. Dye, Stuart (February 4, 2004). "Brush with law reveals art scam". NZ Herald.
   Coulter, Narelle (January 18, 2006). "Door slammed on 'original' art scam". Star News Group.
   Feek, Belinda (January 19, 2010). "Warnings out over art scam". Waikato Times.
9. Wilton, Suzanne, "Art-sales-scam ringleaders ordered to leave Canada", Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, B.C.: Aug 7, 2004. pg. A.8.
10. "Information On An Israeli Art Scam". Komo News. August 30, 2006.
11. Fenton, Ben (March 7, 2002). "Telegraph.co.uk: US arrests 200 young Israelis in spying investigation". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
12. "Sunday Herald (UK) via Internet Archive: Were they part of a massive spy ring which shadowed the 9/11 hijackers and knew that al-Qaeda planned a devastating terrorist attack on the USA?".
13. "Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive: Suspicious Visitors to Federal Facilities (archived at Internet Archive".
14. "Israeli student 'spy ring' revealed". London: The Guardian. March 6, 2002. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
15. Guttman, Nathan (May 7, 2002). "Spies, or students? Were the Israelis just trying to sell their paintings, or agents in a massive espionage ring?". Haaretz.
16. Mintz, John (March 7, 2002). "U.S. officials dismiss report of Israeli spies". Seattle Times. Retrieved October 18, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
17. ^ McGraw, Seamus. "Espionage Ruled Out in Case of Bad Art". The Forward.
18. "Tür an Tür mit Mohammed Atta". Die Zeit. October 2002.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
19. http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html

• Confidence tricks
• Deception
• Fraud