“There were lots of weird details — the stuff was supposedly from Florida, why sell in DC?”

“Dear PoPville,

My partner got this weird message in the mail advertising a huge estate sale due to a divorce, including huge name artists like Picasso. We weren’t looking to buy anything, but went to go look at cool art and meet the weird character who wrote this message (pictured above.)

There were lots of weird details

— the stuff was supposedly from Florida, why sell in DC? Why was the crowd mostly other confused 20/30 year olds instead of legitimate art collectors? We assumed the seller was just incompetent.

Stuff was selling for way less than it should have, and the auctioneer was putting on a big show of disappointment that such a piece would sell for so little. But the people who attended were clearly not able to spend the ten thousands he claimed everything was worth. Still, lots of people did pay hundreds for these pieces, and might have been looking to flip them.

Turns out, these guys are known scammers operating without a license (but technically aren’t breaking the law). The pieces are fake or overvalued. They were charging an extra fee for paying with check or credit card because then the payment can’t be stopped. Some people in attendance might have been plants. We didn’t buy anything but felt pretty silly afterwards.

If you bought something — GET A REFUND/CHARGEBACK ASAP. It looks like the seller will let you return items, probably to avoid legal trouble.”

Another reader shares:

“My friends and I got a flyer for a divorce liquidation of assets auction at the mayflower hotel for yesterday. We went and it seemed like a fun thing to check out. We are all millennials and have zero experience w live auctions so did not pick up on red flags until afterwards, but here’s the basic scam,
Flyers go out (see photo) and the works and rugs etc seem legit, some might be, but each one is a print/lithograph from big name artist that seems difficult to prove or disprove provenance. With some googling we found flyers with same wording from all over country with same works advertised. A friend looked closer at her “antique vase” and it said “made in China” in arial font. Thankfully they didn’t spend too much on it and at least it’s pretty! Posting because he said this was the first of 5 planned auctions and I don’t want anyone accidentally buying a home goods print thinking it’s a true lithograph!”