New Scam? Or me being paranoid?

[neintales.livejournal.com]

This doesn't have to do with commissions, so hope it's not a bad first post- but I got this in my e-mail today, as did apparently about a hundred other people in the 'to' line:

Subject: =?iso-8859-1?B?k2RpZ2l0YUxhcnRllCAgliAgZXhoaWJpdGlvbi1jb21wZXRpdGlvbiBv?=
=?iso-8859-1?B?ZiBjb21wdXRlciBhcnQ=?=
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 22:49:09 +0200
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Sep 2006 20:49:12.0272 (UTC) FILETIME=[E5595500:01C6DB63]

We think that your works of art are representative of the world of the
digital art , that is why we invite you to participate to the digital art
exhibition "digitaLarte”.

"digitaLarte" is inserted in the manifestation "Pecorsi Digitali" that will
take place in La Spezia (Italy) from 13 to 16 December 2006.

Send us an artworks of yours.

The artworks we get will be displayed through twelve screens for the time
of the duration of the exhibition. The artists who will produce the best
artworks be gain an award.

"Pecorsi Digitali": the impact that the development of computer sciences and
digital technologies has had in the field of arts.

http://www.asscultilgioco.org/percorsidigitali/digitalarte_en.html

Now, it kind of triggers some alarms in my head- I didn't have nearly enough time to research it today, and not sure how much I'll manage tonight.. so anyone else heard of this, and is it a really well-set up scam?

The webpage LOOKS fairly legit, though they're a bit messy on some of their .gifs (but then, the arts council I am on has a kind of not-professional site too...) and there almost seems like there's nothing to LOSE, they aren't asking for the usual phishy bank account info for the 'prizes'.

But I just am not sure how I'd have ended up on their list, unless they were browsing DA or Cafe Press :p (Btw, I am bakafox at both sites.)

Anyways.. thoughts on this from the people who've seen phishing directed at artists before?

A friend pointed me to this community as one that might have folks who knew something ^^

Comments

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I get a lot of junk for writers that sounds a lot like that, and is basically a scam meant to get you to buy their art books and pay to go to their "conventions." You enter their poetry or writing contest, and you "win" it (no matter how bad your stuff is, you always win,) and the winners get published in a book, which you can buy for only $39.99! And you can get a plaque saying you won for a mere $49.99! And attend their convention and meet other award-winning writers for just $399.99!

They're annoying, but not /quite/ a scam. This sounds a lot like their stuff.

[neintales.livejournal.com]

Hm. Sounds about right. Someone wore me down into entering a poem or two to 'poetry.com' or something like that. I got SO much junk mail, and of course probably can never use those poems again anywhere else.

Thanks for the input/thought.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Nah, they don't claim any legal rights to your poetry there, they just want to sell you junk that says "I'm a wonderful poet!" You can still use the stuff wherever.

[neongryphon.livejournal.com]

I get crap like that all the time and normally don’t read passed the first few lines. I don't need my art to be sold back to me. If you want to be showcased or published, approach a respectable company yourself so that you know where you stand. Emails from unknown ‘art enthusiast’ groups most always end in tears and/or a dented bank account.

[monalisa-od.livejournal.com]

There are also variations on Nigerian scams, where they offer to buy or hold art for you, and then send you a cashier's check as "compensation for your time".... They then request that you wire them back some amount through Western Union or a bank transfer... The check bounces about a week later, and you're out the funds that you wired them, as well as any merchandise/art you may have sent them.

This may or may not be one of them.

[darkyo.livejournal.com]

oh I hate those Nigerian bastards, they spam my eBay auctions with crap questions.