Pets To Paint Beware! You will receive an invoice for an item you did not order! Winter Park, Florida

This person advertises on several Craigslist communities.  Their "offers" always change, but their "pet portrait" samples are almost always the same.

When I replied to the ad, the ad read, "first 10 replies gets a free portrait of their pet."  I did not know what these people were not in the area, and I thought it was a local artist doing actual paintings. 

I sent an e-mail along with a photo of my pet (per request in the ad), and I said, "please let me know if I am one of the ten people.  Thanks."

Less than ten minutes later, I had a "proof" of the portrait in my inbox.  I opened it, and it was nothing more than someone taking my photograph, running it through a graphics program, and then passing it off as "artwork."  When you run it through a graphics program, you open the photo, and within three clicks, you have the finished product - no work involved.

The e-mail read that this was a "small size proof" and that an invoice would be sent shortly for $40 and to pay it asap so they could send the full-sized portrait immediately. 

I told them that I was not impressed that someone was trying to sell "pet portraits" on Craigslist for something that took less than five minutes to accomplish.  I also did not appreciate that they immediately assumed that someone wanted to buy the portrait and took it upon themselves to invoice for such garbage and lies. Sure enough, within a matter of seconds, I received a payment request from Paypal for $40.  I declined it, and I filed a complaint with PayPal.

I never heard from them regarding my e-mail I sent.

A week later, they send me a "payment reminder" for the $40 invoice.  Again, I told them I was not interested, thought it was a scam, and I forwarded them the complaint number with PayPal.

Since that time, they have posted on other Craigslists always offering some sort of "deal" or "free special," but it always says, "send a photo along for us to evaluate."   They are not evaluating, they are running pictures through a program and charging people.  Unfortunately, someone is going to think they HAVE to pay the invoice and will do so just to not "get in trouble."

Stay away.  5 minutes in a simple graphics program, and you can have the same results!