During the strictest period of the Covid lock-down, Galway artist Kevin McCarthy used the time to create a series of large paintings, never imagining he might one day be scammed out of one.
McCarthy, well known in Galway city for his colourful weekly market stall near St Nicholas’ Church, has sold paintings all over the world, but two weeks ago, an online sale of one of his larger pieces to a purported Parisian art connoisseur, went horribly, horribly wrong.
“Normally, I’d be paid in advance of posting, but because of the value of the transaction – ten thousand euro – the guy who had been emailing me said I needed to send a photo of the [parcel’s] tracking number before his bank would release the funds. It all seemed legit. He even forwarded me an email from [a well-known French] bank, but when he then said I needed to pay a €380 ‘international bank fee’ I immediately realised it was a scam,” McCarthy told the Advertiser.
Unfortunately, McCarthy had already unframed ‘Paradise’, his 2m by 1.3m Covid-era oil painting, packaged it in a large postal tube, and sent it registered via An Post, which confirmed rapid delivery to an address in suburban Paris.
McCarthy, who has sold his works as far afield as Japan and Australia, reported the allegedly fraudulent transaction to An Garda after quickly discovering that the address was an empty commercial unit in a small shopping complex. He says himself and friends in Paris have spoken to the “very helpful” neighbours of the empty unit, but no tube has been spotted despite the parcel tracking recording it as ‘delivered’. He is making enquiries with the French postal service.
Asked whether he wanted to warn other Galwegian artists and craft exporters about the dangers of selling online, McCarthy said at this stage he just wants to recover his property.
“I’m a 57-year-old man who put three months of work into this painting, and I want it back.”
