Wondering why we were nearly sold-out by mid-August 2007?

Gautam Anand, Shame of India

We were tricked by a thief named Gautam Kumar Anand of India and defrauded out of $30,000 of artwork recently.

We are now trying to figure out how to stay in business, which is tough, when my family's total income was less than $30,000 for the 2006 tax year.
It is my responsibility, so my family and I will absorb the damage. We might be eating nothing but Ramen Noodles for a while, but we'll survive somehow.

My goal has always been to help independent Chinese artists climb their way to the middle class, while offering artwork that everyone can afford. My goal was never to get rich or make the artists rich, but rather to make sure everyone could maintain a comfortable standard of living. This includes my customers who, thanks to our low prices, can afford nice Asian artwork to decorate their homes.

At this point, it seems my way of doing business with rather thin profit margins and without love of money has backfired on me.
I will do everything in my power to ensure that my independent artist friends continue to receive more-than-fair prices for their artwork.

About our inventory: The hand-painted and handmade nature of our artwork means that we simply can't rush anything.
Many artists are busy painting, and we are busy building wall scrolls and mounting portraits. I hope to get caught up by the end of September. Though I expect it will be a year before we recover financially.

Easy come easy go. I thank God that I have a healthy and happy family - something for which money can not buy.

-Gary.

If you are in business, and get an order from India to this address, or any address near Noida or New Delhi fill the order at your own peril:

GAUTAM KUMAR ANAND
HOUSE NUMBER 62, SECTOR 37
NOIDA, UTTAR PRADEESH 201301
INDIA

He also uses the names JYOTI BHUSAN and SUNIL KUMAR and may be the accountant of the cardholders of the credit cards used for this fraud.

This man is an embarrassment to all the good people of India.

I hope this helps at least one other merchant to stop a financial disaster from happening to them.
I further suggest that all merchants insist on wire transfers for orders going to India. The Indian banks (even Citibank) could care less about credit card fraud. The police and legal system in India are so corrupt that none of these criminals will ever see justice.

With the other merchants involved, this one bastard has taken no less than $100,000 (probably a lot more, as that was only in a one month period and only transactions that I am aware of). When you call to confirm credit card information, the Indian banks may actually lie to you. I was first told that Gautam Anand was the account holder of the cards that I inquired about. This was later denied.