Art Scam?

So the other day I got an email from an artist I trust warning about a scam that's targeting young artists. I'm not sure whether the confidence artist/s are scamming to get artwork and then not pay for it or are somehow getting money from the artists (the adage about a stone and blood comes to mind, but I digress), but I read the email too quickly, can't find it now, and don't recall the details.

Anyway, today one of our artists forwarded an email that went:

Hello,

Compliments, I am Mrs. Mercy Roth from the U.K. I found your email address on Artist's Directory; I also viewed your online gallery and found different artworks of beautiful interests. I am pleased to let you know that you are very creative and I like your artworks. I would like to purchase your artworks of price ranges of 1,000 to 1,500 ranges only because i would also like to beautify our new apartment with your artworks. So please get back to me with your artworks available for sale either in a text file document or in a JPEG IMAGE.

Waiting for your response.

The wording struck me as odd (not authored by someone whose first language is English), and I told the artist I thought this might be the same scam, but to be sure I'd forward some jpegs and see what their response was. Well, in doing so I accidentally sent the same email I sent my artist (which started "think this is a scam") to "Mrs. Mercy Roth from the U.K." who, un-insulted and undaunted, replied:

Hello,

Kindly mail me the available artworks in a jpeg image with their prices of the price range i want so that i can chose the artworks i want. Kindly get back to me with your contact name and home address where to send cashier's cheques to for the billing of the artworks that I will chose. I have an impromptu travel to kenya to supervise our new house work project over there. So please work with my shipping agent and i will soon inform my busineess partners and shipping agent about you and your works.

I will be expecting your mail.

So this has all the hallmarks of a scam, none the least of which is the request for the artist's home address (at least I'm assuming she thought I was the artist responding with a suggestion to send jpgs) rather than the gallery address, mention of a forthcoming cashier's check, and the business partners who will contact you.

Now I guess I should be encouraged that even con artists feel emerging art is worth such elaborate efforts, but I'm curious if others have more info about Mrs. Mercy Roth and her under-decorated apartment in the UK.

UPDATE: Well, there seems to be enough information here to confirm that emails like this should set off alarm bells and at the very least get folks to withold any personal contact until confirmation of the interest seems more secure. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. In response to this post, I received an email from a gallery employee (who asked to remain anonymous) that outlines really well how this works {I've changed a few names here to maintain the anonymity}:

The scam you note on your blog is one we were subjected to but from a different person. Ours was from a hotel in {Europe}. They ask for j-pegs, then say they want pieces. You bill them and they send too much money. When you tell them they've overpaid they tell you to send the extra to their shipper to cover those costs. Their check will bounce but their hope is that you send the shipper money (they requested a cashiers check) before you find out their check has bounced. I was suspicious so I sent no money to see if the check cleared. Once I informed them that the check bounced I never heard from them again. What made the deal seem like it might be real was that they said they were buying for a resort hotel in {Europe} that had just opened, I went to the hotel's website and the hotel apparently exists. I assume the scammers are just using the hotel's site or the scam is run by someone who works at the hotel. The check they sent us was drawn from the {American City} branch of a {South American} bank. We never reported this since it seems untraceable.