Israeli art student scam

Across the world there have been numerous reports of people who identify themselves as Israeli art students fraudulently selling fake paintings to unsuspecting collectors. The scam is closely related to a number of high-profile espionage allegations against Israel during the 2001-2002 period in the United States.
The scam
The "Israeli art student scam" is a well-known con in which scammers, claiming to be travelling Israeli art students, approach people in their homes or on the street and attempt to sell them oil paintings and frames for excessive prices. The paintings are represented as original and valuable art by up-and-coming talents but are in fact cheap, mass-produced works bought wholesale from China. The scammers explain that they are directly approaching people with offers because properly exhibiting the work in an art gallery would be prohibitively expensive. Framing is often provided at a later date by mobile vans in order to obtain the phone numbers of willing "marks" and extract as much money as possible.
The scam has been reported in Canada, and the United States.
2001-2002 Israeli art student spying scandal
During the 2001-2002 period in the United States there were official reports of hundreds of young Israelis posing as art students spying on federal buildings and employees.
In January 2001, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) field offices around the country reported that the "art students" had been attempting to penetrate offices for over a year, as well as other law enforcement and Department of Defence agencies. They had also visited the homes of many DEA officers and senior federal officials and attempted to sell art. Suspicious agents observed that when the "art students" departed they did not approach their neighbours. By this time, DEA agents reported 130 incidents involving "art students"; some "art students" were caught diagramming the architecture of federal buildings and some were found to have photographed federal officials. According to Insight on the News, "Unauthorized photographing of military sites and civilian industrial complexes, such as petroleum-storage facilities, also was reported to the DEA, the documents show and interviews confirm." One DEA report, "Suspicious Activities Involving Israeli Art Students at DEA Facilities," lists more than 180 documented incidents involving these "art students". However, a federal law-enforcement source told Insight on the News: "The higher-ups don't want to deal with this and neither does the FBI because it involves Israel." Subsequent to the NCIX bulletin, officials raised other red flags, including an Air Force alert, a Federal Protective Service alert, an Office of National Drug Control Policy security alert and a request that the Immigration and Naturalization Service investigate a specific case. The "art students" were subsequently treated with more caution by officials. In 2002 several officials dismissed reports of a spy ring and said the allegations were made by a Drug Enforcement Agency who was angry his theories had been dismissed.
The DEA report also claims that Israeli companies that had provided telephony services for U.S. businesses and U.S. federal organizations were connected to the "art students" and advised that Israeli telephony companies should be investigated. It raised the possibility that "back doors" had been installed in communications equipment to assist Israeli espionage.
Canadian espionage rumors
In August 2004, a number of Israeli "art students" in Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto and Ottawa were deported from Canada for working in the country illegally. The Calgary Herald wrote that the deportations "raised the specter of international espionage". However, claims that a spy ring was operating in Canada that were raised by newspapers were dismissed by Canadian officials. Officials noted that the Canadian art scammers did not target government officials or offices but instead focused on wealthy neighbourhoods
Denial of spy ring by officials
In 2002 several officials dismissed reports of a spy ring and said the allegations were made by a Drug Enforcement Agency who was angry his theories had been dismissed. Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden describe the claims as an "urban myth"
Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz also published an article on the spying allegations, noting that most of the allegations were based upon a single internal report from the DEA. It also noted that the U.S. administration was "desperate to keep the affair quiet" <ref name="Haaretz"/>.
Official Israeli response
The Israeli government has denied the espionage allegations, calling them nonsense. <ref name="Haaretz"/>

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