Security

Tips for protecting yourself against fraud

When you use our services, we may ask you to provide information relating to your identity, credit status and payment methods, and delivery addresses. Christie’s uses advanced technology to protect your data in its systems but we also recommend that you take some basic security precautions when creating or using your online account on www.christies.com, or responding to emails and other communications that appear to come from Christie’s.

Using your account on www.christies.com:

Verify that you are on this page https://www.christies.com/MyChristies/login.aspx when you create your new Christie's account, and when you return to your account to register for sales, pay online for your purchases or edit or add information to your account. You may want to add this URL to your browser's Favorites or Bookmarks menu.
Create a strong account password for your online Christies account, and set up your Account Security Questions within your online profile (go to “My Account” and select “Complete Profile”).
Do not share your Christie’s account login details with any other person, and change your password on a regular basis.
Always end your secure session on christies.com by clicking the Log Out link at the top right-hand side of the page and by closing your browser's window.

Responding to emails:

We suggest the following tips for you and your clients, to help identify such fraudulent phishing attempts:

Check the sender email domain name — Verify that the sender email domain is spelled correctly “@christies.com.” Fraudsters often attempt to send emails from lookalike domains (for example, christ1es.com) to deceive clients.
Examine the sender display name and email address — Sender display names can be easily spoofed. For example, although PostSaleUK<user@baddomain.com>shows display name "PostSaleUK," it is fake as the email domain is fraudulent. When viewing on smartphones, tap on the sender’s display name to see the complete email address which will include the email domain.
Scrutinise the email signature in the message body — Sender name and contact details in the email body can easily be forged and are not a reliable way to ascertain message authenticity. Do not trust phone numbers in such email signatures—please only use confirmed Christie's contact details when calling or emailing us, or go to our website.
Check if the message contains a mismatched URL or misleading domain name — If the message contains a URL with Christie’s name in it (christies.com/photos), hover your mouse over the URL to see the actual hyperlink address. If the hyperlink address is different from the text displayed, the message is likely to be fraudulent.
Do not respond to requests to provide your Christie’s account user ID or password — Christie’s will never ask you to provide those details.
Remain vigilant — If you unexpectedly receive an email about an unknown topic, it may be fraudulent. If in doubt, it is always safer to call Christie’s Client Services and ask to speak to the purported sender.

If you receive any emails that appear to be from Christie's and you believe they are suspicious, please forward them to keepsecure@christies.com.

Fraudulent Invoices & Demands for Payment

Fraudsters may send invoices or payment instructions purporting to come from Christie’s or make other requests for payment in our name.

Christie’s will never change or update our payment instructions in the middle of a transaction with you. If you ever have any reason to doubt the authenticity of an invoice with our name on it or any payment communication, please do not hesitate to contact your local Client Services team, who will be able to confirm if it is a valid invoice. Requests from a company called Goldberg Management to make additional payments “for insurance purposes” in relation to outstanding Christie’s business are not genuine.

Infringing Companies

Christie's is concerned that there are companies not associated with nor authorized by Christie’s, who are using our company brand names and trademarks "Christie's" and "佳士得" to mislead the public into thinking they are part of Christie’s. We can clarify that these companies, and their websites, are not related to Christie’s in any way.

In order to protect the interests of the public and safeguard Christie’s reputation, we have been investigating and actively pursuing these infringers. To date, the following infringers have been ordered by the Hong Kong Court or the Hong Kong Companies Registry to change their company name:

1. 香港佳士得藝術品拍賣有限公司 (HongKong christie auction Co., Limited) (Company No.1936942)
2. 香港佳士得藝術品鑒定有限公司 (HongKong christie art appraisal Co., Limited) (Company No.1936935)
3. 香港佳士得國際拍賣有限公司 (HK JIASHIDE INTERNATIONAL AUCTION LIMITED) (Company No. 2094869)
4. 香港佳仕得國際藝術品拍賣有限公司 (HK JIASHIDE INTERNATIONAL ART AUCTION LIMITED) (Company No. 2147161 )
5. 香港佳士得國際藝術品拍賣有限公司 (HK JSD INT’L ART AUCTION LIMITED) (Company No. 1859912)
6. 香港佳士得拍賣有限公司 (HONGKONG CHRITRS AUCTION LIMITED) (Company No.1864586）
7. 克裏斯蒂（香港）國際拍賣有限公司 (CHRISTIE AUCTIONS (HONGKONG) INTERNATIONAL LIMITED) (Company No. 1897435)
8. 香港佳士得國際拍賣有限公司 (HK JIASHIDE INTERNATIONAL AUCTION LIMITED) (Company No. 2094869)
9. 佳士得國際香港藝術品拍賣有限公司 (JIASHIDE INT'L HK WORK OF ART AUCTION CO., LIMITED ) (Company No. 2127231 )
10. 國際佳士得香港藝術品拍賣有限公司 (INT'L JIASHIDE HK WORK OF ART AUCTION CO., LIMITED) (Company No. 2127174 )
11. 新加坡佳士得國際拍賣有限公司 (SINGAPORE JIASHIDE INT'L AUCTION CO., LIMITED) (Company No. 2331096)

If you are unsure about any other company, please contact us directly. A list of Christie’s offices and contact details can be found here. In mainland China, please note that Christie’s has offices in Beijing and Shanghai only. Christie’s currently has no cooperative arrangement with any mainland China company.