An amusing letter purporting to be from Cash4Gold telling a customer to please stop sending them gold-painted rocks and making filthy demands has been making the rounds (read it inside). But in statements exclusive to Consumerist, the company says it’s as genuine as pyrite. The letter’s creator has fessed up too.

“No, obviously the letter is a fake,” CEO Jeff Aronson told Consumerist with a chuckle. “We didn’t send it out. We have no customer by that name.”

By email, the artist, going by the name “Gregory Haberny,” explained to Consumerist his impetus for crafting the parody letter.

“They are extortion artists. I’m a conceptual artist. I beat them at their own game,” the prankster wrote Consumerist.

Last year, Consumerist investigated Cash4Gold. Cash4Gold sued Consumerist but eventually dropped the lawsuit.

The artist’s website has other similar epistles, supposedly from George Bush and MoMa, describing graphic acts and offensive statements they would like him to cease contacting them about.