I honestly am pretty stunned. I thought my event was pretty small fry and did not have such brand recognition. Apparently there is someone using my event’s name to scam people for money. I guess you know you have a good event when scammers come out.
I was telling my friend just a few days ago, that I did not understand it… people kept liking my Facebook page, even though I was not actively advertising my event; now, I know why.
I have only taken money from one person for the event this year (back in January when things were normal) and I am likely to refund it due to the coronavirus (I was really hoping there would be a vaccine by now, but it is not looking hopeful). I send out an official invoice with my company logo on it to approved vendors. It states the terms of the event. People pay my business in a professional means, via a check to the business name with the United States based address, or by running their card as billed to the business name. Credit card vendors offer fraud protection when you use them.
Also, this event is only for handmade items, so only after you are an approved handmade vendor, are you given the invoice. I do not accept MLM vendors to this event; this scammer is seeming to welcome them in.
Someone who was interested in being a vendor contacted me and informed there was posing as an event official. She said that the person sent her a Google form to apply for the event and then you were to send the person money through some “Cash App.”
So naturally I posed as a potential vendor to see how this played out. I had an in-depth conversation with this person and they seemed to “fix” every concern that I brought up. I will be posted the screenshots of the conversation below (later). I at first wanted to send a cease-and-desist letter to this person, but seeing as they used an address in Kenya, this will fall on deaf ears. Please don’t fall for this scam.
ID Words:
- $dyano
- Daisy Yano
- vochiewo@yahoo.com
TLDR:
- Only apply for my event on this event website, not some ghetto Google Form.
- Only pay using the invoice that I email to you. The email address is branded to my domain name, not some ghetto Yahoo account.
- Don’t send money as a gift or a friend to a scammer; you won’t get it back from the scammer.
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