TORRINGTON — Online scammers are stealing money from people looking to buy vendor space at local festivals.
Edward Cannata of Main Street Torrington organizes the Strawberry and Watermelon festivals, OktoberFest and the upcoming Christmas Holiday Festival. Starting with the Strawberry Festival in June, which drew several thousand people, scammers have pounced, he said.
“Now that I’m popular, I’ve become a target,” Cannata said.
Kimberly Shank of Canton said she lost $90 last week to a scam while trying to purchase vendor space for the Holiday Festival.
Cannata said he markets events on Facebook and watches for scammers who post in the comment sections with false claims they are part of Main Street Torrington with offers to sell vendor space. Examples from a screenshot he provided show scammers saying there are vendor spots available and to “kindly message me directly for more details.”
Other scammers create “fake events” replicating the ones Cannata is organizing, selling themselves as Main Steet Torringon, and copying logos and images from his posts. Cannata said shortly after he puts up a new post, there will be a listing just like it with a scammer offering vendor space.
“I can’t control this listing,” he said. “It looks like they’re putting on my event, but they’re not.”
When he has reported the fakes to Facebook, the social media site insists the listings do not break community standards, Cannata said.
Usually Cannata sees the fake accounts and reaches out to anyone he believes is being taken advantage of, but by the time he contacted Shank, she already had lost her money, he said.
Shank said the fake post came from a supposed animal rescue organization selling vendor space for the Holiday Festival. She messaged the woman who put up the post, answered questions about where she lives and what she sells, and agreed to send $90 for two slots via a cash app. The woman then claimed there was an issue and asked her to send the money through PayPal. At that point, Shank was suspicious.
“I said I’m not sending anything until I get my $90. She said, ‘We didn’t take it,'” Shank said.
She had no luck stopping the transaction through her bank and said the next day the woman tried to scam her for another $90, claiming she hadn’t received the initial payment. Shank refused.
“You’re nothing but lies,” she told the woman.
Around that time, Cannata messaged Shank, warning her that someone else was trying to scam her. The two spoke on the phone and Cannata decided to give Shank a slot at the fest.
“It’s so aggravating because I know a lot of people get hurt by this stuff,” he said.
Torrington police said people can report the scams, but the scammers usually reside out of the state or country, and are difficult to track down. Police recommend requesting meetings with sellers at the police station or having them email credentials so buyers can verify they are who they claim to be. Police also said buyers should avoid completing transactions on Facebook.
Cannata concurred and said he never does transactions that way, nor via Venmo or PayPal. He said he has potential vendors fill out online applications and once he selects them, he sends them a link to a hidden page on his website or Eventbrite.
“I create one ticket for each booth,” he said. “I give you a link to go pick up the spot you want.”
Corey Simons, who hosts craft fairs and other events at Bad Dog Brewery in Torrington, said her would-be also clients have fallen victim to scams. One vendor came to an event and said she had paid for space and asked where she should set up, but Simons and partner Cari Mendez informed her she was not on the list and had not paid them.
Ann Johnson of Torrington, who runs the CT Craft Community on Facebook that includes 3,000 artisans, crafters and event organizers, said she see scams every day and they have been “relentless” this year. She noted warning signs include misspelled words and a lack of known jargon.
“Then if you look in their personal profile, they’re not in this country,” Johnson said.
This week, she blocked and removed comments from someone trying to sell vendor spots for an event she is organizing in Vernon.
Cannata, Simons and Johnson warn buyers to be cautious, look at how posts are worded, check out sellers’ personal profiles and call organizers or venues to verify information.
“No reputable organization is selling space through a comment section,” Cannata said.
Johnson added, “Dig deeper. Everybody has to do their homework and a lot of people are not doing their homework.”
