Margaret Brady wasn’t sure whether she should sign up for a new craft fair in Vernon Bridge she saw advertised on a community Facebook page.
The needle-felt crafter is a self-proclaimed “newbie” to the craft fair scene, but she decided to go for it: a new venue, new area, new customers — maybe it would be a great place to sell her felted totes and art.
So she e-transferred the fee to secure a booth: $90.
That’s when the problems started.
“There was an issue with my first e-transfer so I had to do it again and we exchanged a few emails over that and it seemed a little bit strange in hindsight. They were really pestering [me] for the money,” Brady told CBC News.
Then, an email she sent to organizers with a couple questions about the craft fair went unanswered. Then another. When none of her followups elicited a response, Brady started to get suspicious.
WATCH | Beware of craft fair scams, artists say:
Beware of craft fair scams, artists say
Artists on PEI say craft fairs and markets are being targeted by scammers. CBC’s Gwyneth Egan has more.
She decided to look up the venue — Red Sands Floral Farm — on Facebook. She sent a direct message, asking if they were having a craft show that weekend.
They said no.
“That’s how I realized it was a scam,” Brady said.
‘Really disheartening’
After Brady shared her experience online, other crafters came forward saying they’ve seen this happen before.
Sea glass artist Shannon Classen said when she organized a craft fair in Hunter River with some friends, they had to block about 20 fake accounts that were trying to scam people.
“I find it really disheartening,” she said. “The majority of artists that I know do this to put food on the table. So when you might think of it as only $25, that could be the tank of gas they needed to get to go somewhere to sell their goods.”
it’s not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but I guess if they do this to enough people they can make quite a bit.– Margaret Brady
RCMP said these craft fair scams are an example of the many types of fraud they see based on false representation online.
“When you are online, people can fake and misrepresent everything,” Cpl. Gavin Moore, the P.E.I. RCMP’s media relations officer, told CBC News in an emailed statement.
He said there are key things for Islanders to look out for, including how they got to the website.
“If it was a link from an e-mail or an ad, there is an increased likelihood of it being a scam.”
Moore said scammers will often try to make you feel emotional or fearful to try to get you to take action.
‘We see it in every craft fair,’ Shannon Classen, a sea glass artist and craft fair organizer, says of scammers. (Gwyneth Egan/CBC)
“The thing to realize in terms of scammers is just to be aware that even in our local community [fairs], those do happen,” Classen said. “It’s not personal. They’re not attacking your craft fair or you as an artist. It’s en masse. We see it in every craft fair.”
As for Brady, she knows some red flags to look out for now, such as vendor application forms with no dates or location listed, suspicious looking email addresses, or a social media account with very few or no posts.
“I just had no concept that somebody would bother to do that. I mean, it’s not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but I guess if they do this to enough people they can make quite a bit of money.”
Speaking out to help others
Brady said she’s not sure she’ll ever get her money back. But she hasn’t been scared away from the craft fair circuit.
“I have craft fairs most weekends from now till at least… the beginning of December.”
Going forward, she’ll be on the lookout for scammers — and she hopes that by sharing her story, others will be, too.
“I’m hoping that other people are aware of this now and will be more careful when they’re applying to these things, or even just any online scam,” Brady said.
“There’s a lot of people who craft, especially here on the Island. It’s just kind of a special breed. You spend a lot of time, a lot of creativity, a lot of materials, and you don’t make very much money….
“I was really mad and sad that people would do this.”
