Scammers have created a fake Facebook post advertising booth space for Lexington’s Woodland Art Fair, prompting organizers to warn artists about the fraudulent scheme.
The fake post targets artists seeking booth space at the event, which brings 80,000 visitors to Woodland Park over an August weekend. Scammers are directing artists to a non-Lexington area code phone number and requesting hundreds of dollars for what they call limited booth space.
Faville Donahue, assistant director of the Lexington Art League, said the scammers copied and pasted information from the legitimate post. The real post shows it is hosted by Parks and Recreation and includes the Lexington city logo, while the fake post does not.
The fake post lists “vintage fest” as the event organizer and uses an email address ending in “v-f-apply,” not the legitimate “woodlandartfair.org” domain.
Donahue said an artist contacted her after losing about $250 paying for booth space before realizing the post was fake. Over the years, an estimated $1,500 has been scammed from artists looking for booth space.
When Donahue called the out-of-state phone number, she received a message saying the voicemail box had not been set up. After texting the number, scammers responded requesting photos of booth displays and product examples.
Of the 200 artists who attend the fair, 120 come from out of state and may not recognize the red flags in the fake post.
Donahue said the scam not only hurts artists financially but also damages the Lexington Art League’s reputation. She noted these fraudulent posts appear multiple times throughout the year.
The 50th Woodland Art Fair takes place August 15-16.
Source: WBKO
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