THUNDER BAY — A social media scam has targeted NV Music Hall in Thunder Bay.
The Facebook scam, shown above, noted that the venue planned to hold a Kids and Family Expo with various vendors, crafters, bounce houses and food trucks on March 1 and 2.
Hanh Marino, the owner of NV, said she did not approve of it and had no idea the scam was going on until it was brought to her attention.
"I had no acknowledgement of it. I didn't even see the Facebook post," said Marino.
She added that a person did send a link to the event happening at NV to their business page, but she initially thought the message was a scam after opening it up.
"There are so many scams going around out there now, like you don't even know what to believe or to do," said Marino.
NV will have a concert in March, but it's a 19-plus event.
Marino explained that she wouldn't say that NV is a family-friendly event centre because it hosts and rents out its venue to do many things, from concerts and fundraisers to even workout classes.
As a venue that does not very commonly do family-friendly events, she agreed that these events would likely be a scam unless it has to do with the city.
"We have done the Craft Revival before in the past, which I find is a family-friendly event," said Marino.
"We don't usually do all ages concerts. It's very, very rare that we have all ages concerts."
Marino added people would also see their logo on any of their posters, but scammers can take those off of Google.
If people want to know if these scams are actual scams or if they're real events at NV, she encourages residents to look on their website.
"Our website will show all the events that are going to be happening. There'll be ticket links that you could buy the tickets on our actual website. So, if it's not listed on our website, then more than likely it's a scam," said Marino.
NV's social media pages on Facebook and Instagram will also have more information.
"If it's not posted, then that means we're not hosting the event or we're not promoting the event," said Marino.
"... we do have promoters and people that do come and rent the venue, but we would always post or share on our website or social media pages what's going on at NV."
After noticing the odd post on the Kids and Family Expo, Naomi Oig, the owner of VendorFest, warned those in her social groups not to send money.
"This is not the first time that this has happened. There are only a few people in the city that do markets, so when one is posted, I will check it out to make sure that it is a legit market," said Oig, in a written statement.
She said when she checked the profile as to when and where the event was being held, she noticed, first off, that there were too many things wrong with the poster.
"No way can you get bouncy houses in there. Second, food trucks? There are so many restaurants in that area and now, with the new renovations, there is no way you can get that many food trucks to park down there," Oig said.
"I commented this and was blocked and deleted. I knew then that this was a scam."
Oig said VendorFest has over 300 vendors and she does not want "any one of them losing money or products because of a scam."
