There’s a new scam in Simcoe County, targeting small business owners and rural fall fairs. The Beeton Fall Fair is one of several that are reporting fraud and are warning potential vendors to be extra careful. Katherine Georgio, a Beeton resident, was on the fairgrounds Monday with her kids enjoying the summer weather. Georgio says she brings the family every year. “We actually moved out of the city to come north for things like this. It’s a nice way to bring up the family,” says Georgio. As the fairgrounds sit quiet Monday night, there is plenty of noise taking place online for many fall fairs across the province. “People are being scammed, they are being invited to come to the fair as a vendor and then when they fill out a form, it’s a jot form, which we don’t use and that money is being sent to somebody we don’t know,” says Ingrid McNeill with Beeton Fall Fair. Police say the scammers often make small adjustments to email addresses in an effort to confuse people. It’s happened more than once in more than one area. “It is tricky, there are many steps, writing production orders to the email addresses, finding out where the money is transferred, finding out who owns that account. There’s a lot of steps when it comes to online fraud,” says Const. C.J. Hietanen with the Nottawasaga OPP. Police say they have seen similar scams right across the province. With the fall fair season fast approaching, everyone is reminded to be extra vigilant. The Elmvale Fall Fair says it has been informed by at least two vendors that they too have been caught in the online scam. “The scammers misspelled our email address and then they got them to send money to secure a spot, and then they received a second email saying that they needed more money. And that’s when the red flag came up to the vendor,” says Tanya King with the Elmavle Fall Fair. Organizers of the Elmvale Fall Fair are encouraging potential vendors to simply go to their website for details. If you are still not comfortable, you can reach out to them directly before paying anything online.
