Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is reissuing her phishing and website spoofing consumer alerts following a report of fraudulent Facebook event pages impersonating popular art fairs and festivals, including Plymouth's Art in the Park. These types of scams try to trick vendors into paying fake booth fees.
The fraudulent event pages on Facebook use actual event photos, descriptions, and branding to appear legitimate to vendors and the public. Vendors are instructed to reserve a booth space via text and then send payments through Zelle directly to the individuals operating the accounts.
"Spoofing scams like this one harm both businesses and the public," said Attorney General Nessel. "They can damage the reputations of prominent art fairs and festivals, erode customer trust, and lead to hard-working entrepreneurs getting scammed out of their money. Before submitting payments to hold a spot, vendors should verify the event through its official website."
The press release notes that spoofed Facebook pages are often newly created and have few followers. Legitimate art fairs and festivals will not usually demand immediate payment for vendors to participate in the event.
Before paying for and reserving a spot at an event, vendors should contact the organizers directly, confirm the Facebook event host is legitimate, and verify the event on its official website.
Nessel said that whenever possible, vendors should use a credit card with fraud protection to pay any participation fees since there is often no way to recover money sent to a fraudster by a payment app.
© 2026 the Midland Daily News (Midland, Mich.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
