‘I wasn’t bothered about the stall or the money but the fact that someone would use a charity and build up a list of people to con like this.’
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A scammer has caused fury after setting up a fake charity event and then disappearing after she had taken payment from stallholders.
A number of unsuspecting craft enthusiasts and business owners signed up through facebook and paid out £15 for a space at the charity fair in aid of Dementia UK at the Carillon Rooms, in Loughborough.
But little did they know the event was a fake and had never been booked at the venue.
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The victims only became aware of the scam after the user blocked them online, leading them to contact the venue direct.
Carillon Rooms said they became aware of the fake event that was said to be hosted at the venue on January 19, after receiving floods of messages and calls.
It posted on its Facebook page: "We have been alerted that someone is posting that there is a craft fair for Dementia UK at our venue on 29th Jan.
"They are asking for money from stall holders. THIS IS A SCAM! There is no event at our venue. Please report to the police."
Speaking to LeicestershireLive, a spokesman for the venue said: "It is awful that people would take advantage of people's charity."
A number of the victims commented on the post to share their outrage, highlighting the £15 each of them had transferred to the fraudster via PayPal.
Screenshots of messages from the fraudster were shared by dozens of victims in the comments, who had been messaged directly by the user.
However Kerry Dyke, from Countesthorpe, said she actually made first contact herself on December 13, after coming across a post promoting the fair.
In screenshots shown to LeicestershireLive the account holder replies to Kerry to confirm the location of the event and requests the money.
She said: "I already attend stalls to help promote my little sideline ‘Whits N Bobs’ so when I saw a post on Facebook looking for stallholders for potentially regular charity stalls I messaged for more info.
"She advised that she was collecting interest and looking at venues so would come back to me when confirmed.
"It was 11th January when she contacted me again and said the event was on 29th January at Carillon Rooms – and that it was for Dementia UK.
"It had been a month since the previous message and with the charity there was no reason to doubt the authenticity so I booked and paid by PayPal."
Kerry, a team leader at Eon Next, then tried to contact the account to confirm last minute details.
She said: "It was only recently I needed to confirm parking and access times to set up that I realised she had removed herself from Facebook so I googled the venue and called to check.
"That's when I found out they had received numerous calls and it was all a scam. My heart sank.
"I wasn't bothered about the stall or the money but the fact that someone would use a charity and build up a list of people to con like this."
LeicestershireLive has contacted Leicestershire Police further information.
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