The celebrated Byron Bay Bluesfest has change into a goal of a well-made fraudulent social media web page which is concentrating on followers with a rip-off.
The competition wrapped up its thirty fifth version on April 1 however a copycat Fb web page had been created in November 2023, and detailed, authentic trying content material has been posted within the lead as much as the multi-day competition, throughout the week and since.
The pretend web page is ‘promoting’ full video replays, after providing reside streams throughout the competition.
The true organisers didn’t livestream any of the competition. There have been a number of pretend pages which organisers have been reporting and Fb has stamped out, however one explicit web page remained on-line Friday night time, even after an occasion promoter reported it to Meta.
That pretend web page is stuffed with disgruntled commenters who say they’ve given bank card particulars solely to get no movies of the competition in return.
“Now my bank card has been blocked by (the) financial institution, so irritating,” one lady says.
“Is that this why all my rip-off safeguards are shutting my accounts down,” one other man stated.
Bluesfest organisers have now responded to the scams, urging punters to stay vigilant when sharing cost data, and guaranteeing they’re solely interacting with the official web site.
A submit shared on social media stated organisers had been “actively reporting these pretend entities to Fb,” and urged followers to unfold the phrase, and report any suspicious pages or teams.
“We’ve seen a rise in pretend pages, teams, and occasions claiming to be related to our beloved Bluesfest. We need to remind everybody that there’s ONLY ONE official Bluesfest Web page,” the submit stated.
“We don’t host reside streams of our occasions. Any web page or group providing reside streams isn’t affiliated with us.
“Take private duty when utilizing your bank card on-line. All the time make sure you’re on the official Bluesfest web site earlier than making any purchases or donations.”
