How to Avoid Scammers

The topic of fraud and theft will be an ongoing topic for us as that crime seems to be growing just as fast as the mobile food industry.  There’s almost nothing more frustrating than believing you have booked a future gig only to find out the event never existed and you gave your hard-earned money to a scammer. 

If someone wants to charge you a fee to attend an event, then there must be some event marketing to make it worth your while.  Many scammers simply post a fake event on a local community calendar, but don’t have a website or facebook page dedicated to the event. 

Looking up the address of a potential event might lead you to a fake address or an abandoned building.  If the event is alleged to be held at a popular location, you can call that location directly and confirm that an event exists.

Using a credit card to book an event offers you more protection than paying through paypal, venmo, or any other alternative payment method that likely won’t assist you if you’ve been scammed.  If paying with a credit card, there should be a secure and credible website to make that payment, where you can input your credit card without having to provide the details directly to a potential scammer.

Some events that actually do exist may not be worth your time either.  If an event claims that there will be 20,000 attendees, how do they know?  Have they sold 20,000 tickets in advance?  How many other food trucks will be at the event?  We’ve heard horror stories of vendors paying thousands of dollars to attend large events that promised big crowds only to never break even on the event.  This type of “scam” is more greed or ignorance on the part of an event organizer, but your food truck is a highlight of their event and you should make a profit too. 

We would love to hear your stories, or a friend’s story, how you knew you were being scammed, the outcome, etc.  The more we share, the sooner we can put these scammers out of business!