Fake Food Festivals Are Sweeping The Country

Fraudulent food festivals have been conning food lovers into purchasing tickets to events that don't exist

If you're one to salivate over one-of-a-kind, all-you-can-eat extravaganzas and have a quick hand for online purchases, you may need to check yourself the next time you see an advertisement for a food fair. According to Consumer Reports, a bogus company has been tricking festival fiends into purchasing tickets to food events that will never be.

A faux festival called Hot Garlic Crab Feed Houston, which includes "all-you-can-eat crab, salad, pasta, bread and desserts" for $49 sounds pretty good . . . until it never happens and leaves hungry customers standing in a parking lot somewhere wondering if they got the date wrong.

Consumer Reports says a scene just like this occurred not only in Houston but in 21 cities across the country over the last three months under the guise of different festival names like The Super Crab Festival. The fake events started advertising in San Francisco and eventually traveled all the way to Philadelphia.

So the next time a food event makes your mouth water, verify the source before purchasing tickets. Customers weren't only left hungry in the dust, but they were also left without any sort of refund for the festival that never was.