Here are a few from Alma Galvan of the Better Business Bureau:
Research everything you can think of before you buy. Look for other occasions with similar names that can simply be copied. Verify business contact details and locate a phone number and address.
As a provider, reach out to others who could possibly be involved. Beware of costs that seem too smart to be true. Always get a contract before you pay.
Pay by credit card as much as possible, as you will be able to dispute the fee later.
If you purchase tickets or spaces through a third-party site, check the privacy policies to see what data is shared with the event organizer, such as credit card and other sensitive data. In case of a scam, check your billing history and take a look. for small fees that would possibly continue to be charged.
Report suspected scams to the BBB ScamTracker and the authorities.
Fitness and martial arts classes, acupuncture, massage booths and sound cures, an epic dance with pole dancing, burlesque and abdominals, and attempts at twerking through the Guinness World Records group.
It was all scheduled to take place at the NorCal FitFest in Santa Rosa this weekend, but there’s no doubt it will happen one day.
“Whether it’s fitness, dancing or health, you’ll find it all at NorCal FitFest,” proclaims an active participant of the event.
The festival is the brainchild of an eccentric and supposedly wealthy out-of-town philanthropist. His name was Jon Micheline and he started connecting with members of the local network in the fitness field. He said he was looking to give up his drapery possessions and a “beach bum. “He said that, as a wealthy real estate investor at an existential crossroads, he was looking to get rid of excesses and start giving back by supporting charity projects and networking events.
Attendees can purchase tickets to the dance party for $25, and vendors can pay between $90 and $125 to register at the booths. Beyond bringing others together, proceeds from the NorCal FitFest went to local charitable and mutual aid efforts.
Micheline “seemed a little weird at first, but she also seemed willing to do anything smart for the chain,” said Cassandra Hampl, a local functional artist and transformation coach who would host and help organize the dance party. “I thought, ‘This is a wonderful idea. I think she can be lovely and serve our network well.
But as the occasion approached, Micheline grew darker. Some local workers were already worried, and he didn’t show up for the group meeting or the April 22 walkout. Beginning to suspect a scam, he went unnoticed.
“We thought, ‘We’ll wait for this meeting in person. ‘ If he says this is going to happen, that’s his chance to redeem himself,” said Zack Darling, marketing manager, event maker and DJ who will be playing. the occasion. ” This day has come and gone. “
Now, with just a few days to go until the event, it’s transparent that NorCal FitFest may not take place. However, vendor registration and ticket sales are live.
Several attempts to contact Micheline through the website and through an email and phone number he had used in the past failed. public documents or an online fingerprint of one Jon Micheline.
There were red flags, according to those who accompanied him: he only sought to pay occasional manufacturers in cash, he was late in finalizing contracts, he did not have a private social network, and he showed an unexpected indifference in defining the main points of such a project. An ambitious occasion. The occasion featured two other account names on Instagram with posts that were credible enough but generic and not very detailed.
But Micheline also spent hours on the phone with his collaborators to discuss plans for the event and ask them about their personal lives. It also filed a deposit at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building where the event was to be held, met the initial requirements for reserving the space and finished a floor plan and several walkthroughs, according to a representative for the facility. Your booking was cancelled and the deposit was refunded, however, after the final payment was skipped and communication was interrupted. In the past he had told the construction animators that a serious physical problem had temporarily put him out of commission and out of contact, something he had also told some of his local collaborators.
“At first, I didn’t need to believe it was a scam,” said DJ and artistic director Colleen Teitgen, who was scheduled to perform on stage. He also designed graphics, posters, and social media content for the occasion, for which he was never paid. She and others thought he might have been really sick, but that couldn’t have been the general demise, not only of Micheline but also of his two assistants who were supposed to respond to all emails and social media posts. Surely someone would have responded to the numerous attempts to touch them, or announced the cancellation of the occasion or at least the closure of the websites. ” What’s the other explanation?”She asked.
Even without one, it’s hard to reconcile, given all the time and power invested through Teitgen and his friends, but also Micheline. “If this is really a scam, it turns out he’s made it this far,” he said.
When Lucibel Nuñez, a longtime fitness instructor and trainer in Sonoma County, started seeing online posts for NorCal FitFest, she had a bad feeling. It was unclear who was organizing the occasion and the content was vague. It reminded him of the 2022 Taco Fest that didn’t have a spectacular performance.
It also reminded him of an unexpected encounter he had with the organization of a craft fair in December 2023, when a potential merchant categorically asked him if the occasion was fake and asked him to verify it. “I was blown away,” Nunez said.
That’s how he learned that there’s a trend of scammers of salespeople signing up and paying for positions for occasions that never take place.
The Better Business Bureau has won several reports of fake tickets for valid events or tickets for events that don’t materialize.
“Every scam is different, they target a demographic,” said Alma Galvan, spokeswoman for the organization’s Bay Area and Northern California Coast division. Physical exercise and food are popular.
It’s unclear how many vendors bought tickets to NorCal FitFest. Nunez and others who spoke to The Press Democrat said they knew other people who had. Several other people also testified to buying booths in comments on Instagram posts.
Still Life Acupuncture’s Cat Senet signed up for a booth in November. This will be her first local event and she even had traditional lip balms made. “We were excited to bring global fitness and networking here to acupuncture,” he said. “It seemed to be well organized,” Senet said. Organizers sent a paid link via Instagram and said they were excited to get rolling. “Then they went completely dark. “
“It’s possible that they’re taking away a lot of the replacement in our community,” Darling said.
Fortunately, Senet was able to effectively dispute cabin fees with his credit card company. He recently filed a report with the Santa Rosa Police Department. A police spokesperson told The Press Democrat that an investigation was underway.
Tristan St. Germain, a trauma-informed somatic trainer and fitness professional, began connecting with Micheline and “her team” on social media in January after an occasion account began following and interacting with her posts. She was excited to run into anything that can be just meaningful and fun for her community. She signed up and paid for a booth without delay and started making plans with Micheline and putting her in touch with other people.
When her teenage son suddenly and severely became ill with what turned out to be multiple sclerosis, Micheline reached out and came forward to donate a portion of the proceeds to her son’s GoFundMe to cover medical expenses and costs. The fundraiser was recently announced on the occasion’s online page. and on the ticketing page.
But what he initially considered “incredibly generous” now turns out to be manipulative.
Because she’s well-known in local fitness and dance circles, she suspects that associating it with the occasion — “the most terrible thing that’s going on in my life” — “would validate this organization,” she says, “which is disgusting. “”. » St. Germain sent several messages asking for the deletion of data about her, to no avail.
In fact, some of the other people who worked at the event, such as Darling and Teitgen, were motivated to participate because of the potential advantages for the St. Louis family. Now they worry that their agreement has also legitimized the mystery festival and attracted other people who recognize and accept them as true.
In the end, “my reputation as a manufacturer is damaged. Same for Colleen. But let them take advantage of Tristan and his circle of relatives to make the money they will make from selling booths and selling tickets. This is simply not true.
Galvan, of the Better Business Bureau, said the organizer’s investment point isn’t something he’s heard of scams before. Without knowing the ins and outs of the situation, he said it was conceivable that the organiser had clever intentions and that there was an emergency, or that there simply wasn’t enough reasonably priced ticketing or infrastructure in place, which happened with the famous Fyre Festival. He added that it was also conceivable that a clever scammer would make the decision that the proceeds from a fake occasion would be worth the effort of appearing to be organizing a valid festival.
“In general, you’d expect them to communicate,” Galvan said.
“This is one of the most disappointing things about this case. We believed in that person, that stranger who contacted us,” Darling said. “Here’s the problem. Even if it’s not a scam, they’re suffering and they’re recovering, at least something needs to be done about it, so that everyone has invested cash and benefits from it, can get reimbursed or just talk to them.
“In Your Corner” is a column that puts surveillance reports at the service of the community. If you have any concerns or intuitions, you can reach out to “In Your Corner” columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa. endicott@ pressdemocrat. com. On X (formerly Twitter) @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.
Here are a few from Alma Galvan of the Better Business Bureau:
Research everything you can think of before you buy. Look for other occasions with similar names that can simply be copied. Verify business contact details and locate a phone number and address.
As a provider, reach out to others who could possibly be involved. Beware of costs that seem too smart to be true. Always get a contract before you pay.
Pay by credit card as much as possible, as you will be able to dispute the fee later.
If you purchase tickets or spaces through a third-party site, check the privacy policies to see what data is shared with the event organizer, such as credit card and other sensitive data. In case of a scam, monitor your billing history and take a look. for small fees that would possibly continue to be charged.
Report suspected scams to the BBB ScamTracker and the authorities.