Very IMPORTANT SCAM ALERT!!!!!

[Former_Member]

Two days ago I received a convo from LJ West (now changed to mordekhan) advertising a Craft Fair in Eau Claire on October 26 at the Masonic Building. Another Etsy member in a different group suspected it was a scam....the "sponsor" from Minnesota is a felon and I just got off the phone with the Masonic Building to confirm that there is NO craft fair scheduled for this date!!!!! Please be aware and pass on to fellow crafters so no one is taken advantage of!!!

[FAIRYCORNER]

I just got an email from a JWest promoting a stpaul craftshow. I wonder if this is the same person or if this is legit? any ideas?

[FAIRYCORNER]

Hello fellow ETSY member,

Our St Paul, MN ARTS & CRAFT SHOW, on September 21st, 2013, is almost filled. We have less than 30 spaces left. If you have not yet sent in your application, or have been sitting on the fence, now is the time to act.. We are offering the last 30 spaces for only $30.00. Why? We want this show filled by the end of next week… this will guarantee that the show will be filled up. Nothing is worse than a craft/art show with empty booths. We always fill up our shows 100%! This gives you an excellent opportunity to make a wonderful profit from the show.

As most artists and crafters are one ETSY, it is the perfect place to make this offer, this is why we are writing you.

Follow the link provided here where you can easily print out the application and get all the information about the upcoming show.

Here is the email I recieved from Jwest. Did anyone else get this ?

[PrudyNan]

I fell for it! Trying to get my $63.00 back and filed a complaint with the BBB. I'm so mad at myself.

[PrudyNan]

Only mine was supposed to be August 3rd at the Hopkins Pavilion. I got his message in april and he has since deleted his etsy account.

[COOPmnSHOP]

They accepted $39 from me as my fee! ha! I do feel a little better knowing that I wasn't the only one feeling TOTALLY scammed!

[Former_Member]

this is a scam.. its happening in Michigan also.

I got the email just the other day with matching language and name.

best of luck DO NOT SEND CHECKS TO ANYONE THAT YOU HAVE NIOT RESEARCHED, FOLKS!

B6

[Ladyofthelakesilks]

Scam still going 'round on August 20, 2013.

I received a convo from Daniel West of Chicago, IL, (danielwestartworld).

Here's what I got:

Announcing the Hopkins MN Autumn Art Show

Saturday, October 26th

Only 20 Vendor spaces left if you are interested.

Please feel free to look into becoming part of the show, we would love to have you. Your artistic items are wonderful. We are only allowing the best of the best to offer their items at this show. No junk will be offered there. We are inviting several very gifted crafters, who create exceptional crafts items, that qualify as art, in our opinion.

hopkinsmnautumnfineartshow.weebly.com/



Thank you to everyone who has been sharing info on this guy! You helped me steer clear!

:-)

[Former_Member]

Here's my related tale of woe (that I'm posting all over Etsy Teams wherever it seems appropriate):

Hi. This is probably old news, but I at least wanted to take a moment to caution my fellow Twin Cities area craft show vendors about a few less than reputable craft show organizers out there.

Personally, I have received messages for (and sadly signed up for) a couple of shows that were either complete and utter scams or at the very least questionable. Specifically, a couple of craft shows in Hopkins this past summer that ended up not happening. Here are people that, personally, I would never even think about doing business with ever ever ever:

Jackson West (account no longer active on Etsy)
Jim Sulfridge
Daniel West
Layton West

Without getting into a lot of details, I signed up for a couple of shows, one through Jim Sulfridge and another through Layton West. In retrospect, I should have known better. Their promotions were non-existent, the few materials that they did have were amateurish, and it was hard to find anything aside from the page advertising the show that even existed about the shows. For one show, when I cancelled due to scheduling conflicts ahead of time, I was told that I would receive a refund for my show fee which never came. I also saw later that the show was cancelled. The other show was also in Hopkins, and there was some drama about sign up, and then the show was cancelled and I received a message stating that I could get a refund for the application fee or sign up for another show. Neither option has come to fruition there either.

Just today, I received a similarly worded show offer/solicitation via Etsy from Daniel West (account created earlier in August) and I received one a while ago regarding a possible show in Bloomington with no entry fee (but another associated fee.)

The good news is that I'm out less than $100, which I suppose is a low price to pay for the vast amount of education that I received through this.

So anyway, if you know of any other craft show promoters that you've had bad experiences with (or honestly, very good experiences with) please share so that we can all benefit.

Happy craft showing to one and all!

Brenda L. Peterson
Mellow Fury

[Former_Member]

Bah! Finding you guys too late - yep, I've been scammed. :(

[Former_Member]

Thank you ALL for the heads up. It's disappointing to hear about scams period but especially saddening when they target small independent artists who their scams hurt even more. So sorry to hear about this but thanks again for the heads up.

[Former_Member]

So grateful for this information!!! I was sent show info from Jim Suffridge a n d Dan West.Fortunately, the dates were days I couldn't make it, Or I would have been scammed, too.I'm just not used to dishonest people.Isn't there a way to report them?

[Former_Member]

I too have received 4 emails similar. All with craft show info. One in which I responded to and recieved a reply back with three pages of info to the craft show! I'm so happy I didn't act on it!

Apr 22 from LJ West (mordekan)
Apr 22 from Jim Sulfridge (jimsulfridge)
May 3 from LJ West (artprints4u)
July 29 from Jacksen Jones (art191)

[BlueTurtleCrafts]

Aaand their back -- just got a convo from Jim Sulfridge (jimsulfridge1)
Somehow I doubt he's changed his ways.

Be very careful friends.

[CraftHawg]

It’s 2022 and he still scamming!! He tries now to scam as a partner. Goes by Jim Wayne or jj vendor extravaganza or crafts promotions. Wish I hadnt fallen for it as now I’m afraid to be associated as a scammer but the ones who paid me are sticking with me trying to find a place to have craft show. We found one!! Jokes on him as I got my foot in suburbs to become vendor event planner in that area. He picked on me cuz I had events in southern Mn small towns. If you like more info on what happened and how to avoid or figure out his scans. Message me.