Police looking into complaint on Santa Rosa craft show that never happened

A website touting a “Wine Country holiday gift show” at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building promised wine, beer, food, gifts and live music, just in time for holiday shopping.

The organizer said there would be more than 1,000 booths offering local artwork, jewelry and crafts “for those one of a kind gifts,” and the site links to the Web page of a local singer, saying she would be performing at the five-hour event. The website even says proceeds would “benefit Children’s Charities of Sonoma County.”

But it turns out there never was any such event planned.

Police are investigating the apparent scam after Santa Rosa jewelry maker Terry Fells reported the organizer took her $125 booth fee and then couldn’t be located. Police are trying to determine if there were other victims.

Fells, a retired Medtronic buyer, was hoping to use the craft show, ostensibly scheduled for last Sunday , to sell some of her handmade items during the lucrative Christmas shopping season.

She made contact in September with the organizer, exchanged emails with him in October and booked a booth to sell her necklaces, earrings, bracelets, wind chimes and more.

But when she got an email from the event saying they’d reduced the booth price and she asked for a partial refund, the organizer couldn’t be reached.

The page, www.holidaygiftshowsr.com, remains online. It says the event is sponsored by Spot on Media and Valley Wine Group.

The cellphone number for “John from Spot on Media,” with whom Fells had been corresponding, isn’t accepting messages.

“I should have gone with my gut,” said Fells, who is just getting into the craft show circuit. “I thought this would be a great one. The website looks very professional. It looks like it had everything.”

She is grateful that Redwood Credit Union is refunding the $125 charged to her debit card, but she said she wanted to alert others to be more suspicious when making online transactions.

Mike Carr, the president of United Camps, Conferences and Retreats, the booking agent for Sonoma County veterans buildings and other facilities, said there was never any such event reserved at Santa Rosa’s veterans hall.

He said every few years a scammer will make inquiries about booking a site, then advertise it and never follow through. But he said his group, in business for 45 years, looks into the background of renters, especially first-timers.

“We do in-depth research to make sure it’s not a scam,” he said. “We don’t take anything at face value.”

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Josh Ludtke said property crimes detectives were looking into Fells’ complaint, the website and the person with whom she had email contact.

No additional victims had come forward this week, but that may be because their banks had refunded their money as well.

He said a craft show scam was new, but police have been seeing a similar scam with vacation rental properties being booked online.

“We always encourage people to do a little extra research when they are doing online transactions, when you’re not talking to real person,” he said.

He suggested seeking a verification that the event or property, for example, is listed elsewhere. Or, as Fells wishes she’d done, contact the venue to confirm.

A cross reference of the phone number “John” gave Fells shows it was also used by a “John” who offered VIP wine tastings. Several reviews on Yelp of that group, called Sonoma On the Spot, offer scathing indictments from customers.

A phone number for Sonoma On the Spot also is not working.

A search for that group leads to a coupon with an online site called Half Off Depot, which offers a VIP wine tasting on the “Sonoma Square,” but shows a Long Beach location. The phone number on the site is actually to Briar Rose Winery in Temecula.

Winery manager Stacey Thomas said the winery had no connection with the VIP wine tasting offer.

“No, that’s a total scam,” Thomas said. “We’ve had this number for more than 20 years.”

The gift show website also purports to benefit “Children’s Charities of Sonoma County,” which doesn’t exist. There is a similarly named program associated with Rotary clubs, but it has no connection.

Though Fells said she was happy she wasn’t out any money, she said she has learned a lesson and hopes others won’t be taken in as well.

“I should have called the vet’s building,” she said. “Be suspicious. Be cautious, because there are people who just don’t care.”

You can reach Lori A. Carter at ?526-8585 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@loriacarter.