Nova Scotia Baker Scammed Out of $450 by Fake Halifax Evergreen Festival Coordinator
Tessa Swetnam, owner of the Nova Scotia baking business Sweetly Tess, lost $450 after an individual impersonating a coordinator for the Halifax Evergreen Festival requested deposits via e-transfer. Build Nova Scotia, which runs the festival, confirmed that official correspondence only comes from @novascotia.ca email addresses and has issued warnings to the public.
A Nova Scotia baker has been scammed out of $450 by an individual posing as a coordinator for the Halifax Evergreen Festival.
Tessa Swetnam launched her baking business, "Sweetly Tess," in 2023. She received an email claiming to be from the Evergreen Festival looking for vendors, which she believed was legitimate. The scammer, posing as an event co-ordinator, exchanged 14 messages with Swetnam before requesting deposits. Swetnam paid two deposits totaling $450 via e-transfer to secure a spot at the festival.
Swetnam's bank flagged one of the e-transfers, prompting her to investigate further. Her research revealed that the person she had communicated with had no affiliation with the Evergreen Festival. Swetnam had planned to attend the festival from December 9 to 13, but those dates are no longer valid due to the scam. The incident resulted in a financial loss of $450 for Swetnam and a loss of potential revenue estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars for the small business.
Build Nova Scotia runs the Evergreen Festival and apologized to Swetnam for the incident. Kelly Rose, acting director of marketing and communications with Build Nova Scotia, stated that all official Evergreen Festival correspondence comes from email addresses ending in @novascotia.ca.
Following the incident, Build Nova Scotia initiated public awareness campaigns regarding vendor scams to warn others about similar fraudulent activity.