Interested in the "Hot Garlic Crab Feed"? Don't Be. It's a Scam

Phaedra Cook February 25, 2016 3:45PM

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Houstonia is reporting that a Facebook event called "Hot Garlic Crab Feed Houston" is nothing more than a way to get money out of hungry foodies. The event (supposedly) was to take place at the Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m.

It turns out that clicking the "Buy Tickets" link takes visitors to crabamerica.com. Clicking the ticket link on that website takes visitors to active.com, a website that apparently normally handles registration fees for running events. Perfectly normal, right?

Even though the website is currently trying to scam people in three different cities (Philadelphia and Charlotte, in addition to Houston), apparently the stolen dollar amounts are too paltry for a federal investigation since they are less than $950.

The Modesto Bee reported on the scam in December and has more details on the various websites involved. Additionally, the paper says the festival scam goes by other names, including The Super Crab Festival and The Dungeness Crab Association. This is one time when Yelp is really useful, as there's a page full of reports from disappointed people who attempted to go to the nonexistent event in other cities.

We totally support your right to hot garlic crabs, so don't buy tickets for this fake festival — because you won't get any.