A fake music festival that promised the arrival in Montreal of big stars like Harry Styles, Doja Cat and SZA, is ultimately a scam set up from scratch.
Quebec promoter Cenari was behind the so-called Aurora festival, which will not take place from June 1 to 3, as announced on its Instagram page, in particular.
Friday noon, the website of the two shareholders was closed. Other shows were announced in Old Montreal.
The Société du Vieux-Port de Montréal was following the situation following discovering the promotion of the festival in its sector, without notice.
“We discovered the publications at the same time as the general public. Internally, we did all the necessary follow-up to try to contact the organizers, explained to TVA Nouvelles the spokesperson for the organization, Kaven Gauthier.
“We also followed up with the sponsors who were associated with this event to confirm whether the intentions of the organizers were to create an event intended for the general public or a fraud.”
The Société du Vieux-Port de Montréal realized the facts on Friday morning and had already warned.
“All the people who came into contact with us were advised to exercise caution and not to proceed with a transactional operation until we had confirmed the intentions of the organizers.”
A cybersecurity expert is not surprised by this fraudulent scheme, since many music lovers are trapped in Quebec.
“It’s commonplace. There have been some in the past few years for pre-sales of artists who were actually coming to town. You have to understand that it’s still easy, analyzed Éric Parent.
“If we take any artist and look at (the tour schedule), and we want to promote (…), how are we going to see the difference?”
It is often too late for the cheated people, who often show up with their counterfeit tickets at the venue before being kicked out at the entrance.
