Woman says ‘Margarita Bar Crawl’ in downtown Fargo is a scam

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - A Minnesota woman is warning you tonight that an upcoming ‘Margarita bar crawl’ in downtown Fargo is a scam, and it even had the City of Fargo duped.

“I’m out $463.54,” Keri Anderson said.

After a grim year working on the frontlines of COVID-19, Anderson and some of her coworkers thought a Margarita and Sunday Funday bar crawl advertised on Facebook sounded perfect. The events were slated for next weekend.

“It’s disappointing that people can take advantage of you like that and get away with it!” Anderson said.

Shortly after purchasing seven tickets, Anderson says the dates for both bar crawls changed to late November ‘due to covid.’ Anderson says this is all part of the company ‘Bar Crawl Unlimited’s’ plot.

“They do these in New Orleans, Tennessee, Illinois. I mean, all over! So they’re going from state to state taking money from people,” she said.

Anderson asked for a refund, but never heard back from the company. And when she asked Eventbrite, the vendor she bought the tickets through, they turned her down.

“Because this is a non-refundable event, as long as it is postponed they will not give me money back,” Anderson said.

Searches of ‘Bar Crawl Unlimited’ show dozens of complaints on the Better Business Bureau’s site, and an “F” rating.

“Pages of people who said that they just take your money and they continue to just change the day and you will never get your money back,” Anderson said.

Both bar crawls were also advertised on the Fargo-Moorhead tourism and events website before Anderson notified them of the scam. A spokeswoman says they have since taken the events down, reported the fake events and also flagged the bar crawls as fraudulent on Facebook. However, they say since there isn’t any contact information listed, and events are ‘held’ around the country, there isn’t much more they can do to report them to authorities.

“Don’t trust people. And that’s really sad to say! I don’t want people to get taken advantage of because in this day and age, we’re just trying to have a good time after being locked up for over a year and this is what happens!” Anderson said.

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