Fraudster Scams Event Planner Out of $20K

Skift

2 days ago

A scam is exploiting the credibility of big-name brands to defraud event planners. One planner is out nearly $20,000, and she's not alone.
A veteran event producer says she lost nearly $20,000 after being targeted by a fraudster posing as a corporate executive planning a launch party. And she has since learned she's not the only one.
A man posing as a representative from Glidden Paints reached out to Nirjary Desai, founder of KIS Cubed Events about a corporate event in Atlanta. Glidden was opening a new office in Atlanta, the man claimed, and wanted to throw a party and team-building event.
There was a caveat: The company required the use of three 'preferred vendors.' Desai was instructed to pay these vendors directly and she'd be reimbursed.
'I explained I must do my due diligence and speak to each vendor, have them fill out W9s, and receive proper invoices,' Desai told Skift.
Each vendor provided invoices, tax documents, and took Desai's calls, a layer of credibility that made the scam more convincing.
To pay the vendors, the fraudster would send her $10,000 via credit card. There were multiple declines, but the payment finally appeared to go through and she paid out $9,400 to the 'vendors,' an audio visual company, a photographer, and a singer.
Desai needed to see the space where the event would be held but the scammer canceled two site visits at the last minute.
Chance Meeting
Desai went to the office building anyway, and by coincidence, met another planner in the parking lot: Patricia Stinson, who had received the same lead.
The two found the building's security team, who confirmed there was no Glidden Paints office there.
She contacted Glidden's corporate office, which said it had no knowledge of an event, and no plans for an Atlanta office. Desai has since reported the incident to Atlanta police and is in contact with Glidden's legal team. Glidden did not respond to a request for comment from Skift.
Then she realized a fraudulent $10,000 withdrawal had been taken from her account. A test deposit of one penny — a common step in ACH fraud — had preceded it. The withdrawal went through based on a fraudulent invoice using the bank account information Desai had provided to get set up in the centralized payment system.
A second financial loss soon followed.. The initial $10,000 payment that she thought had gone through hadn't actually cleared before she paid vendors. The credit card company told her the fraudster used a stolen card to make the payment.
In total, Desai is out nearly $20,000.
'I immediately froze all of our accounts and filed a cybercrime report,' she said. 'Police told me this isn't just fraud. It's a major crime targeting small businesses.'
The scammer's fake LinkedIn profile – he went by 'Gregory Mount' – and the vendor websites have been deleted. The URL he had provided was a phishing scheme, Desai has learned. Although it did direct her to the Glidden website, it was designed to steal all of her data, financial information included.
A Wider Scam Unfolds
In an industry Facebook group, dozens of Atlanta-area planners have reported similar outreach from a Gregory Mount. Some caught the fraud in time.
Stinson, the planner Desai met at the office, had not exchanged any funds with Mount. She did waste time though. 'From now on, we'll only take clients via referral. When I asked who referred me, the man gave me a name I didn't recognize. I should have left it at that,' said Stinson. 'But I trusted him and went to the office building to look around.'
Another target, Steve Moore, director of special events at Affairs at the Fox, received a similar inquiry from Mount.
'He insisted we would have to process credit card payments in order to get the job,' said Moore.
That was a red flag and Moore began digging: 'I couldn't find any Glidden office set to open in Atlanta. I couldn't find Mount on social media and his email was GilddenUSA.com which didn't seem right.'
Moore credits his skepticism to his company's weekly security training. 'That made a difference,' he said.
Industry on High Alert
For Desai, the financial hit is devastating. But the emotional toll is equally painful. 'This is a coordinated attack on our industry,' Desai said. 'They're exploiting trusted brands to gain credibility. We need stronger safeguards, and better brand accountability.'
According to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 79% of organizations experienced attempted or actual payments fraud last year. The most common method is business email compromise — often through spoofed emails and fake vendor scams like this one.
For the events industry, the takeaway is to verify everything: names, domains, projects — and especially payments.
In addition, cyber insurance policies usually cover losses caused by phishing attacks. Desai is in talks with her insurance provider about adding this to her coverage.