Boston Bridal Show Scam
Boston police said today they feared thousands of people will descend on the Hynes Convention Center later this week for a bridal show – only to discover the “show” was an Internet scam. “What we found out is that there is no show,” Detective Steve Blair said at police headquarters this afternoon. “It was a scam.” According to police, someone set up a bogus website and created accounts on Twitter and Facebook, all to promote “The Boston 411 Bridal & Home Show 2010.” The promotions claimed it would be held at the convention center March 5-7. Blair said today an estimated 5,000 people paid at least $15 a person and that about 200 businesses also paid fees, ranging from $350 to $4,000. The payments were made through PayPal, police said. Police said they began their investigation last week, but decided to hold a press conference today to alert the victims about the scam so they could cancel any travel plans they had for coming to Boston. Police set up a special e-mail account they