Podcast: Potential nationwide scam hits Carrick event venue
A recent alleged concert booking scam has affected a venue in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood.
Audiovisual company Hearcorp owns the event venue and former church at 25 Carrick Ave.
Chief operations officer Brendan Elder recalled his conversation with Alex Bowen, who wanted to book a concert featuring orchestral renditions of Dr. Dre songs at the venue on April 20.
Bowen reached out as a representative of ARB Marketing company and said that he would like to book quickly to ensure the sale of tickets.
Elder says he reached out to Bowen and ARB multiple times to secure a deposit for the event, but never received any payment. He later received a mass email from Bowen stating that the company was to close down and file for bankruptcy.
Elder filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office after realizing he had fallen victim to a scam.
According to press secretary Brett Hambright, the office received at least five other complaints regarding the marketing company.
TribLive’s trending news reporter, Megan Swift, joins Zac Gibson to discuss the information that shows a national span of similar situations, and what Elder learned after fielding calls from the event’s ticket holders.
This is From the Newsroom.
Zachary Gibson is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Zachary at zgibson@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.