A venue in the US has been conned out of $250,000 (€225,000) by a fraudster posing as an agent for Imagine Dragons.

The Town Toyota Center (TTC) in Wenatchee, Washington State, was introduced by its longtime booking agency, Los Angeles-based Harmony Artists, to an agent claiming to be James Whitting from Wasserman Music, Imagine Dragons’ live representative.

The publicly-funded 4,300-cap multi-purpose arena, which has previously hosted acts such as Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson and BB King, paid the advance via wire transfer on 23 August this year, with the understanding it was reserving the band for a show on 21 June 2025.

“About three weeks later, the TTC discovered that the person claiming to be James Whitting was an impersonator,” says a statement from the venue’s GM Mark Miller. “It promptly contacted its booking agent, bank and its own insurance provider, with Harmony Artists currently working with its insurance company to reimburse the TTC.

“At present, the TTC anticipates full reimbursement from its booking agent.”

The American group have a concert booked at Stadium Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy, on the date in question as part of their 2025 European stadium tour.

“We are not only working to recover funds, but also analysing what actions and precautions can be taken on our end”

“We are fully aware of the gravity of the recent events that were determined to be concert fraud, and that as the community’s building these events need to be addressed and reviewed,” reads a further statement from the TTC. “This is not an issue that we are taking lightly, and we are not only working to recover funds, but also analysing what actions and precautions can be taken on our end to hopefully prevent this from happening again in the future.

“With that being said, there will be no further public comment on the situation at hand due to ongoing investigations and potential litigation.”

Imagine Dragons are represented worldwide by Whitting and Corrie Martin at Wasserman, which has not commented on the story.

IQ reported last month that scammers had been masquerading as CAA agents, claiming to be booking tours for Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, with messages sent by fraudsters from multiple random email addresses.

Back in 2018 meanwhile, the UK’s Entertainment Agents’ Association issued a checklist for promoters following a sharp increase in the number of bogus emails purporting to come from leading booking agents.

If unsure of an agent’s identity, the association encourages promoters to adopt the following steps:

1. Check the email address is correct – in particular the email domain – and if in any doubt call the agency to confirm it. Do not use the telephone number on the email
2. Check the artist’s website for any conflicting touring plans
3. Make sure you have full contact details of the agent with which you are working and speak to them on the phone at least once
4. Before sending a deposit, call the agency to confirm the booking and check their account details
5. Check with promoters in other markets to verify the artist is touring in that region at that time
6. If an offer is accepted and seems too good to be true, it probably is

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Scam artists have been posing as Ariana Grande’s agents, claiming to offer 2022 European tour dates for the singer.

In an email seen by IQ, fraudsters purporting to represent the singer state that she is “going to tour Europe in support of her forthcoming album which is scheduled to drop on July 15, 2022”.

Demands include 20 single rooms in a 5* hotel, and 10 single rooms and 15 double rooms in a 4* hotel for a travelling party of “60 Peoples” (sic).

Inviting promoters to “please send us your offer” for the star, who is a client of CAA, it adds: “We look forward to receiving your availabilities for this period so that we can put together the best possible tour schedule to deliver Ariana’s show to her fans.”

The email is headed: “ARIANA GRANDE – WICKED TOUR 2022”.

A sharp increase led the UK’s Entertainment Agents’ Association to issue a checklist for promoters

Such scams had become relatively commonplace prior to the pandemic, with fraudsters posing as the representatives of major artists, including Adele, System of a Down, Beyoncé, Mark Knopfler and Eminem, emailing concert promoters and asking for deposits in exchange for non-existent live dates.

The sharp increase led the UK’s Entertainment Agents’ Association to issue a checklist, urging promoters to adopt the following steps if unsure of an agent’s identity:

1. Check the email address is correct – in particular the email domain – and if in any doubt call the agency to confirm it. Do not use the telephone number on the email
2. Check the artist’s website for any conflicting touring plans
3. Make sure you have full contact details of the agent with which you are working and speak to them on the phone at least once
4. Before sending a deposit, call the agency to confirm the booking and check their account details
5. Check with promoters in other markets to verify the artist is touring in that region at that time
6. If an offer is accepted and seems too good to be true, it probably is

Last November, a woman admitted scamming a charity out of $100,000 by posing as a booking agent for artists including Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Drake and Ed Sheeran. Atlanta, Georgia-based Carissa Scott pleaded guilty to one count of fraud following a hearing in a New York federal court.

Under the name Canvas Media Group, Scott and a fellow defendant were charged with conspiring to defraud investors in events including a December 2019 benefit concert for the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, set up by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Prosecutors said Canvas Media “falsely represented that they could book top-tier musical acts to perform at the concert”, and sent organisers a contract asking for $500,000 for his performance and a $275,000 deposit. One investor in the benefit show subsequently sent a $100,000 partial deposit to the scammers.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.