Wyoming food truck vendors are being scammed into paying bogus application fees in hopes of having a coveted spot at Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Cheyenne Police Department reports.
A scammer going by “Michael Francis” has been blanketing area food truck businesses with emails, telling them they can apply to be part of the CFD food scene, a huge opportunity to do big numbers at Wyoming’s largest event.
For $250, they can apply, an amount that seems low enough to not raise suspicions, said CFD CEO Tom Hirsig.
Just asking for an application fee is a red flag, he said.
“No, there’s no application fee,” Hirsig told Cowboy State Daily. “If people wanted to apply, they’d apply to Fun Biz, but not to someone else.”
He was referring to Fun Biz Concessions, the company contracted to handle food vendors for CFD. The email also pretends to represent Fun Biz, Hirsig said.
CFD found out about the scam when a representative of Fun Biz was contacted by someone with a history of being a CFD vendor who was suspicious about the application and fee.
“I’m assuming it’s somebody who knows something about Frontier Days and someone who knows something about the food truck industry,” Hirsig said, adding he doesn’t know for sure.”
Big Enough To Be A Target
Cheyenne Frontier Days is the largest event in the state and growing all the time. It’s internationally famous and draws visitors from around the world.
That makes CFD a destination, but also a target, Hirsig said.
And while there’s nothing he can do about someone trying to take advantage of small food truck owners, scams are “something we don’t want to tie our name to, so that’s why we’re very proactive in getting the police involved,” he said. “We don’t want people to think this is us.”
Nobody from Cheyenne Frontier Days will reach out and solicit money or applications from people, Hirsig said. All that is handled through the CFD website and Fun Biz.
Also, the event doesn’t use many food trucks. The main food vendors are set for the entire time inside the boundaries of the grounds.
“We don’t typically do a lot of food trucks,” Hirsig said. “We need people placed there for the whole time.”
Call Police
Another red flag is the email ask food truck owners to pay the application fee via Venmo or PayPal, the CPD reports.
Anyone who has been contacted by “Michael Francis” or someone claiming to be with Fun Biz Concessions is encouraged to call the Cheyenne Police Department at 307-637-6525.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
