Halloween fans warned over scarefest scam

The BBC tried to contact Halloween Nights Fear but the phone number provided on the company’s website was not recognised and it has yet to respond to an email approach.

Halloween Nights Fear is also not registered on Companies House and recently deleted its social media presence.

James Dymond, director at Bradgate Park, said he was aware of a number of people who had bought tickets to the fake Leicestershire event.

“It’s a huge concern for all of the different venues,” he said. “For us, we suffer no direct loss from this but what we recognise is that it’s individuals buying tickets who are going to be put at risk of losing their money.

“All we can say to people is check with us, check our social media and our website first.

“If there is an event here that we are running or that we’re sanctioning someone else to run, it will be there.”

Leicestershire Trading Standards said initial checks on the website had identified “concerns”, including a non-working telephone number, an address that does not appear genuine, and a recently registered domain.

“We are taking steps to contact the website operator and have requested that the site is deactivated,” a spokesperson said.

“Anyone who has purchased tickets and believes they may have been affected should contact their bank as soon as possible to discuss potential recovery options.

“They can also seek advice from the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133, which shares information with Trading Standards.”

In a post on social media, Cardiff Castle encouraged anyone who has bought tickets on the site to contact local trading standards services.

“We have been made aware of a website selling tickets for a ‘Halloween scarefest’ at Cardiff Castle,” they said.

“This event is not linked to the castle and is not scheduled to take place here.”