Ottawa

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

Earlier this month we were emailed by a John Stokes (agoratoronto@gmail.com):

Would you like information on how to apply to become a vendor at Ottawa’s Easter Weekend Market at Lansdowne?

John Stokes

T-fob.ca

The casual tone and lack of salutation hurt my elder millennial heart but I thought maybe John was just one of those super casual people.

The website for the event has a stock image of people selling supplements (not something I want to be associated with) but I was curious and read some more. It had a lot about self-publishing services and then some times for the “Market”.

I looked up events happening at Lansdowne and the only thing that came up was held by the Ottawa Farmer’s Market (an event organizer that is well known, respected, and has a good web presence).

I found an eventbrite site for Ottawa’s Easter Weekend Market that said it was outside of the Aberdeen pavilion. The hours didn’t match either, which is what made me extra suspicious. On top of that, there wasn’t an application and the eventbrite was just for vendors to “buy a table” for $85.

I did a WHOIS lookup to see who owned the website and found that it was owned by “The Agora Cosmopolitan Inc”, a vanity press. Most of their books look like conspiracy theories or vanity projects. I looked them up on the Library and Archives Publisher Database and found that their address is a postal box in a mall in Kanata. I looked at the actual website of the company and it calls itself “The Canadian Business Daily”. Its articles are all kinds of fringe and cringe.

At this point, I was fairly sure it was a scam but I decided to do some more digging and found Mr. Stokes’ picture on a stock photo site and a few blogs warning that “The Agora Cosmopolitan Inc” was a scam.

To be absolutely sure, I emailed the Ottawa Farmers Market to ask about it, and this was their reply:

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out! Please be aware that this is a scam and not associated with us.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!

[Name omitted] 

Ottawa Farmers’ Market

(613) 417-3595 

info@ottawafarmersmarket.ca

ottawafarmersmarket.ca

The most important thing when you are a vendor is to trust the organizers of the events you go to. If it seems too good to be true or they don’t have a large web presence, that’s a red flag. The ultimate red flag, however, is an event that sells tables without vetting its vendors.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric