Tessa Swetnam is a baker, she launched her own business called “Sweetly Tess” in 2023. She serves cookies in the Valley, HRM and throughout Nova Scotia. Her business has become quite popular, and she attends markets, weddings and tends to online orders. A dream of Swetnam’s has always been to attend the “Evergreen Festival” in Halifax. “I had intentions to apply and then I received an email that seemed fairly legit saying they were looking for vendors and they thought my business would be a really good fit and I felt so too,” says Swetnam. Eager to land a gig at the festival, Swetnam responded quickly, and didn’t complete a usual in-depth background check. A not so sweet scam “They had a link to a form that looked very legit, it was a very standard form that any business owner or vendor would fill out, and we had actually sent 14 messages back and forth,” says Swetnam. Eventually the person, who claimed to be the event co-ordinator, asked her for the first deposit and she sent it. About a month later they reminded her of the second deposit and she sent that as well. In the end, she gave two deposits worth $450 in total and received an invoice from this email. “I was telling everybody that I planned to go and then my bank had flagged one of the e-transfers that I had sent as a deposit,” adds Swetnam. She then did some extra research and learned the person she had been communicating with has no affiliation with the festival. There was no spot reserved for her, which she says was devastating to accept as a small business. Swetnam posted to her social media to inform others of what has happened and what to look out for. “You’re not just out the initial money but also the money you had planned to make per say attending the festival, what could have been hundreds of thousands of dollars for a small business ends up being half or nothing,” she says. Swetnam also says she got a hold of Build Nova Scotia who runs the Evergreen Festival and explained the situation to them. “They did email me back and they were very apologetic that this happened. It’s not their fault of course. It’s nothing that Evergreen could have done to prevent that, it’s just one of those really unfortunate things that happened,” says Swetnam. Kelly Rose, the acting director of marketing and communications with Build Nova Scotia says, “Through our social media channels and in response to inquiries, we continue to share information to alert the public to the scam and remind people, including vendors, that all official Evergreen Festival correspondence will come from an email address ending in @novascotia.ca. “Anyone who receives an email from another domain is advised not to reply, click on any links, or provide personal or business information,” says Rose. She adds the team reiterated this message on both the Evergreen Festival and Discover Halifax’s social media page to raise more awareness. They encourage those who are unsure whether their Evergreen Festival vendor booking is confirmed or has questions can contact them directly at BuildNS.BDO@novascotia.ca Swetnam thought she had already confirmed her dates for Dec. 9 to 13, now that’s no longer happening. She hopes she will get the opportunity to share her sweets at this year’s Evergreen Festival. “It’s a longshot because in these big markets they’re booked months in advance, lots of businesses pay for their spots, and they fill out applications months before. But if it’s possible, I would still be willing to pay to go and attend the festival,” adds Swetnam. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
