Scammers target CNE job fair in Toronto with fake tickets

Ahead of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE)'s eagerly anticipated opening day next week, organizers have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the 1.5 million-or-so people who will pour through the Princes' Gates to attend this year's edition of the nation's biggest fair.

A chunk of these efforts naturally includes hiring and training thousands of new staff members, with the iconic annual event perennially serving as somewhat of a dream job for the city's young adults in particular.

While the turnout at the CNE job fair is usually pretty huge, this year set a new record thanks to the city's current sky-high unemployment rates, especially among the 15 to 24 demographic. A shocking 55,000+ candidates ended up registering for the hiring event at the end of July in the hopes of landing one of only about 5,000 roles.

The present economy and immense competition were unfortunately fierce enough that some prospects were duped by scammers looking to exploit people's desperation for a job.

Ahead of the date, multiple hopefuls posted to social media platforms like Reddit asking if it was too late to sign up for the recruitment event, and searching for extra "tickets" from people who had registered but may be willing to give up their space.

As one poster pleaded, "It's already sold out and that was my last hope of getting a job and saving money for school."

Of course, these entreaties ended up attracting unsavoury offers from defrauders offering to sell registered spaces to the job fair for cash — multiple comments like "I [sic] got 2 extras, DM" and "I've got extra ticket if u want to buy lmk" can still be seen on the threads.

A CNE spokesperson told blogTO that those behind the event were made aware of these fake "ticket" resales, and did try to notify applicants of the potential scam, which came about because there was an Eventbrite page for the job fair to encourage pre-registration and gauge attendance levels.

"People who registered did receive a confirmation email in the form of a 'ticket, however, these have no monetary value," they said.

"We did post a message to candidates warning not to fall for the ticketing scams, and that anyone was welcome to attend, even without prior registration."

It's unclear how many hungry job seekers actually took the scammers up on their fake offers, but the incident is definitely a fair warning to stay vigilant in this dire employment market.