AI-Powered Scams Target UK Food Festivals, Exploiting Small Businesses

British food festivals are being exploited by scammers using artificial intelligence to target small food and craft businesses, a BBC Wales investigation has revealed. Dozens of traders have reported receiving professional-looking emails that appear to be from legitimate festivals, with requests for payment only made after several exchanges.

One trader, Harriet Thomas, who runs knitting workshops, described her dismay upon realizing she had fallen victim to a scam. Despite usually being vigilant about online scams, the emails she received were "so realistic" and contained such detailed knowledge of festival layouts and facilities that they bypassed her usual precautions. The scam involved a fake booking form that looked identical to legitimate ones, and the fraudulent emails mimicked the branding and even staff names of various festivals across the UK, including Abergavenny, Narberth, York, and Ludlow.

Thomas paid for a pitch based on these communications. It was only after posting on social media about her upcoming participation that she saw a warning from the actual Abergavenny Food Festival about scam emails circulating. "My heart just sank. I was so embarrassed," she said.

Festival organizers are increasingly concerned about the sophistication of these scams. Andy Fryers, who coordinates the Abergavenny Food Festival, noted that the accessibility of AI tools allows scammers to create more believable lures and target a wider audience. "Anyone can get on to Claude or ChatGPT... and within a few minutes get it to search out all traders in a certain area, get contact details, search our website, get contact details, make up a couple of Gmail accounts," he explained. "It's very straightforward and quite cheap and you can blanket approach these things."

This trend is reflected in fraud reporting statistics. The latest figures from Report Fraud indicate a 395% increase in reports linked to AI in 2025-26 compared to the previous year. Giles Mason from UK Finance, which represents the banking and finance industry, highlighted how AI has eliminated the common errors in scam communications, such as poor grammar and spelling, making them far more convincing. He added that scammers often target sole traders and volunteer-run organizations because they may have less robust security systems compared to larger corporations.

"Two-thirds of these types of scams now start through contact online," Mason stated. He advises individuals to "take that moment to stop and think" if they receive an unsolicited email, call, or text. He recommends verifying the legitimacy of an organization by visiting its official website and using the contact details found there, rather than relying on information provided in the suspicious communication.

One business reportedly lost £400 to the scam, using the funds to purchase stock before realizing they had been defrauded. While festival organizers sometimes find ways to accommodate affected traders, they worry about the practicalities of helping everyone if more fall victim on the day of the events. The sophisticated nature of these AI-driven scams poses a significant challenge for both businesses and festival organizers.