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<\/a>THE woman behind a suburban small business awards night is alleged to have scammed about $30,000 from participants.<\/p>\nRhiannon Pilton promoted the event as a charity fundraiser , but the nominated group, homelessness support network Donation Chain Inc, never saw a cent of the cash.<\/p>\n
And scores of people who attended the Frankston Business Awards \u201cgala night\u201d on February 21, 2019 branded it a sham.<\/p>\n
Now they along with other furious local traders and venue managers are trying to track down Ms Pilton, who claimed to be director of an events firm called Agency83.<\/p>\n
It is understood about 180 people accepted Ms Pilton\u2019s invitation to the \u201cnot-forprofit\u201d event following a series of congratulatory emails notifying small business owners of their seemingly prestigious nomination.<\/p>\n
Each paid $175 to attend the \u201cblack tie, red carpet\u201d event, which promised a three-course meal, drinks on the house and table service at Functions by the Bay.<\/p>\n
Other \u201caward nominees\u201d paid $75 to accept their nomination .<\/p>\n
The 23 categories \u2014 which Ms Pilton claimed were sponsored by EastLink, Telstra and NAB \u2014 included awards for hairdressing, pet services, business coaching, hospitality , rising star and emerging business of the year.<\/p>\n
A NAB spokeswoman confirmed the bank had provided a donation to the awards \u201cas part of our ongoing support for the local community\u201d .<\/p>\n
That donation is now being probed by NAB\u2019s investigations team.<\/p>\n
Donation Chain Inc founder Helena Blomeley said her group had not received any money from the gala night.<\/p>\n
Ms Blomeley said she felt \u201clet down\u201d when Ms Pilton failed to make the payment and then blocked her phone and social media account.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and wait for her to pay everyone back, but she\u2019s obviously run off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe rounded up a group of people who are really passionate and excited about Frankston and this is what she\u2019s done \u2026 it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megan Pearce, who attended with husband and EFM Health Clubs co-owner Shaun as nominees for the \u201cHealth Practitioner\/Body\u201d award, said the event was a \u201ctotal sham\u201d .<\/p>\n
Ms Pearce said the bar tab ran for just half an hour and whispers regarding the event\u2019s legitimacy circled around the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cRhiannon got up on stage and said all the trophies had been stolen and that she could not present them to the winners,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was also no three-course meal, it was just party pies and sausage rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n
MC and DJ Bruce Harrison said on Facebook Ms Pilton called him in a desperate attempt to find a host just hours before the awards night was to start. The Agency83 Facebook page has since been taken down.<\/p>\n
Langwarrin counsellor and Rainbow Light Therapies owner Kim Norton described the situation as \u201can absolute disgrace\u201d .<\/p>\n
Victoria Police said it had not received a complaint. Ms Pilton could not be contacted for comment.<\/p>\n
Source<\/p>\n
This article is from the October 24, 2019 issue of The Herald Sun Digital Edition. To subscribe, visit https:\/\/www.heraldsun.com.au\/.<\/p>\n
The Herald Sun Digital Edition: Awards \u2018a sham\u2019<\/p>\n
BRITTANY GOLDSMITH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story below from The HeraldSun in Melbourne illustrates how advertising can be used to deceive people. It is not a publishers role to validate the claims of advertisers’, other than to check basic advertising details as with an event: dates, times and venue. Occasionally, an editor will suspect something is nqr. It may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3945],"tags":[3951,4026,4025,11],"class_list":["post-3191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-advertising-faq","tag-advertising","tag-fake","tag-rhiannon-pilton","tag-scam","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>THE woman behind a suburban small business awards night is alleged to have scammed about $30,000 from participants.<\/p>\n