Beware of Random “Immersive” Events Sold on Social Media

You know how sometimes you're scrolling through your social media feed and you see something that's "too good to be true"? Sometimes its a movie poster, sometimes its a shirts, maybe its a offer for a car...but we've all been trained for this by now. We know when we see a fake ad for something tangible.

But what happens when its not for a physical item that you can see and judge? What happens when the fake is a concept? Then the people trying to sell it layer in the use of fake artificial intelligence photos to sell it...

This is exactly what happened with a recent "immersive" Willy Wonka event.

Tickets were sold through social media, and promised a large event for families. The company selling it used AI generated images to showcase the "event" through their online ads.

What ticket buyers were met with was described by some as a "meth lab"...

This isn't a new phenomenon. These events have actually been going on for a few years. But this is the first time that one has turned into an international story. These events have been advertised all over, including Texas and Louisiana.

They're not always set up as "Willy Wonka" events. Sometimes they're based on artwork, sometimes its other literary work like Alice in Wonderland. But they always follow a similar playbook.

Always beware of events that don't have an obvious promoter. You should be able to understand who's putting the event on through their social media or website. If you can't do that, its time to be cautious.

Also beware of events without definitive locations. If the event treats the location like a mystery, that's a massive red flag.

When it comes to the AI generated images, look carefully at what's posted to see if you can identify any element that looks fake. If you can't make out someone's hands, that's a clear AI image, if the colors of elements bleed together, you're probably dealing with AI.

If an event cannot provide images of what they're promising, you should proceed with caution.

At the end of the day, buying anything from someone you don't trust can always be risky. So make sure you never pay for these things with a form of payment that doesn't offer scam protection. Something like PayPal works well, so you can file a claim with PayPal to get your money back quickly.