Taylor Swift fans distraught as scammers ruin Florida weekend event and cost people thousands

A Taylor Swift-themed event organized by a Florida bar is going viral and drawing comparisons to Fyre Festival after scammers reportedly posed as management for the singer’s backup dancer.

Taylor Swift is one of the world’s most famous pop stars, so when a Tiki bar in Orlando, Florida promised a weekend-long event with access to one of her backup dancers, fans in the area instantly flocked to reserve their tickets.

The Lake Mary Pub and Tiki Bar named the gathering ‘Taylor Weekend 2025,’ which was slated to run from October 3-5. While their flyer advertising the bash clarified it was an ‘unofficial event’ in small print at the bottom, it also said a special guest, Taylor’s backup dancer Kam Saunders, would be in attendance.

On Facebook, the Lake Mary Pub promised a “weekend packed with music, fun, and magical moments celebrating everything Taylor Swift,” with a “special lunch and performance” and even a “meet and greet” with Saunders.

Lake Mary Pub and Tiki Bar / Taylor Weekend Events

Tickets for the event were eye-poppingly pricey, with a pass including the meet and greet with Saunders listed at $300. Another ‘all weekend events’ ticket, without the meet and greet, ran at $225.

Taylor Swift fan event organizers lose thousands to scammer

However, it turns out that Saunders had no idea he was supposed to turn up at Taylor Weekend 2025. He addressed the situation in a post on his Instagram stories, where he clarified that he was “not associated with this event, nor have I ever been.”

“I will not be in Orlando for any of the aforementioned things. I am so sorry to any of you who have paid your money with such high hopes of my being in attendance, but that is not the case,” he continued. “…if you don’t see ME posting something about me, assume it’s a scam of some kind.”

Instagram: kamnsaunders

In response, the Taylor Weekend Events Instagram page posted a statement of their own, in which they claimed they were equally “blindsided” by Saunders’ side of the story, saying a “paid deposit and contract is in place” — claims that were backed up by the Tiki Bar’s official Facebook page.

The Lake Mary Pub clarified that they had been supposedly scammed by someone posing as Saunders’ management and canceled Taylor Weekend, with Eventbrite issuing refunds to fans who had purchased tickets through their platform.

Facebook: Lake Mary Pub and Tiki Bar

Speaking to WFTV9, Taylor Weekend organizer Tiffany Jeffords revealed she had paid a $12,000 deposit for Saunders’ appearance as a special guest at the event, alongside an additional $10,000 in other deposits.

That’s not all; in a statement to YouTuber Atozy, the Lake Mary Pub also revealed that they are in contact with law enforcement in regards to the situation, saying they believed Jeffords was “targeted” by the scammers responsible for the ordeal.

The Taylor Weekend 2025 disaster went viral across TikTok, even gaining the attention of local Florida news outlets, who got in contact with some of the scammers’ victims.

One Sheli Cordero, who had planned to attend the event with her son, said she felt sorry for the bar and the Taylor Weekend organizers.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh.’ One, I felt horrible. I’m like, ‘These people got scammed. Or did we get scammed?’ …I just feel bad for them, because now their name’s out there, the bar is out there, and this will last,” she said.

Thus far, Saunders has not issued an additional statement speaking out on the terrible Taylor Weekend fiasco — but it wouldn’t be the first time a fan-organized event went viral for all the wrong reasons.

In February 2024, a Willy Wonka-themed interactive event in Glasgow took over social media after its magical promises of chocolate fountains and delectable delights were actually a: “sparsely decorated warehouse with a scattering of plastic props, a small bouncy castle, and some backdrops pinned against the walls.”