East Bay crab fest canceled, some call it fraud

EL SOBRANTE, Calif. (KTVU) - A highly publicized crab festival set for Saturday night in the East Bay has been canceled. Some have called it a scam, including the Elks Club.

For weeks it was advertised online and even mentioned on KTVU Thursday night.

It was supposed to be a fried crab festival at the Elks Lodge in El Sobrante, organized by the Captain Crab Company.

The price: $50 a ticket and up. But the festival will not be taking place.

"It's a shame they are ripping off a lot of people. But thy are also using the good name of the elks a great charitable organization to do it," said Jim Cowens, an Elks Club member.

Cowen says Captain Crab's $600 deposit check  bounced.

One Richmond woman told us  she bought two tickets, and is now out $100.

"I just want my money back. I don't think it is going to happen," said the woman who asked us not to identify her publicly.

She says she initially tried to buy tickets online. But she says she was told to buy them at an address in downtown Oakland.

"I was going to use my credit card and they said we don't take credit cards only cash. So that should have been a red flag," she said.

The address for Captain Crab is in Fox Plaza in San Francisco, Suite 200. But when we went up there there was no sign of them.

At suite 200 is a company that rents office space. As of Friday afternoon we were told, Captain Crab had not paid any rent or shown up.

The website for the crab festival looked professional. But it showed ever changing dates for the festival.

The comments section was filled with angry posts alleging fraud.

The Elks Lodge manager says the woman who brought him the bounced check signed it as Kristen Martin.

She"s very professional. Nice lady. Said this will be fantastic. She definitely talks a good game," said Cowens.

This problem comes amid reports nationwide of crab festival scams from Los Angeles to Houston to Philadelphia.

The Elks Club  has turned over its information to investigators with the Contra Costa Sheriff's department.

Late this afternoon we received a call back from a person claiming to be the president of Captain Crab, Berea Kelly.

Kelly denied her organization is running a scam.

She claims the lack of payment to the Elks Lodge was due to a misunderstanding over when the money was due.

Kelly also claims her company is in the process of refunding the price of the tickets. And she says she is planning another crab festival in Richmond in January.