Promoter of phony Shakira concert sought
BEAVERTON, Ore. – Police on Tuesday were searching for a Beaverton woman whom they believe is promoting a phony concert for Latin rocker Shakira in Bellevue, Wash., this weekend.
The three-day event, billed as the "First Annual International Dance Festival," was supposed to culminate Sunday night with a concert starring the Grammy winner.
Tickets were being sold for as much as $230 a piece, and police said some people have already bought tickets for the bogus concert.
KATU confirmed with Shakira's publicist that the concert was a fake.
A reporter set up an appointment to buy tickets Tuesday and confronted 24-year-old Olga Antropova when she showed up, but she declined to answer any questions about the event.
"I have a right not to answer your questions and not talk to you," she said. "Can you get out of my face."
She then jumped in a rental car driven by another man and drove away.
According to officials at print and copy shop LazerQuick in Beaverton, the same women had recently ordered more than $5,000 in posters, post cards, business cards and concert tickets advertising the Shakira concert.
The printers only found out the event was bogus after the bank returned the checks written to pay for the job, checks that police said were counterfeit.
Beaverton police want to hear from anyone who sees the woman or anyone who bought these bogus tickets.
