Promising circus performers and confetti cannons, an online advertisement for a "warehouse party" at the Cairns Showgrounds was designed to appeal to party animals.
If the event itself was not enough to grab the attention of people scrolling through social media, a highly saturated image of New York City's Madison Square Garden may have done the trick.
The problem was the Cairns Show Association knew nothing of the big bash purportedly slated for its showgrounds, until someone called its offices asking for more information.
"It certainly is a sense of violation," Ian Moller-Nielsen, the association's secretary and manager, said.
"You work really hard to build up all your events and something like this puts a bit of a dampener on it, especially when we are trying to get people to purchase tickets online.
"It's a bit scary."
Social media users are being warned to closely scrutinise all online promotions due to the prevalence of tickets being sold for fictitious or risky events.
Others in the same boat
Last month the Queensland government advised consumers to avoid a business that had promoted a festival with animatronic dinosaurs, after 30 ticket holders complained they had bought tickets for events that had been repeatedly postponed.
On New Year's Eve, more than 100 people in Adelaide were left high and dry when a boat party, for which they had bought tickets, failed to eventuate.
Tickets for that event were sold through online booking platform Eventbrite, the same website used to advertise the Circus of Light warehouse party at the Cairns Showgrounds.
Eventbrite told the ABC it had "unpublished" the Cairns warehouse party event, and that it had "reached out to the organiser to give them a chance to present their side of the story as part of the verification review".
"While we enable anyone to create an event and sell tickets for it through our platform, we have a dedicated fraud team that reviews reports of concerning events and transactions," an Eventbrite spokesperson said.
"Tickets that have been sold for unauthorised events are refunded in full."
Do your research
Live Performance Australia, a national body representing event producers and promoters, said the advertised warehouse party had all the hallmarks of a fake event.
Its head of public affairs, Matt Francis, said consumers should refer to artists' official websites instead of relying on social media due to the growing problem of scammers.
"When you're purchasing tickets online, you need to take some simple steps, just like the person who rang the Cairns Showgrounds did," he said.
The Cairns Show Association used social media to warn consumers.
The ABC has attempted to contact the promoters of the Cairns warehouse party.
Queensland's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it was aware that the event, and a similar one advertised as being held in Brisbane on February 22, did not have venue bookings.
"Consumers who have purchased tickets for events that have not taken place, and who have not received contact or a remedy from the trader, are encouraged to lodge a complaint with the OFT online," a spokesperson said.
