Overview
FemCon 2015 is the name of a fake feminist-themed conference purportedly scheduled to take place in New York City in late August 2015. Following the launch of the ticket sales for the event in July, the conference was soon revealed to be a hoaxical scam orchestrated by users of 4chan.
Background
In July 2015, a page titled “FemCon” was created on the e-commerce platform Sellfy,[1] which sold $50 tickets for an event described as a feminist-themed conference to be held in late August in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City (shown below).
Notable Developments
Hoax Discovery
On July 26th, a gallery was created on Imgur[8] containing screenshots from a purported FemCon Tinychat room, revealing that 4chan users orchestrated the event as a hoax. That day, Twitter[2] user @resoluteCourier[6] tweeted screenshots from 4chan posts planning the hoax, alerting readers that the event was a scam (shown below). That day, other Twitter users posting warnings about the event with the hashtag “#FemCon2015.”[7] Shortly after, the FemCon Twitter feed and Sellfy page were removed.
News Media Coverage
In the coming days, several news sites reported about the hoax, including BuzzFeed,[3]The Daily Dot[4] and The Mary Sue.[5]
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[2]Twitter – @dragona131
[3]BuzzFeed – 4chan Set Up A Fake Feminist Event To Scam Women For Money
[4]The Daily Dot – The Internet was too smart to fall for 4chans fake feminist convention
[5]The Mary Sue – 4Channers Attempt to Scam Feminists With
[6]Twitter – @resoluteCourier
[7]Twitter – #FemCon2015
[8]Imgur – Femcon Tinychat caps