CHICAGO, IL — A scam artist pretending to represent "Weird Al" Yankovic has recently bilked a number of Chicago venues out of thousands of dollars, with scammed venues including Fitzgerald's, in Berwyn Ill., Goose Island Breweery, in Chicago, and the Rain restaurant & Lounge in Geneva, Ill. This is not the first time that a scam artist has used fraud regarding the mocking artist's representation. Another incident took place in 2000, when, according to yankblog.org (a site dedicated to Yankovic), an ostrich farmer received money from investors but produced a Yankovic show instead. That individual received a sentence of four years in prison.
The Yankovic blog stated that "it cannot be assumed that this is the same individual."
At this time, Yankovic has no tour dates scheduled in the United States, so any advertised dates in the U.S. are without merit.
Regarding the identity of the imposter, the engagements at Fitzgerald's and Goose island both interacted with someone claiming to be Tom Porter, as did the Rain, but later incidents involved someone named Tom Bennett. Whether these names are real or fictitious is not known at this time.
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