Scammed By A Traveling Circus Group Claiming They Were In A Car Accident. They Stole $500 From Us. What Are Our Options? Fl

A traveling circus group cold called aerial gyms to find someone with a rig who could perform in their place at a venue.

We obliged and drove 1.5 hrs to the venue that weekend.

The venue originally agreed to pay the circus $1000 total. The venue already paid a $500 deposit and the remaining $500 would be paid after the performance.

The circus told us they would “hire us.” And would forward us the deposit a few days AFTER the show (this was a huge red flag ???? but my good friend, who was in contact with them, was not alarmed by this.)

Anyway, the venue paid the remaining $500 in my friends name and is going to send a W9 in my friend’s name. Being that we are paying taxes it’s seems like we employed ourselves and the circus stole the $500 deposit.

The circus was based out of central Florida precovid, they have not updated their social medias at all since early 2020 and we found their business is now registered to an address in TX.

It has been over a month since the performance and they have ghosted us.

We’re just a group of young ladies that have never dealt with this sort of situation. Any advice would be appreciated.