"It got my hopes up. I don't know what he gets out of it": A scam promoter has provoked the ire of large swathes of the Scottish techno scene by publicising events that never happen

A young female DJ stretching out the cord from her headphones and making a mean face.

Now here’s a curious tale. There is a scam promoter operating under a number of aliases in Glasgow who books events that never happen, hooking in dozens of young DJs.

Some digging by local news website The Glasgow Bell has uncovered the man's identity as Kieran Wells. Wells has attempted to put on a number of events in the city over the past few years, it seems. But a familiar pattern has emerged: DJs are recruited via social media, Wells adds them to line-ups and associated group chats and encourages the starry-eyed spinners to source venues, design artwork and in some cases cover upfront costs for venues or sound systems.

Then the events are suddenly cancelled, with the covering story often being a family emergency. And those chats and social media trails disappear into thin air.

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It remains unclear what exactly Wells gains from this. None of the DJs, venues or managers The Bell spoke to said that they gave him any money. If Wells thought that by cancelling these events at short notice he’d keep the ticket money, he’s sadly mistaken, too – the ticketing platforms automatically refund punters.

But if no-one has actually lost money, it does affect the reputation of a lot of up and coming DJs as well as being waring emotionally. "It got my hopes up," said one DJ. "I don't know what he gets out of it."

One thing’s for sure: he has pissed off a lot of people in the Scottish dance scene. These are some of the epithets various people have used about him: “troublemaking prick”, a “tool”, a “fuckinging chocolate”, a “scumbag”, an “absolute joker”, “a blagger”, “a fuckin roaster”, a “clown”, a “whoppa”, a “sneaky snake”, a “bag a bawz”, a “fucking melt” and a “complete jakeball”.

Eventually, The Glasgow Bell caught up with Wells. He denied taking payments and said that ‘financial difficulties’ meant he often ended up having to cancel events. "I'm not a scammer," he protested. "It's just stupid… I've pissed off a lot of people." He said that doesn't plan to promote events in future.

Sounds like he needs a change of career...