Over the weekend, folks in South Georgia took to social media to express excitement over a big-name country music star set to perform in Thomasville — except it all turned out to be a possible scam.

The manager of the Rendezvous Lounge and Grille in Thomasville was contacted by someone who she thought was the manager of Luke Bryan.

In the span of about five hours, it all fell apart, due to the power of social media.

The Flint River Band said they were a little skeptical because this is a country music star who won entertainer of the year, but they said in the music industry, you just never know.

They were monitoring the Facebook feed, just like everyone else, to stay up to date on the proposed concert.

“The industry can be cutthroat, there are just so many people out there that are just waiting to scam you,” said Bryan McKenzie, The Flint River Band’s booking agent.

Imagine you are an up and coming band, waiting for your big hit and all of a sudden a message pops up asking you to perform with Luke Bryan.

“We set up a gig and you know we have to take every gig seriously, and that was the case when Gloria contacted me,” McKenzie said.

Gloria Johnson, a manager at the Rendezvous Lounge and Grille in Thomasville,posted a few weeks ago hoping to attract a national artist to the Rose City. Along came a man she thought was Luke Bryan’s agent. 

“You know we wanted to open for Luke Bryan, I mean who wouldn’t? But at the same time, we were like ‘is this real?’” said McKenzie.

Johnson thought it was real as well, posting to her Facebook page offering tickets priced at $120 to $150.

The Flint River Band wanted to make sure that this was the real deal. 

They contacted Luke Bryan’s managers to verify the performance.

“She got in touch with a manager, and when she called me back it was like, oh boy, because the manager said she had not heard anything about this,” said McKenzie.

McKenzie said that’s when it all fell apart. Johnson found out she wasn’t actually talking to a manager of Luke Bryan and it was all just likely a scam.

He said usually a down payment is required for a big artist like that, which Johnson was preparing to send on Monday.

McKenzie is just all glad this was caught earlier than later.

“If she would have went ahead and paid the money on Monday she would have never heard from anyone ever again,” McKenzie said. “This was huge money, we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars that she would have had to come up with up front. In South Georgia that’s enough money to wreck someone for life.”

Johnson took to Facebook after finding out she had been fooled by someone claiming to be Bryan’s manager.

She wrote in part “Luke’s attorney called me and told me that it was not Luke nor Luke’s manager that I was talking to. Thank God I didn’t send them any money! I would have been broke. I can handle a broken heart but not a broken pocket book.”

She said she gladly would give everyone who paid for a ticket their money back but welcomed their business in the future.

The Thomasville Police Department is investigating. 

WALB-TV is a Raycom Media news partner of the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.