Local business falls victim to scam website that claims to sell magic mushrooms
MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- A website purporting to sell and deliver magic mushrooms is still up and operating, even after local police identified it as a scam originating from Kenya. The website lists an address in Manitou Springs that belongs to a family-owned gift shop called Mushroom Monday.
The managers of the store say Mushroom Monday has been serving Manitou Springs since the 1970s, and this is the first time that something like this has happened to them.
In the quiet town of Manitou Springs, Mushroom Monday is an innocent gift shop. But, the website www.shroomwonders.com, which claims to sell magic mushrooms, has listed their office address as the same as Mushroom Monday's.
"Most of the people I talked to are older, and most of them were also vets," said Lisa Brumlik, store manager.
Employees at the store said they saw an increase in foot traffic from customers who were looking to buy the psychedelic substance. But Mushroom Monday doesn't sell magic mushrooms, just little mushroom miniatures.
"It took a minute for a customer to finally, come out and go, hey, there's a website now that says that you guys are," said Anna Zettler. "So, you know, we were definitely all shocked. And then, definitely, it was like, immediately, you know, let's get down to the bottom of this."
Right away they contacted the Manitou Springs Police Department. Through their investigation, police found out that the website's ownership and database information was registered in Kenya. We asked the Manitou Springs Police Department how many if anyone gave money to the fraudulent website. They did not get back to us.
