He said it was the first time it had happened in the seven years the event had been running.
The fake site has been taken down and those who bought tickets from it have been refunded by Eventbrite. Only people with valid tickets would be allowed into the festival, he said.
"If your ticket says that the venue is Triangle Red and has a number starting 1583, then this is not a genuine ticket and will not be accepted for entry to the wine festival."
Bridge Pa wine district chair Vince Labat (front) said fake ticket sales were "disappointing and disheartening" for the wineries who had worked so hard on the festival event. Photo / File
"We are very happy and delighted because Six60 is on the same weekend and there was Covid-19."
Labat also advised caution for those looking to buy a last-minute ticket from a third party.
He said potential buyers could verify the legitimacy of tickets by getting in touch and quoting the order number and email address of the seller.
"We will not take any responsibility for third party transactions even if we validate your purchase from a genuine ticket holder.
"We hope the person is honest enough to not sell the ticket more than once."
More than 1600 people are expected to turn out on Saturday and Labat said he was looking forward to it.
"We are very happy and delighted because Six60 is on the same weekend and there was Covid-19."
Tickets for both events are being advertised for sale on social media pages, and Hawke's Bay police are also urging care when buying tickets online and to only source tickets from official sites.
Scams vary, with hopeful event goers caught out by fake tickets, paying but never receiving the ticket, or receiving ones different from what they thought they were buying.
Even where police are able to locate a fraudulent seller, the chances of recovering money are not high, they warned.
