New manager of Gus & Yiayia's says online scammers making his life difficult
It's a sure sign of spring: A refreshing scoop of shaved ice, drizzled with your favorite syrup flavors. But the new manager at the beloved ice ball cart Gus and Yiayia's says scammers are making his life more difficult.
We talked to Mike Spanos about the fake posts he claims are confusing and potentially scamming the cart's loyal fans.
Spanos said the text messages started pouring in earlier this month.
"They were like 'Hey, are you really opening up tomorrow? Normally you give us a heads up' and I asked him 'What are you talking about?' I posted nothing on my page," said Spanos.
He's managed Gus and Yiayia's ice ball cart on the North Side since Gus passed away last summer and he tells KDKA he's disgusted a fan page not only posted multiple posts about a fake opening day but said Gus will be there.
"I guess someone has a whole lot more free time than the rest of us," said Spanos.
He said the account with the fake posts is called Gus and Yiayia's Fans and it popped up right after Gus passed away last summer. He thinks it's trying to capitalize on Gus' loyal following, especially since the page administrators blocked him.
"I got blocked right after Gus passed away because that's when the whole t-shirts and scam [stuff happened]," said Spanos. "And that's when I went on to tell everyone these are scams, watch yourself, we're not selling shirts. And that's when I got blocked."
Spanos wants Pittsburghers to know the only official page says just that- "Gus and Yiayia's Official." He adds the official page isn't selling anything like t-shirts or asking for money.
"I wouldn't say it's a battle, but I mean it is sometimes. You're like 'Oh my gosh here we go again, another person trying to imitate or make money off of us.'"
As our weather gets its act together, Pittsburghers need to sit tight until the stand returns to West Ohio Street.
"And we will be there this summer Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. So we're going to add a day and see what happens," said Spanos.
We asked him: What would Gus think about all of this?
"I think sometimes he would be speechless. The whole social media thing- he would just say 'Get on that website and tell them we're here.'"
So until Spanos does just that, he's asking for help.
"If we could get enough people to report the page maybe Facebook would wake up and decide that they need to stop and check into it to shut it down."
We reached out to Meta on Friday and we're still waiting to hear back.
Spanos is anticipating opening the stand on April 12.
