Some visual artists in the Yukon say they might have been scammed by an American promoter, after an art exhibition they had signed up for never took place.

Heidi Hehn and Bud Young lost hundreds of dollars in entry fees that they each paid Western Wildlife Art Shows to have their works shown in an exhibition in Abbotsford, B.C., this past weekend.

However, Young travelled to Abbotsford only to learn that no exhibition was held. Western Wildlife Art Shows suspended operations on June 20, according to the company's website.

"This decision has been made due to the global economic crisis and cost analysis of upcoming events," the website states in part, adding that "refunds to registered exhibitors shall be forthcoming."

Hehn told CBC News she has given up pursuing the promoter through the courts, since legal action can only take place in the U.S. Instead, she is finding strength in numbers, she said.

"Now that I find out that there are other people out there complaining about him on the internet, that's what I'm going to be pursuing next, [to] see if there's any chance of recovering my money that way at all," she said Monday.

Hehn said Western Wildlife Art Shows first piqued her attention last fall, when it told her that several prominent wildlife artists had signed up for the Abbotsford show.

"I thought, wow, these are high-calibre people in the wildlife world, and I was actually thinking I'd really like to be in a show with people like that because I admire them from a distance," she said.

Hehn said she was skeptical about the show at first, but finally paid the $400 entry fee after staff at the Abbotsford venue confirmed that the promoter had booked space there.

But after Hehn learned that the show had been moved to a curling club, she decided to withdraw from the art exhibition. The promoter never refunded her entry fee, she said.

Hehn said the incident has taught her to stay away from U.S. art promoters.

"Some of the shows I've been involved with in the past, I know they're 100 per cent legit, but they're Canadian-based," she said.

"Anything like this that comes up, I'm just going to walk away from it."