When Sian Williams was offered tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert, she jumped at the chance. But within seconds of transferring £250, she knew she’d been scammed. It makes me angry because it was so realistic,” said the mum-of-two from Gwynedd, who thought she was buying from a trustworthy mutual friend. Consumer watchdogs are warning others to beware of similarly sophisticated online cons.
Sian had promised her 18-year-old daughter Efa she would take her to see Swift’s The Eras Tour this summer after finishing her A-level exams. After missing out on the official ticket sale in 2023 – Swift’s show in Cardiff due to take place this June sold out in minutes – she was put in touch with someone who claimed to have four tickets to the US pop idol’s Liverpool date. “I didn’t think anything of it because it was a friend of a friend,” said Sian, from Blaenau Ffestiniog.
They asked for £500 for four tickets, providing screenshots of each and details about the seating arrangements.
But Sian and Efa’s bank account set-up meant they could only transfer a maximum of £250 at a time, which they began to do after sharing their details with the scammer via WhatsApp.Sensing something was not right, the family then refused to pay the second installment and instead contacted their bank, which has since started an investigation.
Sian said the scammer “absolutely impersonated” her mutual friend, adding that people should be careful not to do “unwise things in the heat of the moment” because “once that money’s sent it can’t be retrieved”.
“It’s just £250 that’s literally gone to waste,” she added. We’re out of pocket and still haven’t got any ticketsSian added that, as a seasoned ticket buyer, she thought she was “quite savvy online” but has chosen to share her experience in an effort to prevent it from happening to others.
Also, last month saw 24-year old Indigo Jones from Swansea contacted by friends asking if she was still selling her Taylor Swift tickets.
She quickly realised her social media accounts had been hacked and her profiles used by scammers to advertise tickets that didn’t exist. I feel so so guilty, especially because there’s nothing I can do about it other than to try raising awareness about it,” she said.
Indigo added that, while some of her friends were contacted by a hacker posing as her, nobody that she knows of has lost money or been defrauded as a result. Personally I think this is something I would have fallen for as well, because it did look so real,” she said. Emily Seymour, a consumer expert at Which?, described ticket scams such as these as “really common
Source: BBC
In other news – Storm Kathleen set to bring gales and warm weather
Storm Kathleen will bring strong winds and gales to the UK this weekend. They will be felt quite widely from Saturday, especially in Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and western parts of England and Wales.
The storm was named by Met Éireann, the Irish met service, because more significant impacts are likely to be felt in the Republic of Ireland. Read more
