Over 100 Swifties lost a total of almost P15 million after being scammed by someone who pretended to be selling tickets for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” concert in Singapore.
According to Jonathan Andal’s report in “24 Oras Weekend,” Sunday, among the hundreds of Swifties who got scammed was Rhea* (not her real name), who paid a total of P98,000 for four tickets.
“Nahanap ko siya doon sa group, ‘yung sa ERAS tour group. So, um, nag-post naman kami doon. Parang, pa-vouch po. Parang, legit ba to? Tapos, nakita ko, may mga nag-vouch sa kanya,” she said.
Aside from Rhea, another victim has lost a whopping P400,000 to the scammer.
Sparkle star Sofia Pablo was also among those who fell prey to the scheme.
In a Facebook post, Sofia reported a post about the scam and said, “I’m one of the 100 victims.”
Sofia said that the scammer even showed her a fake email screenshot of Ticketmaster voiding the seller’s account due to reselling tickets.
She was shocked when she found out that there were many fans who got scammed by the fake seller.
Meanwhile, Jenny* believed that there were many people behind the scheme, as one person couldn’t carry out the plan alone.
According to the report, the scammer sent an ID and a selfie to the victims to prove his legitimacy. He even met up with some of the victims to have them sign the contract of sale that states that the buyers can sue him if he fails to give them the ticket.
Just last week, when the supposed tickets for the March 2 concert were released, the suspect could not provide the tickets as he had problems with the authorized seller from whom he would purchase the tickets.
The victims have already sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation and have filed a lawsuit against the scammer, who will face charges of Estafa.
Taylor Swift will headline six sold-out shows in Singapore—the only South East Asia stop for her The Eras Tour—from March 2 to 4, and March 7 to 9, where Sabrina Carpenter will join as a special guest.
—Jade Veronique Yap/MGP, GMA Integrated News
