Singapore seems to have emerged as the main concert hub in Southeast Asia for global superstars, with Taylor Swift recently adding three more shows to her Eras tour concert here.
As fans in the region continue to compete for tickets furiously, some of us look for alternate ways to get them.
Doing so, however, can cause us to fall into the traps of scammers looking to make a quick buck, as one Singaporean found out the hard way.
He lost S$600 to a scammer while purchasing My School President fan meeting tickets on Twitter. He has filed a police report against the reseller.
The man, who wished to be identified only as Francis, told MS News that he and his partner came across a Twitter user selling two tickets to Thai drama My School President’s first fan meeting in Singapore on 1 July at the Capitol Theatre.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
He contacted the user on 22 June at around 5pm, enquiring about the price. The user informed him that it was S$600.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
The seller had also shown convincing proof of the tickets, assuring Francis that after his full payment, he would receive the tickets in his email immediately.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
In addition, they had repeatedly reassured Francis that they weren’t scamming him of his money.
However, after receiving S$600, the seller stated that they weren’t the only ones managing the sale of the tickets.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
As such, they would have to discuss with their “other partner” before emailing the tickets to Francis.
After receiving the payment, the seller disappeared and did not respond to any messages for hours.
Demanding the tickets multiple times, Francis and his partner soon realised it was a scam. They then asked the seller to return the money.
The seller finally replied, stating that they’ll send a refund.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
However, Francis and his partner have not received it. They also didn’t get the tickets.
To make things worse, they discovered that the seller had changed their username on Twitter and blocked them. They were unable to be contacted through calls either.
Image courtesy of Mr Francis
Francis told MS News that they have filed police reports against the user and contacted OCBC, their bank, to recall the transactions.
While OCBC was able to do so, they could not promise a full recovery of the S$600 in case the seller had transferred it overseas.
Francis is still awaiting further updates from the bank at press time.
Considering the demand for recent concerts and fan meetings, some of us would most likely look to online marketplaces to get our tickets.
However, engaging in business on these platforms always carries a certain risk of falling for phishing and ticketing scams.
For those intending to purchase tickets from resellers, we urge you to remain aware of such scammers.
Do carry out the relevant checks to ensure you’re not becoming the victim of such a crime.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image courtesy of Mr Francis and adapted from GMMTV on Facebook.
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