Fans fleeced by mum-of-one’s online ticket scam
Fans of some of the globe’s entertainment heavyweights spent hundreds of dollars on tickets which turned out to be fake, a court has heard.
Between January 9 and March 12 this year, New Plymouth woman Ashley Michelle Payne listed five sets of tickets for sale on Trade Me and Facebook.
The star-studded lineup included comedian Jimmy Carr, widely popular and Grammy award winning artist Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, who recently sold out four shows in Auckland within 24 hours.
The summary of facts said the first fake deal involved two tickets to a Jimmy Carr show in Auckland, which Payne listed for sale on Trade Me for $203.
After Payne received the money, she told the victim the tickets were on their way but they never turned up.
Payne went onto sell two more tickets to the same show on Trade Me for $200.
The victim of this trade repeatedly asked Payne for the tickets or at least an electronic copy of the barcodes, which the defendant did supply. It is unclear where Payne sourced these from.
However, when the victim and his wife turned up for the January 15 performance they were blocked from entering.
‘‘The concert staff informed the victim that his tickets had already been presented and that it appeared they had been scammed,’’ the summary of facts stated.
Payne continued her fake ticket scam, this time using the social media site Facebook to fleece $250 for two bogus tickets to a Bruno Mars concert and $295 for two admissions to Ed Sheeran.
The defendant then sold another single ticket to an Ed Sheeran gig for $150. Victims who tried to contact the 25-year-old about their tickets received no response from her and the defendant went on to block them from her Facebook page.
All up, the fake ticket scam netted Payne $1098.
On Thursday, at the New Plymouth District Court, she pleaded guilty and was convicted of five charges of obtains by deception.
Lawyer Nathan Bourke said the offending had been motivated by money problems but Payne, a mother-of-one, fully regretted what she had done.
Bourke said she was able to pay the reparation back at $20 per week.
Judge Chris Sygrove accepted Bourke’s submission that a fine would put the defendant under further financial stress, but he did impose a reparation order on Payne.