Ebony and her sister were over the moon when they found last-minute Taylor Swift tickets for a Sydney show.
However, just days later they would be down almost $2000 and find out they were victims of a cruel and heartless scam.
Ballard, an 18-year-old Perth local, told 7NEWS.com.au they felt “betrayed” after falling victim to the scam last Thursday.
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“My sister and I are massive Taylor Swift fans and we missed out on all the tickets from the releases,” she said.
“But on the weekend, my mum’s boss texted her saying their friend is selling tickets.”
Ballard said they were “super excited” when the man confirmed he had tickets for sale.
“Because it was someone we knew think that’s why we trusted it and the whole thing seemed really normal and nothing was really raising any alarm bells,” she said.
Ballard said they messaged the man, who requested $600 be sent to his account for two tickets to Taylor’s Sydney show on February 23.
After sending the money, Ballard and her sister went ahead and booked flights to Sydney, which would set them back a further $1200.
However, when their tickets didn’t arrive, the alarm bells started to ring.
“We hadn’t received the tickets and were confused because he said the payment through Oska hadn’t gone through,” she said.
“So my sister and I were just obviously getting really worried because we had already booked the flights to Sydney.”
Upon further investigation, it appeared the man’s Facebook profile had been hacked, and a scammer had taken over his profile where he began selling “tickets”.
“Apparently other people had been scammed too from this person,” Ballard said.
Ballard and her mother reported the matter as soon as they were aware of the scam to their bank as well as local police.
However, when Ballard’s mother called their bank, they were advised it would be tricky to get the money back.
“We felt really panicked and just betrayed and really silly,” she said.
“We just thought, how did we get ourselves strung along like this?
“We were so stressed because we had spent so much money and put so much effort into this and had already begun making our friendships bracelets and choosing our outfits and everything.”
ACCC advice
Meanwhile, Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre has recently shared a warning following a spike in reports of scammers compromising social media accounts to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets to the hacked account’s friends list.
By the end of January, the Australian Consumer Competition Watchdog (ACCC) said Australians had already lost over $135,000 to this scam so far, with the figure likely to continue to rise.
“We are urging fans to be alert to scammers and think twice before seeking to buy a ticket on social media, even if it’s from a friend or community page you trust,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“Be mindful that scammers have been hacking genuine accounts to appear legitimate and are tricking trusting friends or connections into buying Taylor Swift tickets that don’t exist.
“The safest way to get legitimate tickets to The Eras Tour is by purchasing tickets from the authorised reseller, Ticketek Marketplace.”
Those who believe they have been victim to a scam can report the matter to Scamwatch.
7NEWS.com.au has contacted Facebook for further comment.
