“Unbelievably legitimate”: Deb Knight falls victim to popular scam
Deb Knight has shared how she fell victim to a popular scam, losing $1,200 while trying to get Taylor Swift tickets for her daughter's birthday.
Like many people around Australia, the veteran journalist was eager to get her hands on tickets to the highly anticipated Eras Tour as a once in a lifetime surprise for her eight-year-old daughter's birthday present.
After missing out on tickets through all official channels, Deb thought hope was lost, until a friend reached out to her.
“A really good friend, who I’ve known all my life, contacted me and said, ‘do you still want Taylor Swift tickets?’” Knight told A Current Affair.
“It was my daughter’s eighth birthday and getting my hands on these tickets would be the best present ever."
“My friend put me in contact with her friend who had the tickets – or so I thought.”
Knight had received a phone call from her close friend who said her cousin was selling tickets, but unbeknownst to everyone involved, the friend’s Facebook account had been hacked.
Deb promised to pay half the cost of the tickets as a bond, then pay the rest after she had seen the tickets, which she said looked “unbelievably legitimate".
Tech expert Trevor Long joined Deb on ACA, and noticed one major error about the fake tickets.
“The difference is a genuine Taylor Swift ticket in an Apple Wallet right now does not have that barcode.”
Alarm bells started ringing for the veteran journalist when the so-called seller said the payment had not come through, but by then it was too late.
Deb contacted her bank but it was too late to get her $1,200 back, and her hunt to find Taylor Swift tickets continued.
“I realised I’d been scammed. I felt sick to the stomach, absolutely humiliated. I also felt embarrassed and ashamed,” she said.
“I was reluctant to speak publicly about this but I think we’ve got to. We have to normalise it so people feel there’s less of a stigma about it."
“It happens to everyone, even Deb Knight – it’s disgusting, what’s happening, so something needs to be done.”
Police have warned Swifties who missed out on tickets to the singer’s upcoming tour not to fall prey to ticketing scams, and only to purchase tickets through official channels such as Ticketek marketplace.
Since tickets for the Eras tour went on sale last June, and subsequently sold out in record timing, Victoria Police said there had been more than 250 reports of ticketing scams for Taylor Swift shows alone.
Image credits: A Current Affair