Ontario Taylor Swift fans 'crushed' after losing thousands of dollars in alleged Eras Tour ticket scam
CBC
Dozens of people who thought they would be seeing Taylor Swift perform in Toronto this month have reportedly fallen victim to a ticket scam totalling over $70,000, say police in the Greater Toronto Area.
Halton Regional Police Service, covering Burlington, Oakville and Milton, Ont., say they've received about 40 complaints in recent days from people who bought Eras Tour tickets from a third party. Those tickets turned out to be non-existent, they said.
The financial crimes unit is investigating and no arrests have been made, police said in a news release Monday.
Swift's string of six sold-out Toronto concerts run between Nov. 14 and 23. Her last three in the tour will be in Vancouver.
Melinda Tarantino, a Burlington mom, said she's among the Toronto ticket scam victims, having spent over $3,000 for four tickets to see the show with her two daughters, 9 and 11 years old, this weekend.
She bought the tickets last month from someone who appeared to be a local woman, Tarantino told CBC Hamilton. Tarantino said she was connected to the person through a friend.
Over the phone, the person claimed to have access to unused corporate tickets and Tarantino said she jumped at the opportunity. She'd been unsuccessful getting them through Ticketmaster, but knew how much it would mean to her girls. The person would only sell the tickets in a pack of four, she said.
"I have always been a Taylor Swift fan and then I ended up raising two Taylor Swift fans," Tarantino said.
"Taylor Swift has kind of been the sound track to our lives — we play it in the house all the time and in the car — and I told the girls, 'if she comes to Canada, we'll get tickets.'"
Last week, she said she learned through a friend the tickets likely weren't real. She still has not received any, she added.
While the situation "sucks," Tarantino said she decided to take action to help others.
Knowing there were likely other victims, Tarantino created an online form to collect their experiences, and encourage them to contact police.
"I thought there would be about 20 moms and their names would be in one spot for when we go to Halton police to show the impact," Tarantino told CBC Hamilton.
"It gave me something to do, a tiny piece of, 'well at least I've done something.'"
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