The war against ticket scalpers and scammers continues with a 22-year-old NSW man set to face court for online ticket scams that could be worth up to $17,000 across last year.
Desperate punters looking for tickets to sold-out events on classified websites such as Gumtree fell victim to the most recent scam, as reported by the Daily Telegraph. Michael Gregory Shelton of Ingleburn is said to have ripped off at least ten customers with police identifying as many as 60 suspicious transactions.
Shelton swindled music fans into paying as much as $400 for non-existent tickets to festivals as well as ripping off sports fanatics looking for footy finals tickets, it’s not confirmed that Shelton is the same Ingleburn man detained recently for selling sham tickets to Soundwave, but it seems likely.
It’s unclear whether or not Shelton is the same man recently detained for a ticket scam involving selling fake tickets to highly sought after sold-out shows Soundwave and Swedish House Mafia. What is clear though is it’s time to take these lowlife frauds head on.
The NSW Government agrees with a plan to introduce new legislation to stop the resale of tickets at greatly inflated prices. The new laws would mean that the resale of any ticket for sporting and entertainment events would need to be within 10 percent of the original price.
Michael Gregory Shelton of Ingleburn is said to have ripped off at least ten customers with police identifying as many as 60 suspicious transactions.Sports Minister Graham Annesley said of the proposed legislation, “Fans should be able to expect that resale takes place in a manner which does not expose the new purchaser to any undue risk of fraud or price gouging by unscrupulous profiteers preying on the emotions of sports fans.” The NSW Government’s new proposal would bring it in line with Queensland and Victoria, which already have similar laws in place.
While the introduction of these new laws wouldn’t stop those selling tickets that don’t exist at all, like Shelton, the theory is that Police authorities will eventually catch the scammers. Instead, the new legislation would stem scalpers looking to profit from buying up tickets then selling them on at inflated prices.
A 2010 report undergone by the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council however, declared that banning on-selling wasn’t in the public interest. And there’s no doubt that on-selling has its perks; whether you’re looking to offload tickets to a gig you can no longer attend or trying to find some to a sold-out event.
Music punters face an uphill battle against ticket scalpers, with major ticketing outlets also coming under fire for unfair practice. Over in America, Arkansas resident, Corey McMillan successfully sued Ticketmaster after he was charged $49 in fees and so it’s not surprising that he took the ticket giants to court.
Shelton’s conviction is the latest in a string of ticket scalping cases, including two scams that came late in 2012. First when a London man used a fake ticketing website to scam over $6 million from imaginary tickets to high-profile concerts and major sporting events, and another 46-year-old woman from Stockport in Greater Manchester pleaded guilty to falsely advertised tickets on eBay for a sold-out George Michael tour to fund her gambling addiction.
Additionally as The Music Network reports, a trial has begun in the UK for a huge hoax involving a faked ticketing company and as much as $AU 3.6 million conned out of unsuspecting ticket buyers promised entry to concerts such as King Of Leon, Paul McCartnery and Jay-Z.
