Reported by Susan Tompor

A Swiftie you know and love could be scammed soon as we edge closer to Taylor Swift’s sparkle-packed, back-to-back shows at Ford Field in Detroit.

It’s a story that fans in other cities, such as Atlanta and Nashville, can remember all too well.

Swift’s Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, in March, hits Detroit on June 9 and June 10, moves on to spots like Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Cincinnati and elsewhere, and ultimately runs into August in Los Angeles. The scammers love it.

One teen in the Atlanta area, unbeknownst to her parents, lost about $350 when she bought two fake tickets in a scam that started on Instagram. Her parents asked that her name not be used so scammers don’t target her.

A huge fan since age 5, the young woman had been commenting on verified Instagram accounts set up by other Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties. All of a sudden, someone reached out to her directly in January about tickets for sale. The seller even showed her proof with a screenshot of Taylor Swift tickets for one of three Atlanta concerts, which ran April 28, April 29 and April 30, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

It sounded like the real deal.

The teen did not realize that the screenshots of the tickets could be easily faked. She ended up sending money via Venmo and CashApp, as the seller kept requesting more money, including a fake $85 fee to transfer a Ticketmaster ticket to her. As more fees kept being added on, the high school student realized something wasn’t right.

Suddenly, the seller who had her money wasn’t able to talk to her.

“She ghosted me for like a week,” the young woman told me by phone. The seller claimed she had dropped her phone in the toilet and it was no longer working. Whatever. By this point, the buyer knew it was a scam.

Read full report: https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2023/06/06/taylor-swift-ticket-scams-detroit/70288406007/