A Toronto-area woman arrested has been arrested after scamming dozens of Taylor Swift fans out of nearly $70,000 by promising them tickets that never materialized, police say.
The woman used the alias “Denise Blackhawk” while selling the tickets on Facebook Marketplace, Toronto police said in a news release Tuesday.
Her victims would e-transfer her an agreed amount for the tickets — police noted some of these deals were done when tickets first went on sale in 2023 — and were assured they’d be sent closer to the concert date. Fans never received their tickets.
“When victims requested their money back, the accused alleged that the money was gone,” police said.
Twenty-eight victims sent the woman money, police said.
Taylor Swift fans claim they were scammed by a ticket broker in Burlington, Ont., who allegedly sold the same seats for the same Toronto shows multiple times. Hundreds of fans may have been taken in by the scam.
The accused, who is from Burlington, has been charged with 32 counts of fraud under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.
She also faces one count each of fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
The woman is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 10.
Toronto police, who are also working with Halton police on the case, said they believe there are more victims.
CBC News spoke to several fans last week who said they had been scammed by the accused.
One woman, Melinda Tarantino, collected victims’ experiences in an online form after she lost over $3,000 buying tickets for herself and her two daughters.
Tarantino told CBC Hamilton she heard from nearly 160 people who collectively bought about 420 tickets from the accused. She said she’s provided the list to Halton police.
Childrens’ dreams were taken from them, mom says
Jessica Goodwin, who lives in Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, also said she was scammed by the accused.
She said she paid $1,620 for tickets for herself and her two children. The accused sent Goodwin a screenshot showing the section with their seats in the Rogers Centre, she said.
“It all seemed pretty legitimate,” she said.
In total, Goodwin said she spent between $6,000 and $7,000 on a trip to Toronto for her whole family, including plane tickets and a stay at a condo downtown.
Last Wednesday, she surprised her children with the tickets, but on Friday — one week before the show she thought she was attending — she learned she had been scammed.
Her children were devastated, she said.
“I made their dream come true and two days later, I had to take it from them,” Goodwin said.
Since about $5,000 of what they spent was non-refundable, the family still decided to visit Toronto. They attended Taylgate ’24, a fan event at Metro Convention Centre.
“We made the best of it, but it never compared to what should have been,” she said.
Anyone from Toronto who may have purchased a fraudulent ticket is asked to contact police or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.