Facebook can be a great place to catch up with friends and family and to keep up-to-date with your favourite companies, but it’s also a haven for scammers with one goal in mind and that is to take you to the cleaners. Scammers with fake Facebook accounts have been selling tickets to a sell-out Bongo’s Bingo event through the global social media platform, the only thing is, they don’t have any tickets to sell!
For the first time, Bongo’s Bingo headlined at Epic Studios in Norwich on Saturday but tickets to the event were so hot, they sold out within days in August. Due to tickets being so sought after, one 24-year old local decided to check Facebook for any unwanted tickets and found a listing for tickets from a girl called ‘Louise.’
Message Me:
A conversation regarding the tickets struck up between the pair on Messenger. The seller had nothing on her profile – no friends or posts. The scammer urged the woman to pay £25 for the e-ticket through the PayPal gifting service; this carries no fees and results in very little protection for the person sending the cash. A screenshot of the conversation was printed in the local press to warn of the dangers of scammers on social media.
The woman wasn’t thrilled by the asking price but negotiated ‘Louise’ down to £15 for the ticket. This would’ve been a bargain as Bongo’s is packed with exclusive content such as dance-offs, 90-ball bingo games and much more!
After sending the cash through PayPal gifting, the woman never received the ticket. She messaged ‘Louise’ once again asking why she hadn’t had the ticket and the scammer replied: "My sister just showed up and said that I shouldn't sell the tickets that cheap." Numerous messages were sent to the profile before it was deleted off Facebook for good.
Be Careful:
A spokesman for the brand, said "We hate the idea of our customers being mis-sold tickets from third party sellers, so we always advise against purchasing tickets from anywhere other than our website. We recognise this can be a problem and we are currently working on a ticket resale system for our new app which will be launched soon. Huge apologies to anyone who has been mis-sold tickets from fraud sellers and please be vigilant and careful."
A spokesman for Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards team said: "Scammers will often target fan pages and selling pages on social media claiming to have tickets and asking those interested to direct message them. Once the money is transferred to the seller's account, the post or user account is deleted leaving the buyer out of pocket with no tickets and no way to contact the seller."
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Comments (1)
JaniceJ 10/17/19, 10:10:09 AM
I buy through Facebook groups but I ensure I send the money through the normal channel; pay for goods and services as this way you’re 100% covered if you don’t get your items!
