Ticket Scammer Allegedly Duping Punters Out Of Thousands

A ticket seller calling himself Alex Ferrero has allegedly been using online social trading platform Gumtree to con unsuspecting purchasers collectively out of thousands of dollars for unusable tickets to gigs and events, it has been reported.

As News Corp attests, up to 100 would-be concertgoers, including a News staffer, were left disappointed on Tuesday night when they arrived at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney, with Ferrero-purchased tickets to the evening's Alt-J show in hand, only to find upon arrival that their tickets would not register on the venue's scanning system. Instead, they found they were left with mere PDF copies of the same two apparently legitimate tickets allegedly purchased by one of Ferrero's friends — but given ticket reference numbers/barcodes will only scan once, the copies were effectively useless. 

Ferrero allegedly took several steps to appear as above-board as possible. According to Carla Wainer, the 27-year-old News employee who was caught out by Ferrero, after meeting the "friendly" scammer in person, he "let me take a photo of his ID and forwarded me the original email from Ticketek that his friend had apparently bought for him, [which] made me think it was legitimate".

Ferrero has been the subject of scamming controversies before — the very first Google result for his name brings up a link to a Bluesfest forum thread in which a user called Cam recounted a similar story to Wainer's Alt-J experience, with other users stepping forward to also point out that they had been conned.

"I purchased 2 x 5 day tickets (with camping) from a Alex Ferrero in NSW, payment made and tickets never to be seen," he wrote at the time. "Thinking I was asking the right questions I asked for his details (address, drivers licence etc). But now I have details of somone who may not even exist. I have contacted the police and passed on the 'details'."

While a previous post on Gumtree pointing to Ferrero's transgressions has since been closed by the site, another has popped up in the past couple of days alerting potential buyers of the threat, and imploring victims to notify SCAMwatch of their experience to aid in the investigation of the matter.

In addition to the Alt-J gig, shows allegedly targeted by Ferrero include The Lion King and Listen Out festival. A Facebook page to raise awareness of the situation was previously set up — it now exists in the history of the internet only — but it seems that Gumtree's scamming woes don't stop there, with another page having been around for some time to catch not just Ferrero but several other alleged serial offenders. One such target of the page, Matthew John Francis Verrall, was sentenced to two years in prison back in May after being found guilty of 36 dishonesty charges totalling nearly $10,000.

If you've suffered a ticketing scam, please take advantage of the growing support network of fellow victims through any of the appropriate channels above.