MIRI – A 50-year-old man in Kuching has lost RM 11,530 trying to buy tickets online for a Taylor Swift concert in Singapore next year.
Sarawak police chief Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said the man, an engineer, attempted his purchase through social media from a site which claimed it was selling the tickets.
“The engineer purchased three tickets worth RM 11,530 via online payment.
“He paid into a bank account provided by the social media site.
“He realised he had been scammed when he could not contact the ticket seller after making the payments,” said Azman in a statement today.
The man’s police report said he was cheated on July 6.
Swift’s The Eras Tour has live performances at Singapore’s National Stadium on six dates in March next year.
Malaysia’s neighbour to the south is the American superstar’s only Southeast Asian stop.
According to media reports, tickets were priced at RM372 for Category 6 seats, and are RM1,199 for Category 1 seats. VIP packages were also sold from a range of RM1,130 to RM4,232.
Tickets for all six Swift concerts in Singapore were sold out within eight hours on July 7, media in the republic reported.
On a separate scam, Azman said an executive at a professional firm in Miri lost RM106,737 after she took up a part-time job through WhatsApp offered by a number she did not know.
The woman in her 30s was told to go to a social media site to click “like” and to “subscribe” multiple times and was promised RM20 commission for every click.
“She was also asked to deposit certain sums of money online to earn even more profits for her deposit. Between July 3 and 7 she had made 10 payments to eight different bank accounts for a sum of RM 106,737,” said Azman.
The woman realised she had been cheated after the person she had been dealing with could not be contacted anymore.
Azman also said another woman, a manager at a private firm in Miri, was cheated out of RM 84,800 after being frightened into paying that sum to bogus enforcement officers who claimed her credit cards had been misused for online purchases.
The woman, in her 30s, lodged a police report on July 7.
Azman reminded the public to always to seek advice from the nearest police station if they were in doubt or afraid of suspicious phone calls or messages. – The Vibes, July 10, 2023
