Victim of Coldplay tickets scam speaks out after fake seller brought to justice

The victim of a Coldplay tickets scam has spoken out after the culprit who duped him was brought to justice by a garda investigation.

The 19-year-old who carried out the scam cannot be named as he was a minor at the time of the offence.

Appearing before Bray District Court, it was revealed that the accused placed an advertisement on adverts.ie offering two tickets for Coldplay’s concert at Croke Park.

The court was told that the victim transferred €200 to the accused for tickets, which were never sent by the defendant .

A garda from Shankill Garda Station told the court that he received a complaint from the injured party and initiated an investigation.

He applied for a Section 52 order under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, which allows gardaí to access banking and electronic transaction records.

This order enabled gardaí to trace the payment to a bank account and an associated IP address located in Co Kerry.

The garda said the investigation showed that the money had been received by the accused, despite no tickets ever being transferred to the purchaser.

Solicitor Michael O’Connor, representing the defendant, told the court that his client was always going to be discovered, stating that even basic Garda investigation would uncover the scheme.

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Mr O’Connor said the accused has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism.

He told the court that his client had attempted to repay €50.

Judge David Kennedy ordered that the full sum of €200 be repaid to the victim and imposed a €500 fine, to be paid only after the injured party had been reimbursed.

Chris Martin of live in Brooklyn’ at Music Hall  Photo: Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for SiriusXM

The matter was adjourned until February 9 for proof of payment.

Speaking after the case finished, the victim said: “I also want to acknowledge how seriously the gardaí took it. While €200 might not seem significant compared to other crimes, the case was handled professionally and with real follow through.

“I reported it in the hope that it might help if others had been scammed as well, and I was genuinely impressed by how the garda who managed the case dealt with it. It should be a warning to anyone who thinks these scams go unnoticed and a reassurance that reporting them does matter.”

The victim said the scam felt convincing until the moment it unravelled.

“It felt real right up until it didn’t. I was excited, I trusted the process and then I was completely gobsmacked. I was gutted about the concert, embarrassed that I’d been taken in and angry at how manipulative it was. It wasn’t just losing money, it was realising how deliberately someone had played on trust and emotion.”

He added that the seller had taken steps to appear legitimate.

“At first it felt completely real. We had done video calls, there were ID checks and everything seemed legitimate. So when I realised I had been duped, I was honestly gobsmacked.”

The victim said he hopes the outcome of the case will encourage others to report similar incidents and discourage those who believe low-value online scams will go undetected

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