MEN INVESTIGATION: Victims say tickets they spent thousands of pounds on never arrived, and they have failed so far to get any money back. Helena Vesty reports.
Final Oasis concert at Heaton Park
Music fans claim they have lost thousands of pounds in an alleged ‘scam’ after trying to snag tickets to some of Manchester’s biggest gigs this summer – including Oasis at Heaton Park and Billie Eilish at Co-op Live.
One victim says he lost £3,500 after believing he’d bought 29 Oasis tickets on behalf of a group of friends and family. The two Heaton Park homecoming weekends for the band came and went without any tickets arriving.
Another said her daughter was left devastated after Billie Eilish tickets, paid for and promised as a Christmas gift, failed to ever show up.
But the seller disputes that there is any scam going on, insisting people have received tickets from him ‘fine’ before, that there was ‘just a huge issue with Oasis ones’, and that people will get their money back.
The Manchester Evening News has spoken to three people who say they sent money to a man on social media and messaging apps, after he promised he could supply them with concert tickets.
The man’s contact information was passed around between friends and families as people had good experiences buying tickets from him at first.
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Long lists of upcoming events at Manchester’s biggest venues were sent out by the man, who appears to operate from Halifax, through social media and Whatsapp, claim customers.
People told the M.E.N. that they chose from the list and paid the seller for tickets through bank transfers.
The tickets were then, as pledged, transferred into the customers’ Ticketmaster accounts from the seller successfully, they say.
They then went back for more – including spending thousands trying to get tickets for the recent Oasis gigs – and the money was transferred to the man.
But this time, no tickets were ever sent over nor money refunded, according to the people we spoke to.
The M.E.N. tracked down the man to put the allegations to him.
The seller, who we have has not named for legal reasons, responded to their claims, saying: “People are getting money back as tickets fell through.
“I have been refunding people as I can daily and everyone will be getting money back.
“I told people to go to banks as I thought that was the quickest way to get money to them, which in some cases it has been.”
“I am sorry this happened and I want everyone sorting ASAP. I am waiting for money to come to me to move back to people,” he added.
“Everyone will get paid and sorted out, despite what they may believe of me.”
The seller appears to give instructions about how to pay him for tickets(Image: UGC)
Ashlea Penty, 39, says she was a victim of the ticket seller. The Wythenshawe mum heard about the man through friends, who had bought and received tickets.
Ashlea also successfully got tickets for Sean Paul and Ashanti, which she’d bought from him at first, but then things started to unravel.
“I messaged him over Christmas to get my niece and daughter Billie Eilish tickets, I sent the money straight away, my daughter is completely and utterly obsessed,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“I’m a single mum with six kids, I can’t afford full-whack ticket prices and I’d got tickets from him before. I paid him £350.”
When Billie Eilish started her run of shows at Co-op Live in mid-July, the tickets were nowhere to be seen, claims Ashlea.
“He’d normally sent the tickets a couple of days before, through Ticketmaster,” she said.
“On the day of the show, I messaged him saying ‘you need to be sending me these tickets’, he told me he was trying. I’d told him he needed to send me them or give me back the money so I could get tickets through Ticketmaster myself.
“Then he said Ticketmaster had blocked his account and told us to try and get a refund through the bank.
“This caused a major conflict between my husband and I. My daughter didn’t come out of her room for two days, she’s 15.
“It’s emotionally impacted my house, £350 over Christmas is a lot of money. It is at any time of the year to be honest, to be told you can’t get it back is even worse.”
Billie has now completed her run of four gigs at Manchester Co-Op Live Arena(Image: HENRY HWU)
Ashlea says she feels awful for being duped – and spreading the seller’s details to other people.
“You got tickets cheaper if you advertised him on Facebook,” explained Ashlea.
“A lot of people have bought tickets because they’ve seen him on my Facebook – I wouldn’t have advertised him if I didn’t get the tickets in the first place.
“I made a group chat for victims – it started off as five people, there’s more than 100 of us now.
“One of my friends had so many tickets through him, I didn’t even question. Now I’ll never trust anybody like that again, I’ll always go through the right channels from now on.
As of writing on August 11, Ashlea says she has not received any refund from the seller, nor had a reply from him about her money.
Another victim, a 30-year-old man, told the M.E.N. that he, too, had been passed the same ticket seller’s information by people he knew.
He decided to get tickets for a darts tournament through the man. “Straight away, he got them, and we had really good seats,” said the 30-year-old from Radcliffe.
“He sent out a list of events we could buy tickets for straight away, and he makes it believable. He’d say that he only gets tickets for venues in Manchester, and you’d have to give him a bit of notice if you wanted him to sort tickets outside of Manchester.
“I got tickets for Chris Brown, again they were really good seats.”
The seller appears to have told Ashlea Penty ‘everything fine’, before she was let down over Billie Eilish tickets(Image: UGC)
The dad passed the seller’s phone number around to those he knew, after being told the seller worked for Ticketmaster.
Then came Oasis at Heaton Park last month. “I fully believed in him at that point, after using him twice,” said the man, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“I’d previously asked him if I could get Oasis tickets – lots of people had been after them and I’d said to my mates that I know a guy who might be able to get us some.
“There were 29 tickets I should have been getting from this guy for Oasis.
“It got closer and closer to the time, and the seller told me that the transfer system on Ticketmaster was down and being really slow. But he said he’d taken lots of bookings and it was happening for everyone.
“He asked me if I wanted to transfer the tickets to the second weekend, or wanted a refund, because he wasn’t able to get the tickets to me in time for the first weekend’s shows.
“One person I’d bought tickets for asked for a refund because they couldn’t make it, and the seller sent me back £300.”
Oasis are currently playing their Live ’25 tour across the UK and Ireland (Image: Big Brother Recordings )
The Radcliffe dad told the seller he wanted to move the remainder of the tickets to the second weekend. But come the final Oasis weekend at the end of July, and there were still no tickets.
“After the final Oasis concert, he was telling me how sorry he was, and that his advice would be to get in touch with his bank,” said the 30-year-old.
“I asked him what was going on with the tickets and he was making excuses.
“It made me wonder, is he the scammer or has he been scammed too?
“My bank is saying they won’t investigate further at the moment because I got the Chris Brown tickets, and that £300 refund. The bank is saying it’s a buyer-seller dispute.”
The Radcliffe victim says he spent just short of £4,000 in total with the ‘scammer’.
That includes £3,500 on Oasis – £900 of which was the buyer’s own money, trying to get tickets for family members, the rest was money sent by other people attempting to get in on the deal.
“I just feel bad for my nana’s mates, who had given me money for tickets,” said the victim.
“I told the seller ‘I want to feel sorry for you, but there’s so many people you’ve let down’.”
The seller appears to tell the Radcliffe man that the quickest way to get his money back is through his bank after Oasis tickets failed to show(Image: UGC)
As of writing on August 11, he says he has not received any refund from the seller, nor had a reply from him about his money.
The bad feeling is having an impact on those who live near the seller, says one of his neighbours, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“Angry people come knocking on my door thinking it’s me who owes them money, especially over the last couple of weeks,” the Halifax resident told the M.E.N.
“I get funny looks in town from people who I’m sure think it’s me.
“It’s just not something you expect to happen on your doorstep.”
Another victim, from Bolton, said she’d been recommended by friends to use him after good experiences.
“It’s like he uses bits of tickets here and there to show people he can get them. And then he could prove that he was sending people tickets and that they’d got into the events,” she explained.
“He’d send screenshots and screen recordings of his transfers over Ticketmaster to other customers. It seemed very legitimate.
“There are so many posts now appearing on Facebook from people saying they’ve been scammed by the same man over Oasis tickets, Billie Eilish, even Taylor Swift whose concerts were a year ago.”
This woman says she sent the seller £950 for Oasis, Coldplay and Sam Fender tickets.
“I know it’s stupid, but it seemed really legit. He’d sent voice messages saying ‘trust me, it’s safe’,” she said.
“Then he messaged me at 6.30 the morning of the Oasis gig I was supposed to be going to, saying he couldn’t do any transfers and that his bank account had been reported.
“I feel embarrassed for even being a part of it. He kept saying he’s going to sort the money out but I’ve not got anything back – it’s hard to deal with through the banks because we’ve willingly sent our money to this account.”
A screenshot showing how much the Bolton woman says she sent to the seller on the promise of tickets(Image: UGC)
As of writing on August 11, the Bolton woman says she has not received any refund from the seller, nor had a reply from him about her money.
The seller responded to these claims specifically, saying: “Coldplay and Sam Fender… have not actually happened yet.
“Many people have had tickets fine off me and [it was] just a huge issue with Oasis ones.
“On regards to Taylor Swift, people got their refunds back into their account either through me or banks, which I had to pay back to bank.
“[There] was no money made from this.”
Addressing the allegation that angry customers can now not get hold of him, the seller said: “No one is stone walled, they can all reach me by mobile.”
A Ticketmaster spokesperson said: “We strongly urge fans to only buy tickets from official sources and never from individuals on social media.
“While our teams are actively investigating this account and doing all they can to prevent this kind of activity, we encourage fans to stay vigilant and avoid unofficial sellers.”
Customers say the man sent out price lists, claiming he could get tickets to a host of huge acts and events coming to Manchester(Image: UGC)
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Just last month, the M.E.N. reported on a ticket scam, where fraudsters hijacked Facebook accounts to dupe desperate fans into spending hundreds, convincing victims they were speaking to someone they knew.
Lloyds Banking Group recently revealed that Oasis fans have lost over £2 million to ticket scams in the past year, with one person losing £1,700 on the band’s reunion tour.
Action Fraud – the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service – says £9,794,034 was lost nationally to ticket fraud last year, up from £6,694,955 in 2023. There were 9,826 ticket fraud reports in 2024, up from 8,719 in 2023.
Victims say a number of reports have been made about this pernicious seller to ActionFraud and the police.
In relation to the Bolton woman’s report, Chief Superintendent Amanda Wolf, Head of Action Fraud and National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), said: “Action Fraud can confirm that it received [this report] on 21 July 2025 and it is currently being assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) at the City of London Police.”
Experts are urging people to stay alert for criminals who are trying to sell tickets online or on social media for top events and sold-out concerts this summer.
Claire Webb, acting director of Action Fraud, said those looking for last minute ticket deals must recognise the signs of ticket fraud.
“Beware of fraudsters trying to take advantage by selling fake tickets to popular or sold-out events online or on social media, especially if you receive unsolicited or unexpected messages offering tickets,” she said.
“Protect yourself from ticket fraud: ensure you buy your tickets securely by checking for the STAR logo, and using either an official agent, a reputable ticket exchange site or going directly to the venue’s box office. Requests for payment via bank transfer is a sign of fraud: always pay with a credit card if you can. Follow Action Fraud’s advice for more tips on how to protect yourself.”
How to report fraud
Report suspicious emails by forwarding it to: report@phishing.gov.uk
Find out how to protect yourself from fraud: https://stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk
If you’ve lost money or provided your financial information to someone, notify your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
How to protect yourself from ticket fraud
- Only buy tickets from the venue’s box office, official promoter or agent, or a well-known ticketing website.
- Avoid paying for tickets by bank transfer, especially if buying from someone unknown. Using a credit card gives you a better chance of recovering the money if you become a victim of fraud.
- The password you use for your email account, as well as any other accounts you use to purchase tickets, should be different from all your other passwords. Use three random words to create a strong and memorable password, and enable 2-step verification (2SV).
- Be wary of unsolicited emails, texts or adverts offering unbelievably good deals on tickets.
- Is the vendor a member of STAR? If they are, the company has signed up to their strict governing standards. STAR also offers an approved Alternative Dispute Resolution service to help customers with outstanding complaints. For more information visit star.org.uk/buy_safe.
If you receive a suspicious email, report it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk. For more advice on how to stay secure online, visit cyberaware.gov.uk.