Windsor woman scammed out of $800 after attempting to buy Taylor Swift concert tickets

Jodi Nesbitt, centre, recently purchased two tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming concerts in Detroit for herself and her granddaughter Lilly, left, for $800, only to learn the seller was not her Facebook friend as she thought, but an online scammer instead. (Source: Jodi Nesbitt, Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

As thousands of Taylor Swift fans prepare to see one of the world's top artists perform in Detroit, a Windsor woman searching for concert tickets said she learned a hard lesson about how easy it is for people to fall victim to online scams.

Jodi Nesbitt and her eight-year-old granddaughter, Lilly, are bonafide “Swifties” — a term used to describe the most dedicated of Taylor Swift fans.

However, Nesbitt is now trying to shake off the feeling of purchasing last-minute tickets from someone she thought was a friend on Facebook.

That’s because the person on the other end of the Facebook profile wasn’t her friend at all. Instead, it was a scammer who had taken over her friend’s account.

After noticing her friend’s profile posting messages to multiple social media groups, advertising they had four extra tickets to sell for Swift's Friday and Saturday concerts at Ford Field, Nesbitt sent them a direct message on Facebook.

Nesbitt asked if she could purchase two of the four tickets, as she only needed seats for herself and her granddaughter. They were $400 each.

"I wasn't really that concerned with it being a scam, because she was a friend," said Nesbitt. "She had asked how my family was and other typical things that somebody who you're catching up with on [Facebook] Messenger would ask."

After a brief conversation about the tickets, Nesbitt e-transferred $800 CAD to the "friend" on the other end of the Facebook profile. A different friend of Nesbitt who was also looking for Taylor Swift tickets attempted to send money to the same seller via e-transfer.

Instead, the friend's financial institution flagged the transaction as a scam and their e-transfer never went through. Nesbitt's e-transfer, however, had already gone through since the recipient’s account had activated auto-deposit.

That's when Nesbitt's suspicions began to arise.

"I went into my private message [with the seller] and I asked, 'What is your husband's name?' She started talking about a few other things but ignored my question twice," said Nesbitt.

Instead of receiving concert tickets, Nesbitt said the seller stepped away from the online conversation to "charge their phone" — but never returned.

Despite losing $800, Nesbitt said the most "disheartening" part of this ordeal was seeing the disappointment on her granddaughter's face when she had to tell her they would no longer be going to the Taylor Swift concert.

"I had just talked to her about online safety before all this. This, unfortunately, was a huge example to her of how you just don't know who you're talking to online. It was a very frightening and a traumatic experience for her," said Nesbitt. "Honestly, she wasn't as upset about missing Taylor Swift. She was more upset that there's people out there who would do this."

Nesbitt advises others not to make online purchases without verifying the seller's identity and suggests contacting them directly. She hopes speaking out will prevent others from falling victim to similar scams.

"We want to make sure that no other family goes through this and proceeds to do something to try and make their child happy, only to become a huge disappointment," she said. "Speak to the person and ask them questions that only they would know —and if you don't know enough about that person to ask them those questions, don't buy stuff online from them."

Fortunately, a Windsor radio station reached out to Nesbitt to give her two tickets to Swift's concert. While she is happy her granddaughter will get to see Taylor Swift live in concert, Nesbitt is still out hundreds of dollars.

"I had to file a police report and do an investigation with my financial institution. They have 15 days to either agree that I've been a victim of fraud or not," said Nesbitt.