An Ontario mother who spent $1,600 on Taylor Swift tickets that turned out to be a scam says she is devastated as she anticipates breaking the news to her 15-year-old daughter.
“As a parent you just want to make your kid happy,” Einav Feldman told CTV News Toronto on Monday.
Her daughter Maya made one request before leaving for sleepaway camp earlier this summer. If the iconic singer-songwriter announces Eras Tour dates in Canada, "please, please, please get tickets," Feldman recalled.
When a frenzy swept through the country after Swift announced six shows in Toronto less than two weeks ago, her daughter’s parting plea echoed in her mind. Feldman signed up for a verified fan account – along with an estimated 31 million others – and was waitlisted for a ticket.
Still eager to find a way, she came across a post on social media that appeared promising a day later.
“Was going to surprise my friends with Taylor Swift tickets but they ended up getting tickets for us. Now I’m stuck with extra 4x tickets,” the post read.
The account, which goes by the username 'Steph Rose' and has existed since 2011, showed an image of a young blonde woman who lived in Toronto and had its location set to Toronto. The account retweeted Swift often.
“Obviously, knowing there are scams out there, there was something holding me back,” Feldman said.
But then she pictured the smile that would spread across her daughter’s face if the tickets were real and she reached out. Within minutes, she got a reply.
“All I need is your email address and your name I’ll send them through Ticketmaster, how many tickets do you need ?” the account replied in an exchange reviewed by CTV News Toronto.
Feldman expressed hesitation, writing, “I’m so scared to be scammed,” in a subsequent email. In turn, the user sent her a screen recording of four Ticketmaster tickets on the lower level of Rogers Centre for Nov 14.
“You have nothing to worry about," they assured her.
But soon after Feldman e-transferred $1,600, she received an email stating that there was an additional $250 charge for a Ticketmaster tax fee that needed to be sent over before the tickets landed in her inbox.
That’s when Feldman said, “I realized I was scammed.” She asked for her money back but received radio silence in response.
CTV News Toronto reached out to Rose’s Twitter account but was blocked in response before the user swapped their display picture to a different young girl with dark hair. An email sent to the account Feldman had been communicating with also bounced back.
'PREYING ON DESPERATION'
Melanie McGovern, director of public relations at Better Business Bureaus, said their scam tracker has received 46 reports as of June involving fake Swift tickets for U.S. shows, prior to the Toronto ticket release.
“Buying tickets from a trusted vendor is always the way to go,” McGovern said, pointing to accredited sellers like Ticketmaster that have consumer protections in place.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson pointed to the company’s scam protection tips, which encourage caution when buying tickets from unknown individuals — especially if they ask for a direct transfer of money.
But McGovern acknowledged the vulnerability that comes along with the unprecedented demand for the Eras Tour.
“People are spending thousands of dollars to see a particular artist, that’s what scammers are relying on, they are preying on the desperation of fans to get their hands on those tickets,” McGovern said.
On Tuesday, Feldman’s daughter will return from summer camp and she’ll have to relay the disheartening news – a conversation she dreads.
“I’ve been sitting here dwelling since Thursday, sad, not knowing how to tell my daughter,” she said.
“It makes you not believe in people knowing that there’s such evil out there.”
