A Hamilton man is facing dozens of charges for allegedly running a scheme that ripped off people who thought they were buying tickets to concerts and other events, police announced Wednesday.

Toronto police said the suspect sold non-existent tickets on Craigslist between March 2009 and last December, obtaining payment from his victims via email bank money transfers.

But the victims never received the tickets and lost their money.

Total losses are estimated in the thousands of dollars, police spokeswoman Const. Wendy Drummond told CP24.com.

Because the victims paid an unlicensed seller, they may be out the money. However, they may seek restitution through the courts.

Police said the accused used the following aliases to dupe several people: Sarah Lambert, Robert Cook, John Pearson, Megan Hinton, Jeff Costas, Amber Schultz, John Jonensen, Dan Evans, Ryan Lighty, and Mark Shaw.

Investigators have identified 20 victims, but there are believed to be more, Drummond said.

Police said Roger Neiley, 27, is charged with 20 counts of fraud under $5,000, 20 counts of laundering proceeds of crime, and 20 counts of making false or misleading representations to the public.

Neiley was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Police warn public

The arrest has resulted in a warning from police.

People who buy event tickets through an unlicensed seller have no protection when they use "online buying and selling Internet sites," so they should use a reputable seller, police said.

"It's the same old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is," Drummond said.

Anyone with information about the scheme is asked to call Det. Alan Spratt at 416-808-7300 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.

The investigation was conducted by the Toronto Strategic Partnership, a team of officers from several law enforcement agencies, including Toronto Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP, that probes mass-marketing fraud.

Craigslist offers safety tips

On its website, Craigslist offers a few "common sense" safety tips for people to protect themselves from being ripped off when they're buying or selling items.

These are some of them:

  • Deal locally with people you can meet in person
  • Never wire funds via a wire service
  • Fake cashier checks and money orders are common and banks will cash them and hold you responsible when the fake is discovered weeks later
  • Never give out your financial information, be it a bank account number, social security number, EBay or PayPal information
  • Avoid deals involving shipping or escrow services – only a scammer will "guarantee" your transaction