Woman pays MIA seller $700 for Taylor Swift tickets: Carousell bans user, assisting with police investigations

A woman paid $700 for a pair of Taylor Swift concert tickets that a Carousell user had listed for sale -- only for the latter to disappear and block her.

Stomper V, a 30-year-old admin executive, is appealing for help after realising that she has likely been scammed by the user known as @barthiboii.

The Cat 3 concert tickets had been listed for sale at $500 each, but V said the seller agreed to deal at $700 for two tickets after negotiations.

She told Stomp: "He seemed legit as he replied to all my queries prior to payment."

After V made payment via PayNow and sent @barthiboii a screenshot of the transfer, she asked for the conversation to be moved to WhatsApp.

The seller declined, claiming that he hardly uses WhatsApp and is "always active" on Carousell.

Nevertheless, V reached out to the seller on WhatsApp using the PayNow number that he had provided for the transaction.

However, the other party responded that he had not sold anything on Carousell.

V told Stomp: "He said he was not the seller that I'd communicated with on Carousell. How is that possible?? I PayNowed the amount to his mobile number!

"He has also blocked me on WhatsApp and ghosted me on Carousell.

"I have already filed a police report but I am not sure that I get back my funds.

"Hopefully, with the power of social media, he will return me my money. I used my family's temporary emergency funds. I'll be dead if my parents know about this."

In response to a Stomp query, the police confirm that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

A Carousell spokesman told Stomp on Thursday (July 6): "Carousell has banned the user @barthiboii, and will assist the relevant authorities with their investigations.

"Users are encouraged to report any suspicious listings and users to us via the 'Report Listing' and 'Report User' feature that's available on both the web and the app. Our team will review these reports within 24 hours from when it's being reported.

"We also regularly update our Local Trends and Safety Advisory to inform our users on what to look out for to better protect themselves.

"While we do not stop genuine consumers transacting on our platform, we urge buyers to do their background checks on any deal. If, at any point, they feel uncomfortable with transacting, they should decline to deal.

"Buyers who purchase tickets from third-party vendors will generally increase the risk of dealing with scammers, who may be selling counterfeit or stolen tickets. Ticket buyers on our platform are encouraged to arrange for physical meet-ups to verify the authenticity of the tickets before making any payment.

"For users who are looking to sell their tickets with genuine intent, we strongly urge them to check and adhere to the reselling terms and conditions laid out by the official channels. These are likely to be found on the ticket itself or on the organiser’s website."

While @barthiboii's profile is no longer accessible, a Google search of the username shows that he had multiple listings for Taylor Swift concert tickets.

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