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MANILA, Philippines – In an effort to deter more cases of ticket scams, online marketplace Carousell has temporarily suspended the sales of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert tickets on their platform.
Ticket sales for the singer’s concerts have been suspended from Caroussell since February 23, while all existing listings have been removed on February 26. Moreover, this took effect on Carousell’s platforms in six Southeast Asian countries: Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
New The Eras Tour concert ticket listings will only be allowed on the platform starting March 9 – when Swift’s six-night stop in Singapore has concluded.
In a statement, Carousell chief of staff Tan Su Lin explained that while a “vast majority of [their] ticket listings are from genuine sellers,” this kind of “preventive measure is needed” as there’s a high possibility that “many overseas concertgoers who may not know how to adequately protect themselves from local scam tactics.”
“Hence, we are stepping in to do our part to manage the situation in our platform, and working very closely with the Singapore Police Force. We are monitoring the situation vigilantly and taking action against scammers,” they added.
Over 100 Filipino fans get scammed of their ‘The Eras Tour’ concert tickets
Taylor Swift, who was recently named IFPI’s global recording artist of 2023, is in the middle of her The Eras Tour concert. However, to the heartbreak of many Philippine-based Swifties, the American singer didn’t include a concert stop in the Philippines, prompting numerous fans – including several famous Filipino celebrities – to fly to different parts of the world to catch the superstar in action.
Unfortunately, over 100 unsuspecting Filipino fans of the pop star fell prey to a scammer who pretended to sell tickets for Swift’s Eras Tour concert in Singapore.
On social media, several of the victims raised the alarm on an individual named Patrick Steven Nanud Agorto, also known as Pat Steve, whom the victims said they met through a Facebook group dedicated to Filipino fans attending The Eras Tour concerts abroad.
In a Facebook post, user Sharielle Yanson-Quinto shared that it was in July 2023 when she bought tickets from Agorto for Swift’s March 3, 2024 concert in Singapore. She noted that they transacted with him since one of her close friends knows him and that her brother-in-law also had a previous successful transaction with Agorto.
In August 2023, Yanson-Quinto found out that she was pregnant so she decided to resell her concert tickets, airline tickets, and hotel accommodation. By October 2023, Agorto made a group chat with a certain Mikaela Mariza “Cai” Lazaro to assist them with the transfer of names for the hotel accommodation and airline ticket refund. Yanson-Quinto continued that they kept on asking for updates over the next months, but by January 2024, they were informed that their hotel accommodation could not be transferred under someone else’s name. Around this time, they also noticed that Lazaro, who was supposed to refund them, had already deactivated her Facebook account.
As February 2024 rolled around, Yanson-Quinto came across other fans who were also airing their worries over their transaction with Agarto. “Ang dami ko na ring nababasa about kay Pat Steve in different groups na unresponsive (siya) and buying time sa mga nag-rerequest ng refunds dahil wala pa rin siyang nabibigyan ng tickets since ticket release,” she said.
(I’ve read several posts about Pat Steven in different groups that he’s unresponsive and buying time for those requesting refunds as he still hasn’t given any concert ticket since the e-tickets were released.)
Yanson-Quinto shared that she tried reaching out to him but he no longer reads her messages and the phone number he provided her is already out of coverage. She also added that she and other victims have already started a group chat, noting that “more than a hundred people” of them have been scammed.
User jeongpomu on X (former Twitter) also started a thread to raise awareness about the scammer, sharing a compilation of the victims’ experiences. According to the post, Agorto also offered flight and hotel booking assistance – on top of concert tickets – to the interested concertgoers.
Most of the victims pushed through with their transaction with Agorto as the latter posed as a legitimate seller – even providing official identification documents, agreeing to do video calls with the customers, and meeting up with the buyers in person to sign contracts.
The customers started to grow wary of Agorto when he claimed that all concert tickets he purchased were voided since someone allegedly reported all of his accounts to Ticketmaster. Moreover, Agorto also allegedly provided fake proofs of bank transfers to those requesting refunds, as well as selling the same concert tickets to different people.
In a Facebook post, GMA actress Sofia Pablo disclosed that she was one of the victims, noting that she was supposed to attend the March 3 show in Singapore.
According to a 24 Oras report, Agorto extracted almost P15 million. The report also noted that the victims have already filed a lawsuit through the help of the National Bureau of Investigation.
The Eras Tour served as Swift’s first stadium tour in five years. It kicked off in the US in March 2023 and is expected to end by December 2024 after 150 shows.
According to the Guinness World Records, Swift’s The Eras Tour has officially been named as the highest-grossing music tour ever. It’s the first concert tour to generate over $1 billion in revenue. – Rappler.com
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