Taylor Swift performs during the opening show of the Toronto dates for The Eras Tour on Nov. 14.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Three separate Greater Toronto Area police forces are investigating scores of complaints about Taylor Swift concert ticket scams, including one that is alleged to have affected hundreds of people, among them enthusiasts travelling from other provinces and the United States.
Affected fans, dead set on attending one of the pop star’s six dates in Toronto this month for her Eras Tour, say they found at the last minute that the tickets they purchased from a reseller never materialized. Some even booked hotels or Airbnbs and travelled from Saskatchewan, Quebec or the U.S., only to realize they had been hoodwinked.
Five of them spoke to The Globe and Mail, saying they individually lost between $2,000 and $16,000, and that they wanted to warn ticket buyers for the remaining three Swift concerts this week in Toronto.
“I just want to get the word out. I’m so angry. It’s heartbreaking for the kids,” said Jennifer Beck, a resident of Oakville, Ont., in an interview.
She said she filed a complaint with Halton Regional Police Service and was told the department had received 195 calls about the same case.
“We have received multiple complaints about scams involving Taylor Swift tickets. Our Financial Crimes Unit is aware and currently investigating,” Halton Regional Police Constable Jeff Dillon told The Globe.
Ms. Beck and four others shared similar stories about buying tickets from the same person, a resident of Burlington, Ont., who was considered trustworthy because she had resold admissions to other shows before.
The five had similar experiences where they were told that the tickets wouldn’t be available until 48 hours before the concert date, then hearing at the last minute from the reseller that her source for the block of tickets could not be reached anymore.
“It’s not a stranger. This is a woman who lives in our community,” Ms. Beck said of the reseller.
She said the prospective buyers who had dealt with the Burlington woman have set up a list tracking alleged victims. So far, they have tallied more than 400 tickets sold, she said.
“I had so many people that I had set up with this” reseller, said Sue Harper, a Haliburton, Ont., resident, in an interview, explaining that she had connected 24 people to the Burlington woman, some of whom bought up to 12 tickets.
Some of her friends in Alberta bought tickets for Ms. Swift’s December concerts in Vancouver. Another friend, in New York State, bought tickets that were sold for US$11,000 for charity, and had to replace them out of their own pockets.
Ms. Harper said that, in addition to the tickets, the reseller also offered VIP packages for an extra $280, with a T-shirt and a lanyard purportedly for privileged access.
Some fans had purchased their Swift concert at least a year ago: Ms. Harper ordered in August, 2023, while Ms. Beck did it in November, 2023.
Annette Newton, a resident of Aurora, Ont., bought four tickets that never materialized. When her daughters mentioned their mother’s misfortune on TikTok, they were swamped with responses from other victims, she said: “I didn’t realize the extent of it.”
Like Halton Regional Police Service, other departments also faced similar allegations relating to Swift concerts.
Constable Ashley Visser of the Toronto Police Service said her force had received 36 reports of fraudulent tickets for the first two shows and expected the tally to keep rising with the next four.
On Friday, Peel Regional Police released a public appeal that warned about a suspect in the fraudulent sale of tickets in the Toronto area, Jaspal Singh Thiara, a 37-year-old man from Toronto who was already on bail on similar charges.
The communiqué didn’t specify what concerts were involved, but a spokesperson for Peel Police, Constable Richard Chin, confirmed to The Globe that the allegations related to Swift concerts. One person lost $38,000, and there may be more victims, the release says.