The founder and administrator of the Facebook page Buy/Sell Tickets (Notts Uni), Rebecca De Beukelaer, has warned students of ticket scams.
De Beukelaer, who graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2013, received 5 private messages detailing how students had transferred money to someone with access to the page.
The students, however, never received their tickets and had been blocked by the individual on Facebook shortly after the transactions.
“It has never happened to this extent”
Allegedly, the individual used two different names but the bank details were identical, which allowed De Beukelaer to see that it was the same person.
The police and the individual’s bank, Natwest, have been contacted. In addition, the individual’s account has now been reportedly deleted.
Elisa Nevalainen, a second-year International and Media Communication student, told Impact: “It is a good page for students to buy and sell tickets but there is always a chance that someone will not provide the ticket you bought from them. In general, you just have to be careful and aware.”
Impact conducted an interview with Rebecca De Beukelaer about the incident and how students should deal with such situations.
“the individual’s account has now been reportedly deleted”
Have there been many cases of people trying to scam other people on the group?
Rebecca: “It has never happened to this extent. I have had maybe a handful of cases where the seller has sent over the same ticket to two people by mistake, or accidentally told the wrong entry time to the buyer. This meant the buyers never got in but still paid.”
How do you usually deal with these types of situations?
Rebecca: “I always ask for a screenshot of the buyer and seller’s private conversations to see what has happened, I then contact the other person and try to sort it out. Even if the seller agrees to refund 50% of the ticket as no one checked the entry time, or there was miscommunication between parties, something is always done.”
“Meet up and exchange paper money for paper ticket – nothing can go wrong here!”
Could you give any advice for students when purchasing tickets on the group?
Rebecca: “When buying a ticket, make sure you see a photo of the ticket as proof (and make sure the photo is real)
– Double check the time and date of the ticket you’re buying
– Meet up and exchange paper money for paper ticket – nothing can go wrong here!
– Meet in a safe public place when exchanging tickets/money
– If posting found personal belongings, cross out/cover up important information on photos of found IDs/bank cards/belongings.
– Report anyone who is misusing the group by reporting a post (which notifies the admins), or by sending screenshots of the conversation to the admin (Rebecca De Beukelaer), where the problem will be dealt with.”
Pamela Tickell
Image courtesy of Sarah Lindgarde.
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