WATCH ABOVE: If you’re trying to get last-minute tickets to Taylor Swift’s Edmonton concert, one fan is warning: buyer beware. Jesssica Kent explains.
EDMONTON — Danielle Topolinsky, who has idolized Taylor Swift since she was 12 years old, was devastated Tuesday night when she was turned away at the doors of Rexall Place due to fraudulent tickets.
Topolinsky, 19, spent $650 for a pair of floor seats to Swift’s concert in Edmonton Tuesday night. She bought them from a woman selling the tickets on a local buy and sell Facebook Page, but soon found out several other people also purchased the exact same seats from the same woman.
“I showed up to Rexall Place and apparently they were already scanned into the building, along with a bunch of other people,” Topolinsky said Wednesday afternoon. “I was so shocked last night, I went from shock to cry a little to just straight anger. I didn’t go to sleep last night until 2 o’clock, I felt so stupid.”
After speaking to some of the others who were turned away Tuesday night, Topolinsky said some paid $400 for the tickets, and others paid upwards of $1,100.
Topolinsky said she was told by a Rexall Place employee that 109 people had fraudulent tickets to the concert, and over 80 per cent of those had the exact same seats she had.
The buyers Global News spoke to said they didn’t think it was a scam because they all met the seller in person. Topolinsky said the woman used a different name each time she sold the tickets, but several of the victims identified her picture.
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“Everybody is coming forward with all these different names but the one thing they’re agreeing on is if we show a picture they’re like, ‘That’s the woman,'” Topolinsky explained. “Speaking from someone who used to work at Rexall, the tickets were 100 per cent legit, she just photocopied them and handed them off.”
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The Edmonton Police Service said it is investigating at least 10 reports of fraudulent tickets from Tuesday night’s concert.
“These people were either in possession of fraudulent tickets or tickets that other concert attendees had already used,” said EPS Spokesperson Anna Batchelor.
Police are encouraging anyone who was turned away due to fraudulent tickets to report it to police; they’re also encouraging online buyers to protect themselves.
“We encourage anyone who buys a ticket to have it verified by the original vendor,” said Batchelor. “Get a bill of sale, confirm the identity of the person and if you are a victim of online purchase fraud, please do report it to the police.
“There’s no need to feel embarrassed or simply write off the loss.”
Topolinsky wants to warn others so they don’t end up disappointed like she was Tuesday night.
“We all had the common goal of seeing Taylor,” she said. “I actually saw a three-year-old cry last night and you know you can’t explain that to a child.”
Batchelor said the EPS has seen an increase in online ticket fraud over the past year, not just for concerts but for sporting events too.
A spokesperson for Rexall Place said since none of the tickets were bought directly from Ticketmaster there’s nothing they can do but red flag the seats.
With files from Jessica Kent, Global News.
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