GARDAÍ ARE INVESTIGATING a woman with a large following on social media who allegedly scammed dozens – and potentially hundreds – of people after she claimed to have Electric Picnic tickets for sale. 

The woman never transferred the tickets after people allegedly paid her the money for them. 

It is understood that the woman made a six-figure sum from the scam and it is understood that she has so far repaid roughly half of it after questioning by gardaí.

Victims online said they trusted the woman as she has a large following on social media, and some of them knew her personally.

It is alleged that the woman posted on her Instagram story last month that she was selling two tickets for Electric Picnic. She has more than 6,000 followers on Instagram. 

The hugely popular sold-out music festival is to take place in Stradbally, Co Laois on the weekend of 29 August. Many people have found themselves without a ticket and have turned to second-hand sources, despite warnings from festival organisers that scams are rampant.

One victim, Zara McGettigan, was conned out of €360.

She told The Journal that she initially didn’t trust that the tickets were legitimate, but after exchanging photos and video messages with the alleged scammer over Snapchat, she felt the woman was trustworthy.

They’d also previously met in person and had mutual acquaintances.

The alleged scammer said she had to sell her tickets because she’d failed her college exams and repeats were taking place on the Friday and Monday of the festival, making it impossible for her to attend.

At first, McGettigan was only asked to transfer half the amount the ticket was worth, and agreed that she’d give the rest once tickets became transferable via Ticketmaster closer to the date of the festival. 

“Then a couple of days later, I get a message from her. She said, ‘Oh, somebody’s offering me €450. Do you reckon you could send the rest on?’

“I probably did it a bit in the spur of the moment. I just sent it on. But again, I know this girl, I’ve met her before.”

McGettigan said they spoke frequently in the weeks after that.

Once the tickets became transferrable, McGettigan’s friends began receiving theirs, which they’d bought from other second-hand sources. But McGettigan still hadn’t received hers.

Last Thursday, she texted the woman who gave various excuses as to why she couldn’t send the ticket immediately.

On Sunday, McGettigan received a message from the woman saying her Revolut had been hacked. McGettigan didn’t understand how this would affect the ticket transfer. Figuring it was a scam, she reported the woman to gardaí.

She said that since she posted a TikTok about the experience, she’s been inundated with comments and messages from people saying they were scammed by the same person. Some say they’ve got their money back. Others haven’t.

“Who is going to be scammed by someone they know in real life?” one alleged victim said in a TikTok video.

This woman told her followers that she only realised she may have been scammed when she read the comments under McGettigan’s video.

When she confronted the accused, she was told that there was a problem with transferring the tickets but that it would be fixed soon.

When she asked for her money back, she was told it couldn’t be sent on Revolut but would be sent via bank transfer. As it was a Friday night, it would only arrive on Monday. However, the victim did not believe the money was sent, and she subsequently went to gardaí.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána confirmed that it is investigating the case. 

“It is important that people exert a great degree of caution if attempting to purchase tickets for a sold-out event through any third-party, known or otherwise,” they said.

“Do not trust that the tickets you believe you are purchasing are real. It is likely that they will not materialise and in fact, do not exist.

“Please do not send money through any app in advance.”

Gardaí are appealing to anyone who believes that they may have been a victim of online fraud to report it at a local garda station in person or by phone, or alternatively call the Freephone Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.