4 people nabbed for involvement in Coldplay, Taylor Swift ticket scams; at least S$223,000 lost since January
SINGAPORE — One man and three women aged between 18 and 27 were arrested after a recent spate of e-commerce scams that involved the fake sale of concert tickets. At least 583 victims lost around S$223,000 since last month.

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs onstage at Rose Bowl Stadium on September 30, 2023 in Pasadena, California.
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- Four people, aged between 18 and 27, were arrested for their involvement in concert ticket scams
- At least 583 victims have fallen victim to this scam since January 2024, amounting to losses of at least S$223,000
- Most of the scams involved shows by foreign artistes Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Enhypen, among others
- Another seven men and four women are assisting in police investigations
SINGAPORE — One man and three women aged between 18 and 27 were arrested after a recent spate of e-commerce scams that involved the fake sale of concert tickets. At least 583 victims lost around S$223,000 since last month.
In a press release on Thursday (Feb 8), the police said that the scams involved tickets to recent concerts such as those by American singer Taylor Swift, British band Coldplay, Japanese pop duo Yoasobi, Chinese singer-songwriter Joker Xue and K-pop boy band Enhypen.
The victims would only realise that they had been duped when the scammers stop contact with them, while others found out only when their tickets turned out to be invalid on the day of the concert.
The four persons who were arrested allegedly helped these scammers by providing them with the means to open false bank accounts as well as mobile phone lines in exchange for monetary gains.
Another seven men and four women, including a 15-year-old male teenager, are also assisting in investigations.
The one-week joint operation was conducted between Jan 31 and Feb 6 by the seven police land divisions, Commercial Affairs Department, e-marketplace Carousell and the Government Technology Agency.
MODUS OPERANDI
As for how the scammers typically operated, they would pretend to be ticket sellers on online platforms such as Telegram, Carousell, Twitter, Facebook and Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.
Victims who expressed interest to buy the tickets would be redirected to contact the scammers on WhatsApp, Telegram or WeChat.
In some cases, the scammers provided fake screenshots or videos of the tickets and the ticket purchase receipts.
The scammers would promise to email the tickets or transfer tickets to the victims’ Ticketmaster accounts once the payment was successful. Ticketmaster is an online ticket sales platform that had sold tickets for several recent concerts in Singapore.
The police said: "Victims would only realise that they had been scammed when the sellers asked for additional payments, delayed delivery of tickets, became uncontactable, or when the tickets were found to be invalid on the concert day."
RELINQUISHED SINGPASS CREDENTIALS
Initial investigations by the police revealed that the four persons had allegedly facilitated the scam cases by opening new bank accounts and relinquishing them to the scammers, or relinquishing their Singpass credentials, and bank accounts or their internet banking credentials. They purportedly did so for monetary gain.
Singpass is the national digital authentification system for e-services.
“The relinquished Singpass credentials were misused by the scammers to open new bank accounts and mobile lines.
“The Singpass credentials and mobile lines were then further exploited by the scammers to open Carousell accounts to make the fake concert tickets listings,” the police said.
The other 11 persons who are assisting with investigations had "unwittingly" facilitated the scams through various ways, early investigations showed.
“Most of them took on job offers on Telegram, to receive money in their bank accounts to buy Razer gift cards or to facilitate the receipt and transfer of money through their bank accounts," the police said.
One 21-year-old woman was asked to change her Carousell account name and email address. The account was found to be taken over by the scammers, the police added.
The police also said that another 15-year-old had given his Carousell account to scammers who had offered to top-up an in-application wallet.
The police are advising the public to:
- Enable security features such as a two-factor authentication for their bank, Singpass and social media accounts, as well as to set transaction limits on banking transactions
- Check for scam signs with official sources. Buy only from authorised sellers and reputable sources
- Avoid making upfront payments to bank accounts of unknown individuals
- Verify the seller’s profile through its customer reviews and ratings
- Warn others about such scams and report the fraudulent pages to the social media platforms
Anyone with information on scams may call the police at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online to www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
They may also visit www.scamalert.sg or call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 for more information on scams.