Facebook Marketplace scams take advantage of what should be a handy way of selling your unwanted stuff, but not all the ‘buyers’ that approach you on the platform are as they seem as we are regularly warned about.
For one young Swindon lady this week it was not a scammer she needed to be wary of but a foul mouthed local who instead of scrolling on decided it was her job to teach the suspected ticket tout a lesson.
Now whether this online troll was upset at not being able to get tickets to the gig that the seller was advertising tickets for, at less than cost price, or not, we are not sure but what comes next seems a little unnecessary.
The tickets were offered for sale for the N-Dubz gig at Manchester’s AO Arena this weekend at £52 each. Included with the tickets was the Arena’s Premium Experience which gives priority entrance, a glass of champagne on arrival and the ‘Best seats in the House.’
Now if you take into account that the cheapest ticket available right now is £49.95pp plus booking fee and does not include the premium experience the seller clearly was not making any profit like a normal ticket tout would and was clearly just looking to recoup some of her outlayed costs for an event she could no longer attend.
Imagine her surprise when a local ‘lady’ made contact from the advert with the words ‘F**k off you s*ut’.
Not finished there, the lady who we will name as Lisa continued her abuse.
‘You and your fake scammer mates go f**k each other’
Weirdly followed up by ‘You need to eat more food’
‘Stop scamming honest people with fake tickets’ Lisa continued before ending the conversation calling the innocent seller a ‘Nazi who*e.’
Now you will see many warnings from police and trading standards to be on your guard for fraudsters looking to scam your goods from you either paying with fake bank notes or not paying you at all, but what you don’t see is the warnings about aggressive keyboard warriors like Lisa.
The story ended well for the seller who provided an update on social media with the screenshots and has managed to sell the tickets however driving to meet them in a service station – WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS ACTION!
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police commenting on the screenshots has advised: “We take any forms of abuse very seriously and would urge anyone who believes they have been a victim of a crime to get in touch with us.
“Our officers will be able to confirm whether an offence has been committed, based on the full facts and your individual situation.
“If possible, we’d recommend taking a screenshot of the message so if it gets deleted later there will still be a record of what was said.
“You can contact us on 101 or by following the link below.”
Report a crime | Wiltshire Police
If you are unlucky enough to encounter a ‘Lisa’ whilst going about your business on Facebook Marketplace or any other social media selling site, do not respond and ensure you log it with Wiltshire Police on the link above.
