JAILED: Fraudster conned fans out of thousands for fake gig tickets
They thought they were buying VIP tickets for some of the biggest music acts of the moment.
In fact, the fans were being fleeced out of thousands of pounds by an online fraudster and the tickets did not exist.
Matthew Thompson advertised the non-existent tickets for artists including One Direction and Michael Bublé on classified advertisement websites Gumtree and Craigslist for up to £90 each, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
His victims transferred payments totalling thousands of pounds to his bank account between October 2013 and May 2014 – but were left empty-handed.
Remarkably it was neither the first nor the last time the 36-year-old carried out the same racket.
In 2013 he received a suspended prison sentence after taking money for tickets to see artists including Rihanna and Take That, but then failing to deliver.
And following his arrest over the more recent offences in May 2014, Thompson admitted continuing with the fraud up to September 2015 and conning even more victims.
The court yesterday heard his crimes since October 2013 had made him in the region of £4,000.
He was given a 90-week jail term which included the 20-week sentence which had been suspended in 2013.
The court heard Thompson, of Tudor Vale, Upper Gornal, primarily advertised the tickets on the Gumtree website.
His victims would contact him by email after which negotiations were carried out via text message. Money was then transferred to his own bank account.
Mr Richard McConaghy, prosecuting, said: "This is not one of those cases where the tickets genuinely existed. He never purchased the tickets himself in the first place.
"As matters went along, to shore up his fraud and to demonstrate to his victims he was able to provide, he produced false documentation from Ticketmaster in order to show to his buyers he had bought the tickets he was purporting to sell."
The court also heard Thompson would make up lies about why the tickets were for sale, which included some for Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga gigs.
He told potential buyers that he was selling three tickets to see One Direction at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester because he had bought them for his daughter 'not realising she was too young to stand at the concert'.
He claimed he no longer needed other tickets because he 'was going on holiday'. Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said his client's life had deteriorated since his arrest and argued the racket was 'in some senses fairly amateur'.
He said: "He recognises his offences caused considerable upset to those who had put their faith in the integrity of the internet and online sales. He is now drinking to excess and has become very isolated and depressed. This was not as professional as some of the cases this court deals with where gangs of offenders target people on a very wide scale. This was an individual operating from his home.
"He used his own phone and his own bank account to receive the money. It meant he was fairly easily traced."
Thompson had admitted 12 specimen charges of fraud from an original list of 17 from which he received £1,531.
He had asked the court to consider another 14 similar offences which took place between October 2013 and September 2015 which made him a further £2,526 profit.
Judge Amjad Nawaz, said: "It was made clear to you when you received the suspended sentence in 2013 that if you reoffend not only will you be sentenced for the new offences but it will start off potentially with 20 weeks.
"Those offences went back to 2010/11 and you were arrested for these offences in May 2014. This shows you had not ceased your criminality but had actually continued with it not only while being investigated for those offences but also subsequently to those coming to light."
When Thompson was sentenced in 2013 it was revealed how he promised tickets for some of the world's biggest live acts, including Rihanna and Take That, but failed to deliver. One victim who thought she was buying VIP tickets for a Take That concert was fleeced out of £825.
Some customers received a partial refund but due to his lack of assets he was ordered to pay back just £1 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
