A DIE-HARD fan of pop singer Jay Chou, surnamed Lin, paid a scalper some 40,000 yuan (US$5,726) for tickets to the Shenzhen concerts of Chou’s world tour and ended up receiving only a comb, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The scalper was introduced to Lin by her colleague recently and referred to himself as a proxy buyer who could get her tickets from a channel of insiders.

“The scalper’s price was relatively reasonable. What’s more, he won my trust through my colleague’s recommendation,” said Lin. She bought 30 tickets to the concerts, which were held at Shenzhen Universiade Center in Longgang District on Sunday and yesterday, and made an appointment with the scalper to collect the tickets in person on Wednesday evening.

The scalper went to Guangzhou to collect the tickets on the appointed date and thereafter told Lin that the tickets had to be sent by express or refunded since he was occupied with a meeting. On Thursday morning, Lin received a package from the scalper, which contained a comb instead of the concert tickets she had bought.

The scalper became unresponsive when Lin tried to talk to him about the issue both by phone and WeChat.

Another fan, under the pseudonym “Xiao Yu,” was scammed by the same scalper using the same manoeuvre. She bought 43 tickets from the scammer for a total of 40,000 yuan and also ended up receiving only a package with a comb.

“I met the scalper in person to discuss the ticket price. He also posted ticketing information about Jay Chou’s concerts and courier receipts on his WeChat Moments,” she said.

Xiao Yu found Lin and several other fans had the same experience after searching the scalper’s contact number on a social network.

Police said five cases concerning fraudulent tickets were reported in the three days after the concerts began online pre-sales. Fans were advised to only purchase tickets from official channels.

(Wang Haolan)