CINCINNATI — Two men are accused of scamming Swifties out of tickets to last weekend's Taylor Swift concerts in Cincinnati.
Beng Sweet Jr. and Gilberto Torres were arraigned in court Monday morning after police said the two got $1,000 for fake concert tickets on Friday.
The superstar was in the Queen City for two sold out shows at Paycor Stadium June 30 and July 1. The city was transformed into "Swiftinnati" as hundreds of thousands of fans filled The Banks to celebrate Swift's historic shows.
Swift's Eras Tour is one of the biggest and most highly anticipated concerts of the past decade. Tickets to her United States portion of the tour sold out almost instantly when released last year. The demand was so high that it shutdown Ticketmaster's website.
Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, now face a lawsuit from Swifties across the country after the kickoff of Eras Tour ticket sales in November had to be canceled because of "extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand."
Those fans who kept trying were left with third-party ticket sellers. Shortly before Swift's Cincinnati shows StubHub and Vivid Seats had tickets for sale that started at more than $1,000 for seats behind the stage.
The prices on some of those seats dropped to around $800 but that was short lived. Once the cheaper seats were bought the prices stayed above $1,000 through the start of both concerts. The most expensive price tag reported so far was $35,000 for front row seats at one of her Atlanta shows, according to Forbes.
Before her Cincinnati shows, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued a warning that scammers were likely looking to take advantage of Swifties who hoped to score tickets.
Yost said to avoid the scammers lurking in T-Swift's shadow, fans should be skeptical of any offers that seem too enticing — tickets offered at or below face value could indicate a scam. Buyers should also only use reputable third-party resale sites when perusing Swift tickets and watch out for sites that mimic popular ticket sellers logos, or the tour's logos, Yost said.
Those who have already tripped and stumbled into a Swiftie trap should report the details to the company they used to make the payment.
If you believe you were scammed, you can also contact the police.
Swift still has around a dozen shows left in her United States portion of her world tour. Her next stop is this weekend in Kansas City. It takes about 8.5 hours to drive there from the Cincinnati area. With reports of people driving hours just to get merch, it isn't unexpected that some Tri-State Swifties will make the trip. Tickets are of course sold out but resale websites have tickets available starting at more than $1,300.
If you are still hoping to see Swift's show but are willing to wait until next summer, tickets for her European portion of the tour go on-sale to verified Ticketmaster fans later this month.
She has multiple shows scheduled in Paris and London. CVG offers nonstop flights to both cities. It takes about 8-hours to get there. Unfortunately, you might not be spending thousands on tickets but the flights will likely range anywhere from $700 to $1,500 depending on how far out you book. You will also have to factor in costs for lodging and food while abroad.
Good luck Swifties!
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