Elton John is playing two shows next year at Mission Estate as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
Elton John is playing two shows next year at Mission Estate as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
A Hawke's Bay Elton John fan has been scammed of $800 after paying for five tickets for one of his Mission Estate shows next February.
The victim, Grace, said she was annoyed that she fell for the scam, losing $800 along the way.
She was one of thousands whomissed out when tickets went on sale on Mission Estate's site. So she posted on its Facebook page asking if anyone had any tickets to spare.
That's when the scammer who, according to the profile he used, went by the name "John Bernard", messaged her a week later and said he had tickets available.
"He said he had five tickets to sell because he wasn't going to be able to make it to the show," Grace said.
"I'm always careful so I looked him up and he seemed legit. He had heaps of friends and what looked like a real page, and he sent through a confirmation email of buying the tickets and I showed it to my husband and some other people and it all seemed in order."
She paid $160 for each of the five tickets.
Elton John last performed in New Zealand in 2015, including this show at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.
"It was kind of the fear-of-missing-out feeling that made me think I might as well get them so I did and paid the money. But I started getting suspicious when he kept on pushing me and hounding me saying he hadn't been paid yet when obviously we are with different banks so it would take a day or so.
"A woman messaged me later that night saying she had been scammed by the same person."
Grace said she has contacted police and both her and his bank but nothing much can be done.
Police said they are making ongoing inquiries into Grace's complaint.
The "John Bernard" profile no longer exists.
Mission Estate also informed her the email used as confirmation from the winery for the purchase of the concert tickets was fake.
"After it happened you do feel annoyed but I put a post up on Facebook thinking if there was any chance of him being caught might as well give it a go, but also a lot of other people have put up comments saying they too have been scammed not only by him but other people," Grace said.
"The problem is it must be worthwhile for these people to do these things because they wouldn't do it otherwise."
SEL's (Sports and Entertainment) concert director Garry Craft said the safest option is to only go through Mission Concert for tickets to Mission Estate shows.
"Although the shows are sold out tickets do tend to come available through people returning them and other pathways so it is best to be registered on the Mission Concert website in case.
"For future circumstances, the only safe option is buying through the Mission website because there is always a risk when buying privately or through other sites like Viagogo."
