Northland's fake concert ticket scammer jailed for breaching home detention

Lulu Pou breached her home detention sentence and has been re-sentenced to nine months in prison. Photo/NZME

A Whangārei woman who cut off her home detention bracelet after being sentenced for a fake ticket scam has gone to jail.

Lulu Amberlee Pou, 23, pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of home detention when she appeared in the Whangārei District Court this week via audio visual link from prison.

The Department of Corrections applied for a review of the community-based sentence after the breach.

Pou was last month sentenced to four months' home detention after she pleaded guilty to 49 charges of obtaining by deception relating to a fake ticket scam that netted her almost $17,000 between August 2017 and June 2018.

The mother-of-two created a number of fake Facebook identities including Bells Pou, Lulu Amberlee, Abby Knight, Lydia Mark and Hannah Johnson and, using Messenger, promised people tickets to Rhythm and Vines, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Macklemore concerts.

Fans of Bruno Mars were locked out of heaven as the tickets simply didn't exist. Photo RD/ Kabik/ Retna Digita

At least 49 victims paid $16,870 into Pou's account. Pou failed to deliver on her promise and left the keen concertgoers out of pocket with no tickets.

Pou served just two-and-a-half days of her four-month sentence before breaching it. In court yesterday, she entered the guilty plea through her lawyer John Day who said it was hard to argue against the breach.

Judge John McDonald revoked the home detention sentence and re-sentenced her to nine months in jail.

Pou's cover was blown this year when more than 25 victims contacted police and an investigation revealed her scam. More victims had since contacted police.

She communicated with people wanting the tickets through Facebook Messenger, giving them a bank account to pay the money into. Once the payment was received, Pou cut all communication and the concert tickets never arrived.

Pou sold two tickets to Rhythm and Vines for $1100 to one victim and tickets to Ed Sheeran cost another victim $380, while another dished out $525 for three tickets to Bruno Mars.

Before her sentencing on October 5, Pou had served seven weeks in jail.

Pou was ordered to pay $5000 reparation to be distributed between the victims, at $20 per week.