Woman at the center of concert ticket trouble on Facebook says her account was hacked: "It's very frustrating"
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) — On Wednesday, CBS News Texas introduced you to a Fort Worth woman who says she was scammed buying concert tickets listed on a Facebook ad.
Now, there's been a twist—the woman listed as the seller says she's a victim too, and the Better Business Bureau is offering advice on how to avoid these situations.
Alice Shelley said last month, her Facebook account was hacked.
"I immediately went to try to recover it and that wasn't possible, so I contacted Facebook to let them know," she said. "They researched it and said that they didn't find anything wrong with it."
Shelley said she had to create a new page while her hacked page remained active.
She posted a PSA about the situation on her new account, but said people are still interacting with the old account and getting taken advantage of.
"Two things I'm not is a hacker and a scammer thief, and that's basically what it's portraying me as," she said. "It's very frustrating."
Keli Pisano is one of the victims.
Last week, she sent the hacker $450 through Venmo for Morgan Wallen concert tickets after seeing a listing for them on the page.
She said she too has been unable to get Facebook to take down the page and she got the same message Shelley did.
"It makes me very angry," Shelley said. "I wish Facebook would do something about this already. I've contacted them, my friends have contacted them, my family has contacted them and they still haven't done anything."
The BBB said it's aware of these types of scams. Their advice is to avoid purchasing tickets sold on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and other free online listings.
Instead, they advise you do the following:
- Purchase tickets from the venue whenever possible. Many now offer secondary sale options as well.
- Check out the seller or broker. Look them up on BBB.org.
- Use payment methods that come with protection.
After reporting fraud, Pisano said thankfully Venmo has voided her transaction but still, she worries about others who may get wrapped up in the same scheme.
"I just think it's awful that people are out there doing this," Pisano said.
CBS News Texas also reached out to Facebook, but is still waiting for a response.
