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Taylor Swift concert ticket scam: Woman jailed 36 months for cheating victims of more than $110k
Foo Mei Qi, 30, was sentenced to 36 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one amalgamated charge of cheating.ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Nadine Chua
UPDATED FEB 06, 2025, 06:11 PM
SINGAPORE – Shortly after she was released from jail for cheating fans into buying non-existent tickets to Taiwanese singer Eric Chou’s concert, a woman went back to her old ways.
The victims this time were more than 70 fans of American star Taylor Swift.
On Feb 6, Foo Mei Qi, 30, was sentenced to 36 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one amalgamated charge of cheating.
Between June 2023 and February 2024, she cheated 76 people of over $110,700 in total. The victims were deceived into thinking she was selling them tickets on Carousell to Swift’s concerts.
In March 2024, Swift performed six nights of The Eras Tour in Singapore, which was her only stop in South-east Asia.
It was not mentioned in court if any of Foo’s victims were from overseas.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yohanes Ng said Foo would ask victims to transfer various sums of money to her in exchange for concert tickets. After they did so, she would cease contact with them.
In addition to these 76 victims, Foo also sold fake concert tickets to three other victims.
These victims paid a total of $7,780 to Foo, only to find out on the day they attended the concert that the tickets sent to them were not genuine as they were unable to enter the concert venue.
DPP Ng said Foo also pretended to sell tickets to the Bruno Mars concert in Singapore and cheated another three victims into transferring over $1,000 to her.
She was arrested on March 11, 2024, after multiple police reports were filed.
Foo later admitted that she used the money to pay for her daily expenses, including meals for herself and her family, her medical bills, and her wedding.
No restitution has been made to any of the victims.
Referencing the song Enchanted from Swift’s third album, Speak Now, DPP Ng said: “Enchanted by the accused’s promises of much-coveted tickets to the Singapore leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in March 2024, innocent victims were cheated of $110,742.20.”
The prosecutor sought a jail term of 36 to 38 months’ jail, noting that it was not the first time Foo had perpetrated such a scam.
In March 2022, she was sentenced to 17 months’ jail after admitting to listing tickets to concerts by Chou and Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, and related fan merchandise, even though she did not have any of those items. The total loss suffered by all the victims in that case was over $13,000.
“Even that substantial period of imprisonment was not sufficient to deter her from preying on desperate fans who were unable to secure concert tickets, to fund her own gold rush,” said DPP Ng, referencing another of Swift’s song, gold rush, from the album, evermore.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Viveganandam Devaraj said what his client did was not a premeditated scheme but rather a “series of unfortunate events”.
In response, District Judge Paul Chan asked: “How can there be no premeditation if she cheated 76 victims?”
Mr Devaraj then replied that he accepted that there was premeditation and sought leniency from the court.
In sentencing, the judge said Foo demonstrated a strong commitment to offending, and significant weight must be placed on the fact that she is a repeated offender. “The previous sentence was insufficient to deter her from committing the same offence. The accused’s criminal appetite has increased, and there are now more victims involving a greater amount of money,” he added.
In March 2024, The Straits Times reported that at least 960 victims lost over $538,000 in 10 weeks to Taylor Swift concert ticket scams.
Two months later, a teenage boy admitted to cheating three victims of $1,540 by claiming that he had tickets to Swift’s concert for sale.
In November 2024, a woman was sentenced to seven months’ jail for scamming six people of over $2,700 for concerts by Swift and Ed Sheeran.
- Nadine Chua is a crime and court journalist at The Straits Times.
