An Aussie Teen Instagram Influencer Has Avoided Jail Time Over A $10,000 Fake Ticketing Scam
The Perth magistrate called it "purely and simply a scam motivated by [Hannah] Valentine's greed and selfishness."
If you’re wondering who was behind that bung concert ticket you bought on Facebook, you probably imagine some shadowy hacker. But if you’re in Perth, there’s a pretty solid chance that a 19-year-old Instagram influencer was behind it.
Hannah Valentine has avoided jail time after being convicted on Friday 19 July of 53 separate fraud offences for repeatedly selling fake concert tickets across Facebook and Gumtree, pocketing around $10,000.
After pleading guilty this May, Valentine was sentenced on Friday to a 12-month intensive supervision order, which includes 240 hours of community service (via ABC).
Valentine first began scamming online in December 2017 by using fake accounts on Facebook and Gumtree, targeting people who had posted that they were looking for tickets online.
Fake tickets were sold for multiple concerts including Post Malone‘s 2017 tour, and 2018 WA festivals Sets on the Beach and Listen Out. The latter Valentine made $4000 on alone, selling two invalid tickets to 24 separate people.
Valentine either would send fake tickets, or would simply never hear back after transferring money directly to Valentine’s bank account.
In addition to the tickets, Valentine also pleaded guilty to $5000 of fraudulent purchases made on the credit card details of a customer from a beauty salon where she once worked.
“This was a scam, purely and simply a scam motivated by Ms Valentine’s greed and selfishness,” said Perth Magistrate Thomas Hall in his verdict. “Not only did she take their hard-earned cash but she deceived them.”
“Some of those people would have even gotten dressed up and attended only to be turned away at the gate, shattering their expectations of having a good day or a good time.”
Repayments have been made to most victims, though Hall pointed out that much of that was from Valentine’s parents.
Valentine no longer has an active Instagram account since pleading guilty in May this year, and her defence told the judge that she had lost her job, friends and boyfriend after her plea.
In a recent win against ticket scalping, Google announced it would globally delist tickets from Viagogo in its search algorithm.