Oasis Fans Claim Ticket Scam, Criticize Initial Police Response
By Scott Hesketh, BBC North West Investigations
A Group Of Oasis Fans Who Claimed They Were Scammed Out Of Cash For Gig Tickets Have Criticized An Initial Decision Not To Refer Their Complaints To police.
Lisa Barker, From Oldham, And 18 Other People Said They Had Paid Merseyside Man Stephen Cavanagh About £6,000 Between september Last Year And This January For Tickets For The Band’s Forthcoming Manchester Gigs.
Ms. Barker Said When She Challenged Mr. Cavanagh, He Denied Trying To Defraud Anyone, But Did Not Return Her Money.
Ms. barker Was Originally Told By Action Fraud There Were “No Viable Lines Of Enquiry,” But After The Bbc Began To Investigate The Agency Referred The Case To Merseyside police,Which Said It Was Now Looking Into it.
A bbc Investigation Has Found That In The Last Year, There have Been Almost 10,000 Reports Of Ticket Fraud With Losses Totalling £10.6m.
But A leading Expert Said Thousands Of Cases Were Not Being Investigated Because Police Did Not Have The Resources.
Ms. Barker Said She Was “Extremely Disappointed”, Adding: “It Was Only After Me Informing Them Both That I Have Escalated It And Contacted The Bbc That Any action Was Instigated.”
“There Is No Deterrent Out There For People Not To Commit This Offense.” Ms. Barker Explained.
Ms. Barker Said She Had Been Facebook Friends With Mr. Cavanagh, Who Had Supported Her After She Had Weight Loss Surgery.
She Said He Told Her He Had Tickets For The Oasis Gig In Heaton Park, Manchester, On 16 July, Which He Did Not Need Because He Was Going To A friend’s Wedding.
Ms. Barker, Who Like Tens of Thousands Of Other People Had Missed Out On Tickets When They Went On Sale, Said She Paid Him £1,508 For Eight.
The Children’s Home Manager, Who Was planning To Celebrate Her 50th birthday At The Gig, Said: “I Couldn’t Wait. I Was Beside Myself That I Could Get Tickets, And We Could All Experience It Together, Because It’s Probably the Last Time That They’ll Ever Do A Tour.”
Ms. Barker Said Mr.Cavanagh Had Sent Her What Appeared To Be A Ticketmaster Confirmation Saying He Had The Tickets.
She Added: “He Said His Only Condition Was That I Sent Him Selfies From The Gig, And He Even Sent Me Gifs Of The Band With The Catch Line ‘All Your Dreams Are Made’.”
“And I Thought They Were.” She Lamented.
But Shortly After Christmas, Ms. Barker Received A Message From Someone Warning “Anyone Who Has Bought Tickets From [Mr. Cavanagh]… It’s A Scam”.
She Said: “I Thought, He Can’t Be. He Was A Lovely Lad, I Thought.”
“We Had Calls And Facetimed And He Was So Personable.” Ms. Barker Explained.
“I Just Feel So Embarrassed And Ashamed.” She Concluded.
The Bbc Has Spoken To 15 People Who said They Had Paid Mr. Cavanagh For Tickets That Never Came, Including Former Emmerdale And Happy Valley Actor Jamie Dorrington.
Ms. Barker Said mr. Cavanagh Had “Made Mugs Of Us All”.
Mr. Dorrington Told The Bbc He Had paid For Two Tickets For His Son’s 18th Birthday.
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