A Whangarei woman using a multitude of fake profiles on Facebook scammed people of nearly $12,000 for concert tickets which never existed.
Bells Pou, Lulu Amberlee, Abby Knight, Lydia Mark and Hannah Johnson were some of the names 22-year-old Lulu Amberlee Pou, of Raumanga, used when she sold fake tickets through Facebook to Rhythm and Vines, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Macklemore concerts.
She sold tickets between October 2017 and February 2018. Her cover was blown when more than 25 victims contacted police and an investigation revealed her scam.
Pou failed to appear in Whangarei District Court on Friday for sentencing and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
She had previously pleaded guilty to 25 charges of obtains by deception, with 13 of the charges relating to amounts under $500 and 12 charges to amounts between $500 and $1000.
Pou 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.
Pou told police she used two of her own Facebook pages as well as creating fake profiles to fraudulently obtain the money.
Police said concert tickets were hot items but so too were stolen cell phones and tablets.
"If it's a deal that looks too good to be true on Facebook then it probably involves stolen items," Sergeant Grant Rouse, of Whangarei Police, said.
Rouse said excessive amounts of stolen phones were being offered for sale on Facebook and police had noted an increase in the amount of stolen property being offered through social media groups and pages.
"Buyer beware. If you are going to deal with people on Facebook, get a contact number for them and organise a face-to-face pick up if possible. Ideally view and inspect items before paying or there is any exchange of money."
"If they are saying its new and an unwanted gift, they should have a receipt to prove if was purchased."
Police had also noted people were using plenty of fake identities when they were selling items.
