TAMPA, Fla. — Jen Smith of Seminole Heights is an original "Swiftie."
"I've been a diehard fan for 16 years or something crazy, as long as she's been doing it," Smith said.
Like many fans, Taylor Swift has had a significant impact on her life.
"It seemed like my love life was in line with her album releases," Smith explained. "So every time I'd go through a breakup or when I got divorced, she had just released an album and it was like I just listened to it on repeat, and it was like therapy."
When Swift announced she was returning to Tampa for the Eras Tour, Smith and her best friend were eager to get tickets. When they failed to get tickets through Ticketmaster, they began to explore other options.
Smith saw a post on the Seminole Heights community's Facebook. It appeared to be a neighbor selling several tickets.
"She looked like she worked in health care," Smith said. She had pictures of her significant other and her child on the page. It all seems like a real person."
The seller also sent her photos of the tickets on Ticketmaster.
The two chatted and all seemed normal until payment time. The seller insisted Smith use a PayPal "friends" transfer and got upset when she used a "goods and services" transfer.
"I went on to PayPal and I started reading the difference between friends and family and goods and services," Smith said. "I realized that if I did do friends and family, they were going to get the money immediately and then I wasn't going to be able to get it back. And so I just did it as goods and services instead. And as soon as the seller realized that that's how I'd sent the money, they backed out. They said no. They were mad."
Online ticket purchases can be tricky. The Better Business Bureau advises:
- Buy only from trusted vendors. Buy online only from vendors you know and trust. Look for the lock symbol in the web address to indicate a secure purchasing system.
- Know the refund policy. You should only purchase tickets from a ticket reseller that provides clear details about the terms of the transaction.
- Use payment methods that come with protection. Always use a credit card, so you have some recourse if the tickets are not as promised. Debit cards, wire transfers, or cash transactions are risky; if the tickets are fraudulent, you won’t be able to get your money back.
Because Smith followed that final tip, she has since gotten her money back through PayPal.
She posted about her experience on the Seminole Heights Facebook page and said others told her they'd been scammed out of money by this same person.
"I actually did get messages from a few people that had had an encounter with the same person and were too embarrassed to share it or talk about it," Smith said. "I had plenty of people comment after the fact that I should have known better. And they're not wrong. Everything's better in hindsight, but at the same time, I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent person, and if it can happen to me, it could happen to anyone.
It's a "Swift" lesson in vetting sellers for the most coveted concert ticket in Tampa Bay.