A law student almost lost $2k after failing victim to a co-ordinated Adele ticket scam on Facebook, she claims.
Hira Mustafa, 27, wanted to surprise her family with a trip to the 'Hello' star's residency in Las Vegas.
She couldn't get tickets on general sale so went looking on social media, and found a seller in a dedicated resale group.
Hira's bizarre ordeal then unfolded in which she claims two people joined forces to scam her.
She transferred $1,800 for three tickets via bitcoin to a mystery 'middleman' and, had it not been for a block on her account, says she would have lost more.
Hira, a content creator from New York, has since been reimbursed by her bank.
And she managed to get tickets to the Caesar's Palace show in the end - saying she and her relatives had a great night.
But Hira now wants to warn other people to be wary of the resale marker.
She said: "I am usually pretty diligent about these types of things online and cautious with money.
"But these accounts looked like real, legit accounts.
"I was in disbelief. I felt unintelligent, gullible for falling for this.
"I know I'm a competent person. I thought competent people don't get scammed.
"I always thought it was easy things to spot.
"I run an online content creation business so if they were able to pull this off with me, how many other times have they managed to pull this off?"
Hira tried to get tickets for Adele's residency on general sale. But after that failed she turned to Facebook.
She said: "There was this massive Adele ticket resale group and I was very cautious of getting scammed as I hadn't done this process before.
"It said you can reach out to an admin to verify tickets and it seemed really nice and they were helping facilitate this process for fans."
Both Hira and the seller transferred the money and the tickets to the admin after making a Facebook group, who would then send them the opposite way.
But after sending the money via bitcoin, the 'middleman' claimed she hadn't received it.
Hira said: "I had never used bitcoin before and the mediating admin was saying how it'd be fine.
"I had a little bit more faith that it would work as I was sure they weren't working together.
"She made it seem like Venmo. I didn't want to be the reason that the whole deal fell through.
"So I sent the amount on bitcoin and she then sends me a screenshot saying it had been rejected and it'll be refunded in three to five days.
"On my side, it said completed payment."
Hira was starting to believe she had been scammed, and decided to check in with her bank and call the police.
She said: "I was getting upset at this point. They wanted me to send more money through a different bitcoin app.
"The seller was saying she was going to sell her tickets to another seller as she needed money for her ill son.
"I called my bank and said I think it might be a fraudulent payment and they told me to cut up my card.
"I confronted them saying I'd been scammed and they flipped it on me, saying I was being sketchy. They made it seem like I hadn't sent the money."
Hira was then contacted by another seller, she claims, who empathised with her problems.
She says the new seller reassured her that the middleman was legit, which convinced her to go back and try re-buy the original tickets through the middleman.
She was about to send more money - when her account reached its daily maximum.
Hira says this was a blessing as she now believes that the second seller was also in on the scam.
She said: "Maybe me learning this lesson now will prevent me from a scam on a much larger scale - that's how I justified it to myself."
Hira was able to secure tickets eventually, and had a great night.
She said: "The show was incredible.
"It was such a sweet moment and I've never seen my brother so excited, it was such a fun experience.
"Getting to appreciate her music live was worth the resale site prices!"
Hira Mustafa, 27, wanted to surprise her family with a trip to the 'Hello' star's residency in Las Vegas.
She couldn't get tickets on general sale so went looking on social media, and found a seller in a dedicated resale group.
Hira's bizarre ordeal then unfolded in which she claims two people joined forces to scam her.
She transferred $1,800 for three tickets via bitcoin to a mystery 'middleman' and, had it not been for a block on her account, says she would have lost more.
Hira, a content creator from New York, has since been reimbursed by her bank.
And she managed to get tickets to the Caesar's Palace show in the end - saying she and her relatives had a great night.
But Hira now wants to warn other people to be wary of the resale marker.
She said: "I am usually pretty diligent about these types of things online and cautious with money.
"But these accounts looked like real, legit accounts.
"I was in disbelief. I felt unintelligent, gullible for falling for this.
"I know I'm a competent person. I thought competent people don't get scammed.
"I always thought it was easy things to spot.
"I run an online content creation business so if they were able to pull this off with me, how many other times have they managed to pull this off?"
Hira tried to get tickets for Adele's residency on general sale. But after that failed she turned to Facebook.
She said: "There was this massive Adele ticket resale group and I was very cautious of getting scammed as I hadn't done this process before.
"It said you can reach out to an admin to verify tickets and it seemed really nice and they were helping facilitate this process for fans."
Both Hira and the seller transferred the money and the tickets to the admin after making a Facebook group, who would then send them the opposite way.
But after sending the money via bitcoin, the 'middleman' claimed she hadn't received it.
Hira said: "I had never used bitcoin before and the mediating admin was saying how it'd be fine.
"I had a little bit more faith that it would work as I was sure they weren't working together.
"She made it seem like Venmo. I didn't want to be the reason that the whole deal fell through.
"So I sent the amount on bitcoin and she then sends me a screenshot saying it had been rejected and it'll be refunded in three to five days.
"On my side, it said completed payment."
Hira was starting to believe she had been scammed, and decided to check in with her bank and call the police.
She said: "I was getting upset at this point. They wanted me to send more money through a different bitcoin app.
"The seller was saying she was going to sell her tickets to another seller as she needed money for her ill son.
"I called my bank and said I think it might be a fraudulent payment and they told me to cut up my card.
"I confronted them saying I'd been scammed and they flipped it on me, saying I was being sketchy. They made it seem like I hadn't sent the money."
Hira was then contacted by another seller, she claims, who empathised with her problems.
She says the new seller reassured her that the middleman was legit, which convinced her to go back and try re-buy the original tickets through the middleman.
She was about to send more money - when her account reached its daily maximum.
Hira says this was a blessing as she now believes that the second seller was also in on the scam.
She said: "Maybe me learning this lesson now will prevent me from a scam on a much larger scale - that's how I justified it to myself."
Hira was able to secure tickets eventually, and had a great night.
She said: "The show was incredible.
"It was such a sweet moment and I've never seen my brother so excited, it was such a fun experience.
"Getting to appreciate her music live was worth the resale site prices!"
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FunTranscript
00:00 I am down horrendous.
00:01 You know why?
00:02 Because I got scammed out of $1,800
00:06 trying to surprise my mom with Adele tickets.
00:08 I was going to buy them from a resale site,
00:10 but they were charging an extra $600
00:14 for processing fees, which I did not have.
00:16 And so I was like, you know what?
00:17 I got Taylor Swift tickets directly from someone.
00:18 Let me try to do that with Adele tickets.
00:20 And so I joined this big Facebook group that was like,
00:22 oh, like reselling Adele tickets.
00:24 2,500 people are in this group.
00:26 And so someone posted for the weekend that I was going,
00:29 they're like, hey, I have two tickets
00:30 in the blah, blah, blah section.
00:31 And I was like, cool, I'll take them.
00:32 And I was like, hey, like, I want to make sure this is safe.
00:34 And she was like, yeah, like I've been scammed before.
00:36 I want to be careful.
00:37 Why don't we go through one of the admin that run the page?
00:39 Because like, they've been helping facilitate
00:41 to make sure like they do the background checks on people,
00:43 blah, blah, blah, to make sure they don't get scammed.
00:45 And so I was like, great, I'm going to do that.
00:47 So I worked with this lady, Christine Smith,
00:50 on Facebook on this big chat.
00:52 And so the lady was like, oh yeah, like I'm happy to help.
00:55 This is the way to make sure this is done safely.
00:57 The original lady transferred her tickets
00:59 to the middle lady.
01:00 And so I was like, oh, like I use Bitcoin.
01:02 That's how I want the money.
01:03 And I was like, I've never used Bitcoin before.
01:05 The middle lady, who I wrongfully trusted, was like,
01:07 that's okay, like I'll walk you through it.
01:08 It's super simple.
01:09 Here's how you buy Bitcoin.
01:10 But I was like, okay, like there's a middle lady.
01:12 Like I've taken the steps necessary to like be cautious.
01:15 I have screenshots of the tickets.
01:16 And I had rose colored glasses on because I was like,
01:18 I'm going to surprise my mom with such good tickets.
01:20 Like this is her dream.
01:21 Adele is like her favorite artist.
01:22 Like she's going to be so happy.
01:24 And my little brother's going to go
01:25 and it's going to be perfect.
01:26 And I go through with this
01:27 and I wire her through Bitcoin $1,800.
01:32 I'm waiting for the tickets.
01:33 And the middle lady's like, oh, like it bounced.
01:35 Like it didn't go through.
01:36 Mind you on my side, it says confirm.
01:37 Like it's gone through, money's gone.
01:38 Nowhere to be found.
01:39 And she sends me like some screenshot of a random email
01:41 that's saying like, oh, it'll be refunded
01:43 in three to five days.
01:44 Meaning supposedly this money is going to come back to me.
01:47 And she's like, I assure you,
01:48 like the money will come back to you, blah, blah, blah.
01:49 Like let's try a different method.
01:50 It's I think because you're like a first time Bitcoin user,
01:53 yada, yada, yada.
01:54 And I was like, I'm not using any more Bitcoin.
01:55 Like I want to go through PayPal goods and services.
01:57 Like I feel like I've lost my money.
01:58 Like why don't we wait until I get this money refunded
02:01 to me in three to five days.
02:02 And then I will resend it through a different means.
02:04 Like I'm done with doing that.
02:05 Then the original lady is like, oh,
02:06 actually my three-year-old son has cancer.
02:08 And like, I need the money immediately.
02:10 When you have someone saying like a random thing urgently,
02:12 that's usually a sign of a scam.
02:13 And so this is when it hit me
02:15 that I have probably been scammed.
02:17 So I call my friend Allie and she's like,
02:19 girly, money's gone.
02:20 Don't send this lady any more money.
02:21 But now I'm spiraling, trying to figure out what to do.
02:24 And after my friend Allie goes to sleep,
02:26 I get re-scammed because another lady I had messaged,
02:29 oh, are you still interested in my tickets?
02:30 And I was like, no, I'm mad because I just got scammed.
02:33 And she was like, oh my God, like how did you get scammed?
02:35 And I was like, oh, like this Christine Smith lady
02:36 like ripped me off.
02:38 And she was like, oh my God, everyone knows Christine.
02:39 Like she's helped so many people do their transactions.
02:41 Like, I really don't think you should worry about it.
02:43 And so then I'm like, oh my God,
02:44 like I was so rude to Christine.
02:46 I went to send Christine an apology.
02:48 I sent her this whole thing of like, I'm so, so sorry.
02:50 I was so rude, like, and so in a rush and blah, blah, blah.
02:53 Like I'm just scared of losing this much money.
02:55 And she was like, that's totally fine.
02:57 Like, I'm so sorry I made you feel unsafe.
02:58 In between those things, I had like called my bank,
03:01 canceled my cards.
03:02 I was so scared like someone was gonna steal all my money.
03:04 And I set up my parents' account
03:06 to try and wire her this money again,
03:08 because I was so confident at this point
03:10 'cause this was a legit lady.
03:11 Here's what happened.
03:12 Here's why I know the universe gave me a break
03:14 is because I wired her $50 to test,
03:16 to see like if the money would go through, it did.
03:18 I'm about to send her another like $1,750
03:22 and thank God, Bitcoin was like,
03:24 no, you've reached your daily max.
03:25 And it was just like 3 a.m.
03:27 Me in the bathroom, like crying,
03:28 like upset that this isn't gonna work out.
03:30 It turned out to be good
03:31 because when I came back to my senses this morning
03:33 and also Ali sent me angry messages being like,
03:36 are you absolutely insane?
03:37 I told you not to send this crazy lady any more money.
03:39 Now I realize that the whole thing was a scam
03:41 and I'm going back reading through all the messages
03:43 and it was so, I'm someone who's a very paranoid person
03:46 and I'm very particular about my money.
03:48 I check my bank account every day.
03:50 I'm on top of that stuff.
03:51 So for me to get scammed, looking back,
03:53 it's easy to say, oh, like you should have known
03:55 like Bitcoin, blah, blah, blah.
03:57 The justifications that this lady had
03:59 and the screenshots, the way she spoke
04:02 made it seem so real.
04:05 If everyone could like, like, comment,
04:06 engage with this video
04:07 so that I can somehow make back $1,800
04:11 because I'm starting my second year of law school
04:12 and I'm back to having no job.
04:14 Anyways, that'd be great.
04:15 I'm very sad.
04:16 I don't wanna talk about this anymore
04:17 'cause I'm gonna start crying,
04:18 but anyone knows Adele hooked me up
04:20 with some legit tickets.
04:22 That'd be great 'cause all I wanted to do
04:23 was surprise my mom and it backfired
04:26 in a very expensive way.
04:27 Be careful out there, babes.