The Glastonbury Music Festival may be the most in-demand music event on the planet, and con artists certainly look to take advantage: One woman, Christine Babb, has been charged with selling more than $34,000 worth of fake tickets to the event (from the East Grinstead Courier).
Babb, a 34 year-old from East Grinstead in England, appeared in court to face 29 charges of fraud by false representation. The charges reflect the method by which Babb convinced buyers that she was able to secure tickets, claiming to be a music industry employees and therefore could get discounted tickets to events such as Glastonbury. The prosecutor also noted that she had been charged previously in similar scams at different events.
There are "only" 29 charges of fraud in play here but clearly the number of victims she scammed is much higher. If she claimed to victims that she received discounted passes to Glastonbury, that means she sold them at either face value or lower. A weekend pass to Glastonbury cost roughly $330 at face value this year, suggesting that Babb sold as many as 100 to arrive at the $34,000 total. Unless she literally sold 29 tickets for more than $1,000 each.
It wasn't a single-year scam however, as the defendant reportedly had been hustling false tickets since 2013. She became so notorious as a scalper that organizer Michael Eavis made a statement on the matter.
"Nobody called Christine Babb is either employed by Glastonbury Festival or has any tickets to sell for the Festival," he said, probably not influencing anyone not to buy anyway.
The attorney for Babb claimed that her client suffered from split-personality disorder, Crohn's disease and bulimia. Although the latter two ailments most certainly don't impact one's decision to sell imitation tickets, we'll have to wait until May 12 to see how the Crown Court rules on the case. Stay tuned.
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