Pinoy Swifties are willing to do anything just to see Taylor Swift live — even hopping on a plane and watching The Eras Tour in other countries. But what should have been a dream come true for some Swifties turned into a living nightmare after a man allegedly scammed over 100 of them of almost PHP15 million worth of concert tickets, flights, and hotel bookings.

A scam worth millions of pesos

The victims have taken to social media to find the scammer, a certain Patrick Steven Nanud Agorto, who uses the name Pat Steve on Facebook to transact with Swifties.

According to the victims, they bought tickets from Pat Steve as early as July 2023, when tickets for Taylor Swift’s Singapore shows were first sold to the public via Ticketmaster Singapore and Klook. He has been selling several tickets in Facebook groups, even offering meetups, contract signings, and legitimacy checks.

The customers did their due diligence before sending him payment. Most of them felt safe in transacting with him thanks to the testimonies of other buyers who had successful transactions with him for other concerts like Blackpink’s Bulacan shows. Pat Steve also used the names of some influencers he transacted with to vouch for himself, giving himself better credibility. Other Swifties also said they met up with him and signed contracts with him to protect themselves.

However, as the concert dates came nearer, his replies became less frequent and more vague. He claimed that Ticketmaster Singapore voided his tickets because someone reported his accounts, so he couldn’t provide the tickets to his buyers.

His customers have become agitated, asking for updates. When Pat Steve remained unforthcoming, a customer asked in the Facebook group where he posted who else transacted with him, leading them to create a group chat of over a hundred people. In the group chat, the victims discovered that Pat Steve sold the same tickets to different buyers.

A few even bought flights and accommodations through him, but according to the victims, most have been canceled with no refund in sight yet.

A modus operandi

When the issue went viral, a few netizens shared that the name seemed familiar, as he was a known scammer in certain communities, such as sneakers buy-and-sell. Pat Steve was also allegedly “wanted for scamming people.”

Others are encouraging the victims to file a case against him or even get attention from shows like Jessica Soho and Raffy Tulfo in Action. According to some victims’ posts, they are planning to file a class action suit against the scammer.

Taylor Swift in Singapore

Taylor Swift has been traveling the world for The Eras Tour since March 2023. She started in the US and Latin America and more shows are scheduled in Europe and North America. But Singapore is the only stop in the whole of Southeast Asia, with six nights scheduled in early March. The only other stops in the Asia-Pacific are Japan (with 4 nights in Tokyo) and Australia (with 3 nights in Melbourne and 4 nights in Sydney).

This led to Filipinos flocking to Singapore just to see the global popstar, as many found it easier to enter the country due to the lack of visa requirements, unlike Japan and Australia.

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