Asia News: Singapore Ticket Scammer Sentenced; Sheeran’s Busking Bust

SINGAPORE

Ticket Scammer Sentenced

A 30-year-old woman named Foo Mei Qi was sentenced to 36 months in prison on Feb. 6, after pleading guilty to one charge of fraud. According to the Straits Times, Foo cheated 76 people out of more than S$100,000 ($74,000) by selling them fake tickets to Taylor Swift’s Singapore concerts on the secondary sale site Carousell between June 2023 and February 2024. Swift held six concerts in March 2024 in Singapore, her only stop on the Eras Tour in Southeast Asia.

The prosecution said that Foo asked victims to transfer money to her account in exchange for the tickets. Afterwards, she would erase all contact with the buyers. It wasn’t until the buyers tried to enter the venue that they learned the tickets were fake. 

Foo is also accused of selling fake tickets to a Bruno Mars concert in Singapore. She was arrested on March 11, 2024, and later admitted that she used the money for everyday expenses, including medical bills and the cost of her wedding. The Straits Times reports that none of the victims have been reimbursed so far. 

Prosecutors asked for a harsh sentence because this wasn’t the first time Foo had been caught scamming concertgoers. In 2022 she was sentenced to 17 months in jail for listing non-existent tickets on secondary sites for concerts by Taiwanese star Jay Chou and Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, securing over S$13,000 from unwitting fans. 

INDIA

Sheeran’s Busking Busted

Ed Sheeran was busking on the street in the southern India city of Bengaluru on Feb. 9 shortly before holding a concert in that city and was told to stop by police because he did not have a permit, according to various media reports.

Apparently, event organizers for Sheeran’s concerts had requested permission for the street performance but were refused, with police saying that the area where Sheeran planned to play is “notorious for its heavy traffic,” according to ANI news agency. A police official told the agency, “I refused to give permission because Church Street gets very crowded.”

Later on Instagram, Sheeran refuted this side of the story and said that he did have permission to perform. “We had permission to busk,” he wrote. “Hence, us playing in that exact spot was planned out beforehand. It wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good, though.”

Sheeran is in India for 15 days during his current tour, and played two concerts in Bengaluru.