1 week ago
11
A Scottish antheral whose individuality was stolen to beforehand a fake Premier League shot summons website says helium is devastated that scammed fans judge helium is responsible.
Ticket Maestro, which launched successful July, claimed to beryllium selling tickets to apical shot matches but the BBC has since heard from supporters who paid hundreds of pounds for tickets they ne'er received.
A BBC Radio 4 You and Yours investigation recovered that Richard Russell was named connected authoritative documents arsenic the brag of the online ticketing tract without him knowing thing astir it.
Mr Russell, 44, says his household address, adjacent Stirling, is present being published online and disappointed fans are threatening to crook up to get their wealth back.
Ticket Maestro claimed to beryllium selling tickets for fixtures successful the Premier League, arsenic good arsenic definite matches successful the Scottish Premiership and the Champions League.
It described itself arsenic a "Trusted and Licensed Ticketing Partner" [sic] erstwhile the website was active.
Three months aft it was acceptable up, having taken thousands of lb successful summons orders, it disappeared.
A BBC probe has revealed Ticket Maestro was not licenced to merchantability Premier League tickets, and doing truthful unauthorised is illegal.
Richard Russell’s sanction was utilized to signed disconnected each correspondence, including bid confirmation letters and lawsuit work emails.
A constricted company, UCL Tickets Ltd, was named connected slope statements erstwhile customers paid.
It had an idiosyncratic called “Richard Rutherford Russell” listed arsenic manager connected Companies House.
The BBC tracked down Mr Russell based connected this accusation held astatine Companies House.
He told the BBC helium was astonished to observe his individuality was being utilized arsenic manager of UCL Tickets Ltd - a steadfast helium had ne'er heard of, and with which helium had ne'er consented to beryllium involved.
Mr Russell said: “I person nary thought astir shot tickets. I person ne'er had thing to bash with shot tickets. I couldn’t adjacent archer you 2 oregon 3 teams successful a shot league successful the UK conscionable now.”
Eight years agone Mr Russell joined an Albanian pistillate and has since lived successful the country’s superior Tirana with his woman and their two-year-old daughter.
He explained that the code documented successful Companies House records is really his parents’ location successful Callander, adjacent Stirling. They besides person thing to bash with the website.
It was successful October, erstwhile his parents received a missive successful the station naming “Richard Rutherford Russell” arsenic manager of UCL Tickets Ltd, that Mr Russell realised helium had been a unfortunate of individuality theft .
He told You and Yours: “I thought it could’ve been a scam letter, truthful I went onto Companies House and checked the institution number.
“Sure enough, I saw determination was filing for my sanction against a institution that I knew thing about. It said I had been progressive since April."
Once helium received the missive from Companies House, Mr Russell says helium began trying to region his name.
“I had to nonstop details proving that my parent’s code successful the UK has thing to bash with Ticket Maestro, and that I person thing to bash with it," helium says.
"I sent my passport, slope statements and everything.
“They came backmost to maine precise rapidly and said, ‘we hold with you, we person taken you disconnected that and it volition beryllium reflected instantly’."
Although his sanction has been removed from the illustration connected Companies House, Mr Russell says helium has been devastated by reviews near connected Trustpilot which had named him based connected the institution information.
Mr Russell said: “It’s the ones that person enactment ‘here is this guy’s location address, helium is based here’. The code they are quoting is my parents’ address.
“It’s horrible to deliberation idiosyncratic tin usage your sanction online portion they are fundamentally stealing wealth disconnected people.”
A spokesperson for Trustpilot said: “We instrumentality the integrity of our level highly seriously.
"When businesses motion up to usage Trustpilot they hold to adhere to a strict acceptable of guidelines, and if we find determination has been immoderate effort to mislead consumers done reviews, our specializer teams enforce our Action We Take policy.
“Our level is open, autarkic and impartial. Anyone tin permission a review, truthful agelong arsenic it’s based connected a genuine experience.”
Trustpilot accidental it has removed hundreds of reviews from Ticket Maestro’s profile, closed it to caller reviews and placed a informing banner connected the profile, telling consumers what it has done.
Fans accidental Ticket Maestro managed to defraud them retired of a sizeable magnitude of money.
Online payments strategy PayPal says it has received hundreds of refund claims from radical who bought tickets from the website.
PayPal says tickets that person been purchased are eligible for Buyer Protection, which covers purchases that don’t get oregon don’t lucifer the seller’s description.
The BBC attempted to marque interaction with Ticket Maestro utilizing the email code it had utilized to pass with customers but it bounced back. There was nary telephone fig associated with the website.
Meanwhile, Leicestershire Police accidental they person launched an investigation.
A Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: “A 30-year-old pistillate has been arrested connected suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and has since been released nether investigation. Enquiries stay ongoing arsenic our probe continues.“
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