Cafe owner 'loses £800 in Oasis ticket scam'

Ms Gruchy said she the incident left her feeling "foolish"

A Jersey cafe owner has lost about £800 after she purchased scam tickets for an Oasis concert, she says.

Jayne Gruchy, owner of Hooray Henri's Beach Kiosk, said she thought she had bought tickets from a friend on Facebook after she failed to secure tickets in official sales.

Ms Gruchy, who previously worked in finance, said she purchased four £150 tickets before realising she had been scammed.

"I feel absolutely foolish, really foolish," she said.

Demand has been high for Oasis tickets, with the band due to go back on tour in 2025

The business owner said the overall loss amounted to about £800 after she spent an extra £200 to cover the costs of changing the names on TicketMaster.

Ms Gruchy later found out the individual she was liaising with on Facebook hacked her friend's social media account in order to sell the fake tickets.

The business owner said she only found out after the friend she thought she was buying the tickets from went into her kiosk for breakfast.

She said: "If he hadn't come down here on Sunday for his usual breakfast, well, I would never have known.

"Nothing made me suspicious at all."

She said there was no sense of urgency from the hacker and it all seemed "sensible".

'Does hurt financially'

Ms Gruchy has reported the incident to Jersey Police, which told her scammers have become "more sophisticated".

"I've got to sell an awful lot of bacon rolls to make £800 so it does hurt financially for me," she said.

"I wouldn't like it to happen to someone else.

"Things... aren't always what they seem."

Jersey Police have been approached for a comment.

On its website, Facebook said it would "remove content that purposefully deceives, wilfully misrepresents, or otherwise defrauds or exploits people for money or property".

It also said that if people found anything they thought were a scam, users should "stop communicating... and report the suspected scam".