Zainab Pervaiz: Fake Bieber ticket seller avoids jail
- Published
The court heard Zainab Pervaiz manipulated a vulnerable victim over a long period of time
A 25-year-old law student who made thousands of pounds tricking music fans into buying fake concert tickets has avoided jail "by a whisker".
Zainab Pervaiz, of Walsall, set up fake online sale listings for tickets for Justin Bieber, Adele and Beyonce.
She was given a two-year suspended sentence at Birmingham Crown Court, ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay back £9,982 to 16 victims.
She previously admitted 16 counts of fraud by false representation.
Up to £40,000 may have been taken from victims who did not come forward by Pervaiz, who worked as a paralegal for Walsall's Foundation Solicitors before she was sacked.
People thought they were buying tickets to go and see Justin Bieber
The promising sportswoman used a PayPal account belonging to her partner's grandfather, Sydney Bricknell, to take payment from her victims before transferring the cash into her own bank account.
Police became involved after disgruntled customers began to complain and Mr Bricknell, as the PayPal account holder, was forced to repay them.
Zainab Pervaiz was sentenced for falsely selling Beyonce tickets
Sentencing, Judge Simon Drew QC, said Pervaiz came "within a whisker of imprisonment".
He told Pervaiz, who had payday loan company and bank debts, that "a career in law is almost certainly dead and buried".
"You are someone whose expectations of life clearly exceed your means," he said, adding she seems to have carried out the fraud "to enjoy certain luxuries".