Ed Sheeran fan with terminal cancer given VIP passes after being scammed with fake tickets
Fan was turned away from the show after staff found that her tickets were not valid
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Your support makes all the difference.Ed Sheeran has reportedly given VIP tickets to a terminally ill cancer patient after she was scammed with fakes worth £600.
Dion Yates, 18, wanted to see Sheeran at one of his Divide tour shows at the O2 Arena in London and purchased tickets on Gumtree for the sold-out gig.
A friend collected them in person from the seller, but the Ticketmaster receipt and bank statement from the seller's account turned out to be fake.
Dion reportedly queued at the O2 Arena for the Wednesday night show with her mother, sister Jacy and friend Holly, but they were turned away after staff members found that the tickets were invalid.
Her mother Kerry told The Sun after they missed the show: "I think it's disgusting. Not that her condition should have anything to do with it, but to go out knowingly and con something is horrible.
"There are just no words for it. He even knew about her health. You think most people have got a heart."
Since her story was widely shared on social media, a spokesperson for the O2 has now said that she has been invited to another show of her choice for a VIP experience.
Sheeran is set to play the O2 again on 22 June as part of the venue's 10th anniversary celebrations.
"Both the venue and our partners O2 were saddened to hear that unscrupulous touts were selling fake tickets to the show," a spokesperson said.
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"Sadly for very popular shows this does happen. If you're worried about the authenticity of a ticket, please check with the venue before you buy - we're here to help."
A spokesperson for Gumtree told The Independent: "It is heart breaking to hear of Kerry and Dion’s experience. This was an elaborate scam from a sophisticated fraudster who went to great lengths to make the scam convincing. We encourage anyone that comes across any type of scam to report it to us immediately.
"Our dedicated safety team can take action such as blocking users from the site to prevent scammers from operating. We also recommend that anyone trading tickets on Gumtree follows the safety advice on our website, such as insisting on seeing the ticket’s serial number."
Ed Sheeran recently made a surprise appearance at Stormzy's sold-out London show at the O2 Academy Brixton - read our 5-star review here.
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