Why I forgave the fraudster who scammed me out of £300 for fake festival tickets - after finding her by accident on TikTok
Bristolian music lover Laura was tricked into buying fake V Festival by one–time serial con artist Jodie Gayet, handing over £300 for two tickets worth £200 each in a deal that was too good to be true.
But in an incredible stroke of fortune, she found Ms Gayet 10 years later while browsing TikTok, and reached out to say she had forgiven her after learning that the fraudster had been battling a gambling addiction.
The pair met 'face–to–face' for the first time in a video call with MailOnline this week following their chance encounter via social media.
Ms Gayet, from Lowestoft, tearfully admitted she had not expected forgiveness after conning Laura and others out of a total of £10,000 for non–existent tickets, for which she was given six months in prison.
'Forgiveness is not something that you ever expect to get when you did the terrible thing I did,' she said. 'I did some bad stuff, but I'm not a bad person.'
For Laura, who asked us to use her first name only, it was cathartic to be able to forgive the woman who had stolen from her.
She said: 'I felt really stupid and disappointed in myself back then, which passed, but to hear her story now you realise people do make mistakes.'
Jodie says she turned to crime to feed a gambling addiction that began when she had a termination at 18, playing online bingo before winning a £33,000 slots jackpot.
She spent £8,000 of her winnings and lost the rest chasing her next big win, which never came – so she took out loans to keep playing and cover up the loss.
Working at the Chelsea Building Society in Norwich, she then pilfered the bank account of an 89–year–old man with Alzheimer's and his 95–year–old wife, believing they would not notice the money was gone. In all, she stole £19,000 from them.
'I never thought what I was doing was wrong. I wasn't stealing – I was just borrowing this money because I was going to win it back and I would pay it back, and they would never know,' she said.
It wasn't long before the theft was discovered and she was sentenced to six weeks' jail time in 2011 at 21, heavily pregnant. She gave birth four days after being freed.
But without proper support or counselling for her addiction she found herself craving the next big win again, setting up an account on classified ads site Gumtree with a plan to fund her gambling.
She messaged someone selling real V Festival 2014 tickets – which featured the likes of the Killers and Lily Allen on its line–up – and asked for their order confirmation as proof, modifying it to add her name and an old address.
Her fake ticket listing, complete with a convincing confirmation, was priced below face value to draw in victims – which is how she and Laura came to cross paths as the music fan hunted out tickets as a gift for a friend.
Laura recalled: 'I think it had sold out on the official site and I was looking at eBay, Gumtree... and that's where I saw Jodie's listing.'
The confirmation gave the listing an air of legitimacy, she admits. Laura also said she had been taken in by how 'engaged' Jodie was in selling the tickets – which were to be sent by post, long before the advent of the e–ticket.
But after sending the cash, Laura was fobbed off with excuses that the tickets had been lost in the post. It then dawned on her that she had been scammed.
'As the event got closer the dialogue changed – her story was changing and changing and it was then that I felt a bit dim,' she admits.
Half of Brits see social media as a safe place to buy tickets despite scams
More than half of Brits still see social media as a 'safe space' to buy gig tickets despite the fact they offer no protection from fraudsters.
A survey conducted by Get Safe Online, a UK online safety resource, found that 17 per cent of people had a negative experience buying tickets through 'unprotected' platforms.
But around 54 per cent still see them as a reasonable place to buy tickets.
Around 90 per cent of recent Oasis scams unfolded on social media, with fans losing an average of £346 each, according to Lloyds Bank.
GSO recommends using reseller sites such as Viagogo, which is listed as a commercial partner on its website, to combat fraud.
Its CEO, Tony Neate, says fans need 'safe alternatives' to social media.
'I had to phone my mum and tell her I had been scammed and I had to repurchase the tickets. But Jodie's story had been so believable.'
Laura reported the scam to Action Fraud – and once again, the law caught up with Jodie, who it emerged had conned others out of £6,000 with the same trick.
She was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years – but returned to court after pulling the same stunt again a year later in 2015, depriving would–be festival–goers out of another £4,000.
It guaranteed her a six–month jail term, with a judge describing her as having a 'nasty dishonest streak', the Eastern Daily Press reported. Her father and brother paid victims back, the court had been told.
Jodie served 12 weeks behind bars, serving the rest of her sentence on an electronic tag. It was the wake–up call she had been needing.
She now admits: 'I was acting as a very selfish person. I knew what I was doing was wrong and, I'll be honest, I really didn't care what I did to get the money.
'The world could have been on fire and I wouldn't have noticed. Again, I told myself I was just borrowing this money from these people because I would win it back.'
Almost a decade on, Jodie now works with anti–fraud body We Fight Fraud to help people spot potential scams, with her own story showing how easy it is to deceive people into handing over money.
Among her hot tips are to avoid buying tickets on social media and not to bank transfer - instead buying from primary ticket vendors directly or from secondary resellers that have a guarantee of a refund if the ticket either doesn't arrive or isn't valid for entry.
These scams have reared their heads amid the Oasis reunion tour – with mad fer it fans losing a reported £346 each buying fake tickets, according to Lloyds Bank.
She shares her experiences of gambling addiction, recovery and imprisonment with 50,000 followers on TikTok – and it's there that fate saw fit to bring she and Laura together again 10 years on.
Laura said: 'I was just scrolling through and she appeared on my feed telling her story of the fraud. I thought it sounded familiar... then realised that she was the person who had scammed me. The algorithm got me!'
She sent Jodie a message explaining who she was, and the pair reconnected.
Jodie even made reparations with a donation to the anti–knife crime charity Mikey's World, founded after teen Mikey Roynon was stabbed to death in 2023. The charity is very close to Laura's heart.
And earlier this week, they spoke 'face–to–face' via a video call for the first time, joined by a MailOnline reporter.
Laura said sagely: 'People make mistakes, don't they? If we were all crucified for every mistake we make there wouldn't be many of us around, would there?
'Yes, absolutely, I forgive her. It was a long time ago, and what Jodie is doing now, the fact she's working with We Fight Fraud, makes it so easy to forgive her.
She only buys festival tickets from official vendors now.
'If something seems too good to be true it probably is,' she concluded.
Jodie, who is now a mother to three, has also written a book, Me, Myself and My Addiction, recounting her experiences of gambling addiction and turning to crime.
She hopes her story will inspire others to use their own bad experiences to do good in the world.
Her voice breaking, she summed up: 'It gives a person hope that you can move on from the past and do good.
'I'm devastated by what I did, even now. I never meant to hurt Laura or any of my victims.
'But it is amazing to have her here and I'm grateful she's in my corner.'
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