Just weeks ahead of global popstar Taylor Swift‘s “The Eras Tour” in Singapore, Filipinos were warned of an alleged scammer who tricked people into buying tickets from him.
Two social media users raised the alarm about an individual calling himself “Pat Steve” on Facebook. They also claim his name was “Patrick Steven Nanud Agorto.”
Facebook user Sharielle Yanson-Quinto on Thursday shared her experience of buying “The Eras Tour” tickets from Steve for the artist’s March 3 concert in Singapore in July 2023.
She said that they have to resell their concert tickets, airline tickets and hotel accommodation since they found out that she was pregnant in August 2023.
“The mess started when our flights got canceled by Scoot last September 2023 for name change since we [had] to transfer the flight sana sa new buyer. Hindi nag-push thru ‘yung transaction. First red flag,” Sharielle said.
Scoot is a low-cost Singaporean airline.
Sharielle added that they then waited “for the transfer of names for the hotel accommodation,” as well as the refund of airline tickets, in October 2023.
Steve made a group chat with a certain “Cai Lazaro” who he claimed arranged their flights.
Sharielle said they kept on asking for updates about a hotel transfer, but got no substantial response. By January 2024, they were told that their hotel accommodation cannot be transferred under someone else’s name.
She also said Cai, who was supposed to refund them the money, suddenly deactivated her Facebook account on January 15.
“And then now, February 2024, Ticketmaster announced that they will release the copies of e-tickets from February 19-February 25 respectively with the concert days. Then, ang dami ko na ring nababasa about kay Pat Steve in different groups na unresponsive [siya] and buying time sa mga nagrer-equest ng refunds DAHIL WALA PA SIYANG NABIBIGYAN NG TICKETS since ticket release,” Sharielle added.
“I tried reaching him out pero hindi na niya sine-seen messages ko and out of coverage na rin ‘yung phone number na binigay niya sa akin. Then, I found out na LAHAT ng naka-transact ni Pat Steve for Eras Tour SG [Singapore] ay HINDI PA RIN NABIBIGYAN NG TICKETS, KAHIT ISA,” she narrated.
The Facebook user said that they were “more than a hundred people” in the group chat, implying they were all scammed.
“‘Yung refund na hinihingi namin, hindi pa rin naibibigay sa amin. Additional funds sana ‘yon for the birth of my baby as I should be waiting na lang sa paglabas ng anak ko. Yet, here we are na binigyan niya ng napakalaking stress at problems,” Sharielle said.
User @jeongpomu on the X (formerly Twitter) platform also raised awareness about Steve on the Elon Musk-owned network.
The user shared screengrabs of Steve’s Facebook account, his post in a Facebook group of Pinoys who will watch Taylor’s Asian legs of “The Eras Tour” and a Facebook user who claimed Steve has failed to give them the promised tickets.
“Majority of the Swifties that bought ERAS TOUR TICKETS from him — mind you — some bought flight tickets and hotel accommodation from him as well — most, if not all, flight [and] hotel bookings were canceled as well,” the X user said, sharing more screengrabs.
User @jeongpomu added that when all of Steve’s buyers started to ask him for a copy of their tickets, he would claim it was “voided” as “someone allegedly reported ALL his accounts to TM.”
TM is short for Ticketmaster, the firm behind the sale of concert tickets to Taylor’s Singapore leg of “The Eras Tour.”
“Some of his buyers also have pending refunds from him even MONTHS before, but he always makes excuses. He also claimed that he [had] already transferred the money via PESOnet (to buy time since it’s not real-time), he even provided fake [and] doctored proofs of transfer,” the X user said.
The user also claimed Steve has been scamming since 2019.
⚠️ #TheErasTourInSG SCAMMER ALERT
I am posting this for the sake of the 100+ people (probably more) scammed by PATRICK STEVEN NANUD AGORTO aka PAT STEVE aka PATRICK STEVEN AGORTO
And for the public to be aware as well
Please help spread @TSTheErasTourSG @TSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/if0TbcQxIe
— j (@jeongpomu) February 22, 2024
Another Facebook user, George Agcaoili, claimed that Steve also made the same move to him when he was pre-ordering a pair of sneakers.
The “Philippine Concerts” account, which shares concert-related updates in the country, also shared a cryptic post about a “scammer” who has taken “nearly 15 million pesos” from what it said was “over 100 victims.”
Many users who saw the post associated it with Steve in the reposts.
This scammer is in his cruel summer era, with nearly 15 million pesos taken away from over 100 victims in the Philippines. pic.twitter.com/w65aAQ1skz
— Philippine Concerts (@philconcerts) February 23, 2024
Taylor’s Singapore leg of her sixth concert tour is the only Southeast Asian stop in the region.
She is performing on March 2 to 4 and March 7 to 9 at the Singapore National Stadium.
Filipinos do not need a visa to be in the city-state for 30 days, hence making it an option for Pinoy Swifties to go to witness Taylor’s record-breaking concert tour personally.
Pinoys are among the biggest fans of the Grammy award-winning singer.
Last year, Google revealed that Filipino Swifties searched for “Taylor Swift” the most from July 2-8, 2023.
Spotify’s 2022 data also showed that Quezon City in Manila was among Taylor’s Top Five Listeners on the streaming platform.
