Fan travels 3,500 miles to see Sabrina Carpenter - only to discover ticket is fake

Chris Jones, 37, flew from London to Toronto on November 10 to see his favourite singer.

He bought a last-minute ticket from the online marketplace StubHub six days before the show, and says he received an email the next day with a link to claim and view it.

The superfan then booked his flights, spending £2,000 on a return ticket.

But when he arrived at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, he noticed his ticket looked different from those around him.

After checking with a staff member, it was confirmed to be fake - and he was turned away.

Chris, from London, England, said: "My heart sunk upon the realisation that I had been scammed.

"I was gutted, confused and upset at the realisation I had flown 3,500 miles, spent £2,000 in flights, $800 on tickets and queued in the snow and I couldn’t see Sabrina."

Chris is a Sabrina Carpenter superfan who has followed her to shows in multiple countries - which is what ultimately led him to her concert in Toronto, Canada.

Chris said: "I am a huge fan of Sabrina and I love to travel.

"I saw her in Dublin, Zurich, Milan and Stockholm.

"I’ve heard great things about Canada and the Canadian people, which is why I opted to see her again in Toronto, rather than New York, for example."

When Chris first bought the ticket on StubHub, nothing seemed unusual.

Chris said: "I bought the ticket off of StubHub on November 4.

"StubHub emailed me with a link to claim and view my ticket on November 5.

"It looked perfectly legitimate at first glances with a QR code on and various codes along the top."

Chris arrived at the venue five hours before the box office opened, hoping to secure a good view of the show.

As he looked around at other people’s tickets, he noticed that his looked different.

When the box office finally opened, he approached a staff member and was told his ticket was fake

He said: "I had a floor standing ticket so I wanted to make sure I had a good spot.

"I ended up being number five in the queue.

"It was only when I caught a glimpse of the ticket of one of the people around me and saw it looked completely different.

"Upon going to the box office, the member of staff took one look at it and instantly said that it is not a valid ticket and it will not grant me access into the venue."

Chris contacted StubHub through their live chat.

He said: "I contacted the live chat and was met with their automated chat, which initially told me that my ticket was perfectly fine and that I should not worry!

"I had to argue with the chatbot and explain that it is in fact not a valid ticket as has been confirmed by the venue.

"The whole experience has taught me to not risk buying from ticket marketplaces again."

Chris was eventually able to secure a ticket for the following night's show.

Chris said: "At least I got to see Sabrina Carpenter again!

"I also got to witness the first day of winter snowfall in Toronto and I met some really nice people along the way.

"I would say to fans that if you can’t buy tickets during presale or general sale, then only buy from legitimate sites. "

StubHub was contacted for comment.