Fraudster who sold fake Oasis tickets given community order

A fraudster who sold fake Oasis concert tickets to pay off her debts has been given a community order and told to pay a £40 fine.

Rosie Slater, 33, used her connections with "wealthy, rich and famous people" to con 11 people who lost an estimated £4,000 in total, Staffordshire Police said.

Slater, who admitted 11 counts of fraud by false representation at a hearing in December, sat in front of the glass dock at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on Monday.

Prosecutor Kyle Padley said Slater, formerly of Betley in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, told her victims she had access to Oasis tickets, including the Wembley Stadium VIP box.

One man, who purchased 15 tickets from her, set up two WhatsApp groups and invited friends he thought might be potential buyers, the court heard.

In those groups, Slater offered a price of £130 per ticket, and some people sent her the money directly and booked non-refundable hotel rooms for the tour dates.

Mr Padley told the court: "It later came out the defendant was lying."

He said she was then interviewed by police.

"She said she started with good intent then it escalated out of her control," he said.

The defendant was handed a 12-month community order and is required to pay a £40 fine and compensation of £776.98 to five victims.

Some of her victims have already been refunded, the court heard.

Slater was also told to pay a £114 victim surcharge and costs of £85.

In addition, she must complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

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Simon Leech, defending Slater, told the court "she did not spend this money extravagantly" and used it to pay off household debts, including council tax payments.

Detective Constable David Stubbs, of Staffordshire Police, told LBC: "She does have connections with some of our wealthy, rich and famous people and has been fortunate enough to previously attend concerts, and due to this she was able to convince her victims that she had credible access to both the tickets and the VIP box at Wembley Stadium.

"No evidence has been found of any coercion. She has acted, we believe, purely out of greed, exploiting her connections for personal gain.

"This has left the victims obviously very upset. It's caused a lot of anger and hurt, really, particularly as she used some of the victims to attract more victims."

A Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation was launched in 2024 into the way Ticketmaster sold Oasis tickets.

It found the ticket website did not tell fans waiting in long queues that standing tickets were being sold at two different prices, and that prices would rise as soon as the cheap tickets sold out.

Ticketmaster sold some "platinum" tickets at almost two and a half times the price of standard tickets, without sufficient explanation that these offered no extra benefits in the same areas of the venue, the CMA said.

In response, the CMA said Ticketmaster must now tell fans 24 hours in advance if there is a tiered pricing system in operation - as there was for Oasis standing tickets.

Tickets for the band's reunion tour, their first gigs in 16 years, were also listed on secondary ticket resale websites for thousands of pounds.

(c) Sky News 2026: Fraudster who sold fake Oasis tickets given community order