As Taylor Swift is set to perform her final three sold-out shows at the Rogers Centre this week, many people who have fallen victim to an alleged ticket scam are trying to find answers to what happened.
Victims who spoke to CTV News Toronto identified a Burlington woman as the person from whom they bought tickets but failed to deliver them.
They claimed 43-year-old Denise Tisor, who reportedly uses the name Denise Blackhawk on Facebook, accepted nearly $300,000 for over 400 tickets.
Several victims said they felt confident that Tisor would get them tickets because they knew her, and many had purchased tickets from her in the past.
Allison from Durham Region told CTV News Toronto she felt in some way connected with Tisor after buying tickets last summer. They would exchange occasional text messages, and Tisor even helped Allison use a website to print the tickets to give to her three young daughters on Christmas morning as a surprise.
In a video taken that morning and shared with CTV News, the girls burst into song after receiving the tickets.
It wasn’t until last week that they learned the tickets weren’t real.
“I wanted to go there so badly and just turns out we didn’t get to go,” Allison’s seven-year-old daughter said.
Allison was surprised to learn how many people paid Tisor for the tickets.
“There were hundreds of us. There are hundreds of us that believed her. And she was that good. It’s just how I felt,” she said.
Allison said she had heard about Tisor through a friend, LeAnne Underwood. Last summer, Underwood purchased tickets from Tisor to see Pink at the Rogers Centre.
“We went in the summer, and we had a great time. Like we actually went. So, it was reassuring because we had the tickets,” Underwood told CTV News Toronto.
Burlington elementary school teacher Tammy Allen also bought Swift tickets from Tisor for her 13-year-old daughter. Tisor’s children attend Allen’s school and have known each other for a decade.
“I was like, I know this woman. Like her kids go to my school,” Allen said.
They were supposed to attend the Nov. 16 concert, but two days before, Allen was told that the tickets may not be coming. After talking with friends, Allen called Tisor.
“I just said like, ‘I need you to spell this out to me. Am I breaking my daughter’s heart tonight? Like, do I not have tickets? Do we not have her money?’ And she’s like, ‘We don’t have your tickets,’” Allen recounted.
Through tears, Allen said she waited hours before telling her daughter.
“You just know that the inevitable is going to break somebody’s heart, and it’s just trying to find the time to take the band-aid off. And unfortunately, that for her was the car ride home after a winning hockey game,” she said, recalling that her daughter cried and was in disbelief.
Allen said Tisor originally informed her that the tickets were from a corporate connection, but on Friday, she said the money had gone to a third party named Mark Harlow and that Harlow had disappeared after the money was transferred.
CTV News contacted Tisor by phone last week. At the time, Tisor said that she, too, was a victim, adding, “I’ve already made a report to the police.” On Tuesday, CTV News tracked down Tisor at her Burlington home, but she declined to talk.
Many who gave Tisor their money are questioning that story.
One woman from Burlington created a Google document for people who had given money to Tisor for Taylor Swift tickets. She did not want to use her name but said the numbers were surprising.
“When you start to see the sheer number of tickets – 420 tickets is a lot of tickets,” she said.
As more alleged victims contacted her, other irregularities started to become apparent.
“Some (tickets) are sold twice and three times to the same show, same row…the exact same like tickets were sold multiple times,” she said.
What may be most startling is the total dollar amount. According to the woman, over $295,000 went to Tisor for these tickets.
In Kingston, a teacher named Lindsay said she asked Tisor about her return policy.
“And I said, Well, what if something happens like the concert’s cancelled or something? Then she said, I just give you your money back,” Lindsay said.
When Lindsay found out that the tickets would not be coming, she was told the same story: a third-party seller had ghosted Tisor. Lindsay asked Tisor to work with everyone who had lost money.
“Like join our crew because there’s a lot of us,” Lindsay said, adding that Tisor “hasn’t responded, and she’s like obviously deleted us all off Facebook.”
Halton Police have confirmed that they have launched a criminal investigation into an alleged ticket scam in Burlington and are urging anyone who may be a victim to contact them.
Tammy Allen said she wants to see police investigate and lay charges in order to restore her daughter’s faith.
“I just want to be able to say to my daughter and her friends that it’s not okay what happened, and we can’t do anything to fix it now. But our justice system can,” she said.