Several Arbroath families claim a man scammed them out of thousands of pounds after failing to refund them for Taylor Swift tickets that they never received.
Police are probing claims that David Quigley, 38, left Swifties ‘in tears’ and their parents out of pocket.
The women told The Courier that Mr Quigley claimed to work for the company that owns Live Nation Entertainment, which in turn owns Ticketmaster.
They claim he promised them VIP tickets for Taylor Swift’s sold-out Eras Tour at Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh, on June 8 – plus rooms at the five-star Balmoral Hotel.
Instead, he allegedly failed to deliver the tickets or a refund.
His alleged victims claim that text messages – seen by The Courier – show how he repeatedly made excuses for not sending over the tickets, or issuing refunds.
Mr Quigley, from Fraserburgh, has denied all allegations and told The Courier he “never scammed anybody”.
He said: “They asked me if I could get them and I said yes.
“Now all money is being paid back. A lot of them said they didn’t want to go to the concert in the end.”
On Thursday, June 13, he told The Courier that all the refunds would be issued by Monday, June 17.
As of Friday, June 21, his alleged victims claim they haven’t had their money back.
Police Scotland has confirmed it is investigating a report of ticket fraud and Ticketmaster has blocked Mr Quigley’s account.
Girls ‘in tears’ after Taylor Swift ticket ‘scam’
Vicky Anderson, from Arbroath, claims she has been left £590 out of pocket for three tickets plus hotel rooms and breakfast.
She told The Courier: “It is not just the money.
“My girls were left in tears when they realised they were not going to see Taylor Swift.”
Vicky had never met David but was told he could get her tickets for her two daughters, Rebecca and Natasha, and their pal.
She claims he said he could get VIP tickets for £130, which could be upgraded with a two-night hotel stay for just £50 more and the tickets would be sent to her via Ticketmaster.
The cheapest VIP tickets for Taylor Swift at Murrayfield cost £195 per person, and rooms at The Balmoral start from around £200 per night.
Vicky, 47, explained: “One of my friends’ daughters works with a girl whose mum is friends with David and said they had got tickets from him before.
“I messaged him, and he told me he was an offshore worker who could get me tickets for the event because he worked for the company who owned Live Nation.”
Mr Quigley later told The Courier he works offshore, but refused to reveal the name of the company he works for.
She says she initially transferred him £390 in July 2023 and he sent over a list of the names of the ticketholders with Ticketmaster ‘confirmation codes’ and a confirmation of their booking at the Balmoral.
Vicky said: “I was so excited for the kids.
“I told them: ‘Oh my God girls, you’re getting this’ and transferred over the money.”
She became suspicious when the tickets failed to appear in her account – and a few weeks later, on August 3, she says she received an email from someone called ‘Ben Mcstey’.
He claimed to be David Quigley’s boss and explained that Quigley was working in Israel so the tickets would be delayed.
She was told in November 2023 that due to a Ticketmaster policy change, the tickets would be posted instead. Ticketmaster could not confirm if there was a policy change at this time.
In December 2023, David Quigley allegedly told Vicky he had “the tickets in his hand” and that a co-worker named Brian was going to drop them at her house.
Over the following two weeks, Brian repeatedly claimed he was en route from Edinburgh to deliver the tickets – but Vicky said he failed to appear, blaming “the state of the roads”, “running out of battery” or “being at the wrong address”.
He then allegedly told Vicky and the other alleged victims that a work colleague called Jordan, and his ‘boss’ Ben, had hired a room at The Old Brewhouse in Arbroath on January 10 to meet them and answer any questions they had.
However, neither Brian, David, Jordan nor Ben showed up despite the families waiting at the venue for two hours.
Later that month, David Quigley claimed he would issue refunds.
He allegedly said there may be a delay as online banking – which is usually instant – could take six hours, and needed an authorisation code from the bank.
Vicky said he visited her workplace to show how he transferred the money back to her sister-in-law Sharon – but she claims the cash was never deposited in her account.
She also claims she met Mr Quigley in person the Monday before the Taylor Swift concert. Mr Quigley later confirmed to The Courier that he had indeed met with her at her home.
Vicky claims he showed her that he had her daughters’ tickets in his Ticketmaster account.
Two days before the June 8 gig, Vicky claims he said he couldn’t access the tickets due to issues with his account, sending over a screenshot of a conversation with Ticketmaster support.
On June 7, the day before the event, Vicky claims Quigley told her he was going to Edinburgh to collect the tickets at Murrayfield but was having issues.
She claims he messaged her: “I’m speaking to then then now, it takes a min or so to fix and the signal is terrible here.”
Meanwhile, she called the Balmoral Hotel to confirm if their rooms were booked.
She claims she was told that they were – but had not been paid.
She then said he stopped replying to her messages at 4:43pm and she never heard from him again.
David Quigley allegedly scammed several victims
Vicky’s sister-in-law Sharon also transferred £1,400 to Quigley for seven tickets, which failed to appear.
Another alleged victim, Ashley Neate, said her two daughters Erin, 20, and Orla, 17, sent Quigley over £700 in July 2023 for tickets for them and three friends.
“We obviously didn’t expect the tickets to be in our account that day, but it went on and on and there were just screeds and screeds of lies,” Mrs Neate said.
They said they received dozens of messages claiming the tickets would be sent to their Ticketmaster accounts. However, this never happened.
She said: “My daughter kept asking for a refund for months, but he kept saying ‘I need to meet up with you,’ ‘I need to come to your house,’ but it was just all lies.”
“I told him look if you can’t provide the tickets, please issue us a refund.
“He said yes, yes, but never did, and the last time I heard from him was in May.
“He’s such a horrible person; how can you be so cruel to people?”
David Quigley denies all allegations
David Quigley has denied all allegations.
He told The Courier: “I’ve never scammed anybody.”
When asked why he had not issued refunds, he said: “That’s not true.
“I get back to everyone.”
He added: “As I said I helped them and I am getting their money back.”
On Thursday, June 13, he told the Courier that all the refunds would be issued by Monday, June 17.
However, to date, all the alleged victims have confirmed that not only did this not happen, but that he never even asked them for their bank details.
Police probing report of ticket fraud
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are investigating a report of ticket fraud, and enquiries are ongoing.”
A Ticketmaster spokesperson confirmed David Quigley’s account has been blocked.
They added: “We outline that fans should only ever buy tickets from official sources and always avoid buying tickets from individuals on social media.”
The Balmoral Hotel responded but was “unable to comment on any guest-related matter.”
Live Nation Entertainment, The Arbroath Old Brewhouse and Taylor Swift’s PR have also been approached for comment.
