A British national named Ellie Catchesides has been spared from being jailed after she caught selling thousands of dollars' worth of fake tickets for Disneyland Paris to her friends. Catchesides sold said fake tickets to four other moms through her Facebook account.
The 28-year old Ellie Catchesides is a mother of three and lives in Eltham, a southeast district in London. According to a report by Fox News, Catchesides offered the tickets to her contacts on the social networking site, including a woman who has been her friend for 15 years. Catchesides enticed her Facebook followers by telling them that she purchased the Disneyland tickets for her own use but was not able to go on her trip so she decided to sell them for a lower price.
Catchesides sold the fake tickets for 1,500 pounds or 1,880 USD. Her victims included Rebecca Tomlin and Jade Miller who paid her 550 and 950 British Pounds, respectively. Catchesides said that she was also a victim of a scam but later on admitted four counts of fraud at Woolwich Crown Court where the case was tried.
According to a report by Mirror, Jade Miller said, "At first my friend thought it was just me it happened to but upon looking further into it I have found that I am not alone. On one occasion a family turned up on the day ready to travel to Disneyland with children in tow to discover the heart-breaking truth."
Miller furthered that the focal points of Catchesides' scam are "hard-working families struggling to get by who are responsive to good deals." The court has also heard of the disappointments of Miller's children as to the fake Disneyland holiday.
Judge Andrew Lees told Catchesides: "You sold fake trips to people who no doubt work hard and were hoping they had a chance to go on holiday that might be enjoyable for them and their family. But it turned out you were committing a mean and dishonest offence against them and there was some persistence in what you were doing."
Judge Lees also tagged Catchesides as "mean and dishonest" for the Disneyland tickets scam. Catchesides will not spend a day or two in jail but in exchange, she was sentenced to 140 hours of unpaid work for the said fraud.
