Dion Yates was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma three years ago, which is a rare disease where cancer cells are found in the bone or in soft tissue. She found out in March that her condition is now terminal and the NHS can't do anything more to help her condition.
As a result, the 18-year-old has been trying to tick off items on a bucket list while she can. One of those epic life moments was seeing chart-topper Ed Sheeran perform at the O2 in London.
The tickets were all sold out on the main sites, but Dion's family managed to find a package on Gumtree. Dion's sister, Jacy, has told LADbible: "My mum told the guy about Dion's story, he said 'well if you pay a little bit extra I can get you in VIP because I'm in a music management company'."
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They ended up paying £600 for the supposed VIP package. Jacy says the tickets looked legitimate and came with bank statements and an official looking envelope.
They were all set to hear Sheeran belt out some of his latest hits until they arrived at the arena.
Jacy said: "As soon as they tried to scan the tickets, they were like 'you need to go and see the fraudulent table', and we arrived and they told us they've seen three of these already. We just stood there. Dion went into a bit of a panic attack."
Dion's mum, Kerry, posted this message on Facebook a short time later:
The post has been shared more than seven thousand times with hundreds of comments, including from Jamie Merrick, who said: "That's disgusting low life scum can't believe they turned you away though hopefully keep sharing and Ed will see this and get her to see him."
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Tammy Casey added: "Such a horrible situation to be in anyway, but to be duped like that, and what a beautiful smile she still has. Come on social media, let's make her smile even bigger."
While Ellie Mae Powell said: "That is absolutely disgusting. I cannot believe anyone would do something like that. It's bad enough to do that but knowing this poor girl is terminally ill is ten times worse. Hopefully this will get seen and justice will happen."
Credit: Facebook/Kerry Yates
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Jacy said: "[We] put that on Facebook just to get the word out and then the phones have just been non-stop. We've had companies offering us tickets with box seats and VIP. It's insane, it's unbelievable."
She claimed the man who sold them the tickets has blocked their phone numbers, but they've passed the matter onto police. They're also hoping CCTV at Waterloo station will have captured the person's face. They're also planning on speaking to Gumtree to see if the site can do anything about remuneration or help track down the seller.
Earlier this year, Ed Sheeran's record label, Atlantic Records, announced it was trying to clamp down on people just like this scammer. A statement to the Press Association read: "We are vehemently opposed to the unethical practices in the secondary market. We have written to each of our partners, be they promoters, venues or ticketing companies, detailing the way in which we expect tickets to be sold: direct to fans."
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Ed's management team encouraged people looking for tickets to head to Twickets, an online site which allows fans to swap and buy tickets at cost-price or less.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Kerry Yates