Teen avoids jail for concert ticket and phone scam

A 17-year-old who conned 22 people out of over €8,500 through a scheme of advertising non-existent concert tickets and iPhones online has been given a two-year suspended sentence.

Derek Whelan, now 19, placed ads on adverts.ie and donedeal.ie, and asked customers to lodge the cash in either an AIB or Permanent TSB account.

When one man complained that he never received the concert tickets he had paid €130 for, Whelan asked for his Visa Debit card details so he could refund him. The teenager then used the man’s card details to buy a phone for €220.