Brisbane-based ticket scammer gets five-year prison sentence

July 27, 2020

A serial conman who defrauded a dozen ticket buyers by pretending to sell them concert tickets online, has today been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison by a Court in Brisbane.

District Court Judge Craig Chowdhury passed sentence on Ho Man Stephen Yeung, aged 35, a former hospitality worker from Underwood, south of Brisbane.

However, as reported by Brisbane newspaper The Courier-Mail, Yeung could be released soon because Judge Chowdhury set early parole eligibility because the fraudster has already spent nearly two years in prison on remand.

In addition, the Court heard Yeung has not repaid any of the more than $200,000 he obtained and probably never will.

Yeung, who was born and raised in Hong Kong until the age of 11 when he attended St Laurence’s College in Brisbane, swindled a total of more than $200,000 from his victims between 2015 and 2018 including taking $2,100 from four music fans he found through classified websites.

He also swindled $157,768 from buy-now pay-later service Oxipay and about $50,000 from a Sydney man he met on an online car forum for enthusiasts of Lotus Elite cars.

The Court was told the money went to feed a gambling addiction.

In sentencing Yeung, Judge Chowdhury described Yeung’s actions as “persistent, deliberate and cunning frauds which left numerous people out of pocket”, adding “there is no suggestion you have made any restitution to them (and), I expect you … probably never will.”

Judge Chowdhury said Yeung’s actions of ripping off aspiring concert-goers he found on various classified websites in February 2018 by pretending to have tickets and tricking them into sending money for tickets he never sent were “really mean in nature”.

Judge Chowdhury said that Yeung showed “deviousness” in using the identity of a woman he met on the Chinese social media app WeChat to rip-off the seller of a $2,999 Apple MacBook laptop on Gumtree in June 2017.

Between December 2015 and July 2016 he also used WeChat to rip off a Sydney man he met on a Lotus chatroom.

The Courier-Mail reported Yeung has a history of similar crimes. In 2011 he was sentenced to three years prison for an $81,000 fraud which included ‘selling’ items to people but never delivering them and using stolen credit card numbers to buy items online.

Click here to read the original in The Courier-Mail.

Image used for illustrative purposes only.

2nd March 2020 - UK Court sentences scalpers to lengthy jail terms

28th December 2019 - Tasmanian Opposition leader calls for anti-scalping legislation

13th October 2019 - Adelaide Festival Centre executive fights back against online ticket scalpers and reseller sites

13th September 2019 - AFL finals tickets packages removed from sale amid scalping claims

20th July 2019 - Perth ticket scammer avoids jail over fraudulent sales

4th March 2019 - New Zealand Government to legislate on ticket scalping

22nd September 2018 - Ticketmaster takes action over reseller accounts that bypass scalping restrictions

30th May 2018 - Ed Sheeran’s strong stance against ticket scalpers has global impact

16th March 2018 - AEG Ogden applauds Queensland Police arrests ahead of Brisbane Ed Sheeran concerts

16th March 2018 - Man arrested over sales of fake tickets for Ed Sheeran Brisbane concerts

8th March 2018 - Gudinski: ‘promoters aren’t the bad guys’ in Ed Sheeran ticket scalping debate

23rd November 2017 - Google updates AdWords policy to restrict online ticket scalpers

4th September 2017 - Robbie Williams blocks Australian tour ticket pre-sales in move to deter scalpers

22nd March 2017 - Senate passes resolution calling for reform of laws against ticket scalping

3rd August 2017 - QPAC urges patrons to be cautious when buying tickets from unauthorised sellers

1st April 2017 - Promoter Andrew McManus spared jail time in suitcase drug money case

25th September 2013 - 500,000 Australians a year caught out by online ticket scams

19th May 2008 - Pilbeam Slams Madonna Ticket Reselling

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