Purmerend man selling fake season tickets to Ajax fans; Dozens scammed
A man from Purmerend is scamming Ajax fans with fake season tickets on Marktplaats. Dozens of people have bought tickets from him, often for thousands of euros, that he never delivered, Noordhollands Dagblad reports. Ajax is aware of the man and banned him from the club’s stadium last year. The Amsterdam club urged victims to report to the police.
Several warnings about the man are circulating online. “I would like to warn you about a scammer active on Marktplaats. He is active in the Ajax season ticket trade and goes by the name You Ne. We, like many others, have fallen for his story. We are now over 70 people in a group chat, all of whom have been scammed by him,” one victim wrote on Reddit and Facebook.
The newspaper found two WhatsApp groups for victims of this man with a total of 187 members, though there is considerable overlap between the groups. NoordHollands Dagblad spoke to seven of them. They all bought season tickets from You Ne for between €1,200 and €2,000 each, very expensive given that Ajax charges between €242 and €800 for a seat in the regular stands. A list of names and amounts of victims is circulating online, claiming that the man scammed Ajax fans from across the country out of over €250,000 in total.
Two victims separately met the man at a restaurant in the center of Purmerend. “He talked a lot about those tickets and about Ajax. He seemed well-versed. I bought four season tickets for over €5,000,” one said to the newspaper.
Another, the man who posted the warning on Reddit and Facebook, paid just under €6,000 for four season tickets and a parking pass. “I was a little suspicious because of the prices,” he said. “He explained his company, showed how many people he knew at Ajax. He was very open. He was easy to find online and shared all sorts of things about his family. You don’t do that if you don’t keep your promises, do you?”
Another victim had successfully bought individual tickets from You Ne in the past. “That always went well. Until I saw in March that he was offering season tickets. It’s not like I’d hand over that much money to just anyone, but I trusted him. I bought three tickets for €5,400.”
So far, the Purmerend man has not delivered a single ticket. According to NoordHollands Dagblad, he claims that he is refunding the tickets, but the Ajax fans are still waiting, and the deadline keeps getting pushed back.
Ajax told the newspaper that the club knows about the Purmerend man and imposed a stadium ban on him in November last year. “We are aware of his actions and have taken action. He offered tickets that he didn’t have access to and for non-existent seats in the stadium. As a result of another violation, he had already been banned from the stadium since November. This has been extended due to the illegal offering of tickets. The ban is in effect until 2031.”
The Amsterdam club called it “incredibly unfortunate” that so many Ajax fans have fallen victim to this man’s “illegal practices” and urged them to go to the police.
Ajax is very strict about ticket resale. Supporters may only sell their stadium seats through Ajax’s own platform, Resale. The club prohibits selling tickets through ViaGoGo, Ticketswap, or Marktplaats, with the penalty of a stadium ban for violators. The club is even stricter with season tickets, which are issued in a name and can only be transferred to immediate family members with an official Ajax account.
