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Fugitive teenager arrested over $132k ticket scam

The 19-year-old was tracked down in Spain after allegedly scamming 10,000 fans with fake tickets for shows by Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee

By James Hanley on 08 Mar 2023

Daddy Yankee


image © Daddy Yankee/Wikimedia

The alleged teenage ringleader of a gang that conned 10,000 fans with fake tickets to shows by Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee in Peru has been arrested in Spain.

Pamela Cabanillas, 19, is accused of leading a group of scammers known as “The QR Gang” that allegedly set up a cloned website of Peru-based ticket outlet, Teleticket, and sold tickets for up to US$390 between May and October last year. She is thought to have made at least US$132,000 through the scam.

According to the Daily Mail, her network sold 7,000 bogus tickets for Daddy Yankee’s two shows at Peru’s National Stadium in Lima from 18-19 October last year and a further 3,000 for Bad Bunny’s 13 November date at the same venue. Scores of customers were denied entry when their tickets were found to be duplicates.

“We have arrested her and transferred her to the police station to continue with all the necessary steps to carry out the extradition to Peru”

Cabanillas, was arrested by police last week and has been charged with five offences, including identity theft, aggravated fraud and falsification of private documents. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in jail.

Cabanillas evaded authorities for weeks before being tracked down in Carabanchel, Madrid.

“After a discreet follow-up by the Spanish police, we have been able to intercept her, we have identified her and we have verified that her identity was the one that appears in the international [arrest warrant],” Spain’s police inspector Vanessa Arriera tells Infobae. “We have arrested her and transferred her to the police station to continue with all the necessary steps to carry out the extradition to Peru.”

 


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