Blurton Justin Bieber fan crushed by cruel scam

THE family of Justin Bieber's 'biggest fan' is more than £1,000 out of pocket after a backstage pass to meet the pop star turned out to be a scam.

Samantha Eggleton-Burchill paid out cash online so her 16-year-old daughter Carly Green could meet Justin at his MEN Arena concert in Manchester on Thursday.

But the tickets never arrived and the seller, whom she contacted through Gumtree.com, has disappeared.

Carly is devastated she will not be able to hand over a present to the heart-throb whose fans are known as Bieliebers .

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And Samantha, of Blurton, is warning other parents about falling for internet deals which seem too good to be true.

Carly, of Blurton Road, said: "I'm really sad that I don't get to meet Justin. I couldn't believe it, I was really excited and to have it taken away is so disappointing."

Carly spotted the meet-and-greet tickets online in October last year.

Samantha had hoped to surprise her with the experience and paid a £300 deposit for the tickets through online payment service PayPal and paid a further £450 through instalments. The deal included prime seats near the front of the 21,000-capacity venue.

Samantha, aged 33, said: "Carly has been crying non-stop since we realised she won't be meeting Justin. She has been a fan of his since the very beginning. Carly's room is a shrine to Justin, she's his biggest fan. She even bought a present but now she won't be able to give it to him."

Samantha also shelled out £200 for an extra three tickets for herself and her other daughters, America, aged six, and Summer, aged eight. With train tickets, the cost of the evening came to more than £1,000.

She struggled to make the payments but said the experience would be worth the money to make her daughter happy.

"My husband Lee is unemployed at the moment and we really had to scrape the money together," she said.

"When we realised it was fraud we felt sick. The seller disappeared from the website and wouldn't respond to our emails. We got in touch with Action Fraud but there's not a lot we can do."

The family is not sure if any of them will attend the event. Samantha said: "We can't afford any more tickets because they're sold out and the prices are through the roof.

"I just don't want anyone to have to go through the heartbreak that we've experienced. The money is one thing but to have your dreams crushed is so horrible. I hope no-one else ever has to go through this."

An Action Fraud spokesman said people should buy tickets only from well-known websites.