Refunds issued for partygoers scammed over fake NYE cruise

A luxury cruise promised partygoers the celebration of a lifetime to ring in the New Year, but it wasn’t as glamorous as it sounded.

The event had been advertised on Facebook in early December promising a package deal for a luxury four-hour cruise including drinks, food and a DJ off Glenelg Beach.

On December 31, 150 people lined up at Glenelg Wharf after paying $120 for tickets to the “NYE on the Bay Boat Party”.

But after peering into the water and waiting for the promised party boat to arrive, the sinking feeling snuck in.

“Slowly as time went passed, there was more and more people arriving and no boat…which was obviously quite interesting,” partygoer Jayden Clark said.

As they waited, Clark tried to contact the event organisers to find it had been taken down and the organiser’s Facebook account was deactivated.

Attendees soon came to the devastating realisation they had been scammed.

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But in a silver lining for devastated partygoers, an Eventbrite spokesperson, the company through which tickets were booked, today confirmed all 150 people would receive a refund.

“All evidence we have right now points towards the conclusion that the advertised “NYE on the Bay Boat Party” in Glenelg was indeed a fraudulent event, and we are therefore refunding all attendees in full today,” the spokesperson said.

“It can take 5-7 business days for those refunds to show in the attendees’ accounts.”

The company also promised to amend their scam detection mechanisms to stay ahead of fraudulent events.

“We are cooperating with South Australia Police to support their investigation into the people behind this event,” the spokesperson said.