SUPER BOWL TICKET SCAM
About a dozen Georgians have accused a prominent Gwinnett County businessman of taking off with nearly $1 million in a monthslong Super Bowl ticket and business scam.
Records obtained Channel 2 Action News early Thursday morning show the man’s own mother has accused him of theft tied to the scam, and his wife told reporters she hasn’t seen him since reporting him missing early this month.
Carr received the tip about Ketan Shah from an alleged victim who lives in Sandy Springs. The man told Carr that Shah, who owns a digital printing shop and sits on numerous community boards, took off with $20,000 and never delivered premium Super Bowl tickets.
In November, text messages show Tartt began communicating with Shah, with whom he connected through a mutual friend. He and two others told police they started making $5,000 payments to Shah as regular deposits on $20,000 worth of tickets.
But when it came time to meet late this month, Tartt said he couldn’t reach Shah. He went to Sandy Springs police, the FBI and his bank to file reports.
Records show Shah’s mother also contacted police, saying she’d lost $36,000 in the scam, but declined to press charges. Four other metro Atlanta men filed one theft by deception report on Shah, citing similar lost amounts in ticket purchases.
Another Duluth man and his brother-in-law from Ohio also said they’d paid $20,000 and never received tickets this month. An Alpharetta man reported a similar experience to police.
But the biggest loss recorded was a $500,000 payment made to Shah by a friend and businessman in Columbus, Georgia, who said he was promised tickets and a chance to host an arena Super Bowl event.
“Right now, what we know of is just slightly over three-quarters of a million dollars scammed out for Super Bowl-related stuff,” said Cpl. Wilbert Rundles, a Gwinnett County police spokesperson.
“It’s not that he posted some ad and random people are contacting this guy for tickets and being scammed,” Rundles continued. “He’s known these people for many years. One of them, he’s known his whole life because it’s his own mother, and he’s taken advantage of them.”
According to those records, his family believes Shah traveled to Las Vegas at some point, as part of a midlife crisis, but it’s unclear where he could be now. Gwinnett investigators said they want to hear his side of this story, especially if the tickets are not delivered by Sunday.
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