Georgia man accused of swindling friends, mom of $750K in Super Bowl ticket scam, disappears
A “squeaky-clean” Georgia businessman has left his friends, community and even his mother in the lurch, having allegedly swindled them of more than $750,000 in a Super Bowl ticket scam then leaving town.
Ketan Shah of Gwinnett County stands accused of running a months-long scam that involved accepting large sums of money from around a dozen people for Super Bowl tickets that have not been delivered, WSBTV2 in Atlanta reports.
Suspect’s wife doesn’t know where he is
With the game approaching on Sunday, Shah’s wife doesn’t know where to find him.
“I really don’t know where he is now,” Bhavi Shah told WSBTV. “I really don’t. I’m sorry.”
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Suspect’s mom says she lost $36K
Among those whom Shah allegedly swindled is his own mother, who contacted police but did not file charges after losing $36,000 in the scam, according to police records obtained by WSBTV.
Shah owns a local digital printing business and sits on multiple community boards, according to the report.
Alan Tartt, an alleged victim in the scam, contacted the TV station’s investigative team after he said he and a friend deposited $20,000 with Shah and never received Super Bowl tickets. He told WSBTV he trusted Shah because of his “squeaky-clean” reputation as a businessman.
One man says he paid $500,000
The alleged victim who lost the most is a man described as a businessman and friend of Shah’s who paid $500,000 expecting tickets and the opportunity to host a Super Bowl event.
The alleged victims who spoke with WSBTV repeatedly cited Shah’s reputation in the community as the reason they trusted him.
“It’s not that he posted some ad and random people are contacting this guy for tickets and being scammed,” Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Wilbert Rundles told WSBTV. “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.”
Police records obtained by the station show that Shah took out a $500,000 loan on his business and that family members believe he went to Las Vegas.
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