By Aida Fofana, BBC News, West Midlands • Shehnaz Khan, BBC News, West Midlands
ReutersThe family of a UK swimmer said they have lost thousands of pounds after buying tickets to see him compete in the Paris Olympics which turned out to be fake.
Matt Richards’ mum Amanda said they were “completely duped” after spending £2,500 as they tried to get to see the medal hopeful this summer.
Her son, from Droitwich, Worcestershire, then took to social media to criticise the games’ organisers and said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should give tickets to the families of competing athletes.
The BBC have approached the IOC for a response.
The swimmer secured Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 as a member of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay and could now compete in six events at the games, which begin on 26 July, after qualifying for Team GB.
Ms Richards said the family had entered the official ticket ballot but by the time their turn arrived only the most expensive tickets could be purchased – for 3,000 euros each.
“We’re just a normal working family, we don’t have that kind of that money,” she said.
“We couldn’t afford to buy tickets for everything he’s swimming in but we wanted to be there for sort of the important ones, the semis and the finals, so we bought tickets for five evening events.”
ReutersThe family had come across a website which had “looked perfectly legitimate.”
Ms Richards said emails confirming the purchases had arrived before they eventually realised it was a scam after spotting spelling and grammatical errors.
“I started getting emails asking me for my nominal details… They kept repeatedly coming and asking for those nominal details,” she told the BBC.
“We don’t have masses of savings. We just don’t have the money to be able to just buy another set of tickets.
“We’re devastated…I was really upset. I feel like a fool.”
Posting on his story on Instagram on Friday, Mr Richards said it was not fair that the Olympic Games should be for those “who can afford to come and watch”.
“It’s time that [The Olympic Games] support the families of people competing by giving them tickets to events,” he posted.
“Seeing your family or friends compete at the Olympic Games shouldn’t be reserved for the people that have thousands to spare.”
