Ontario Couple Who Sold $265,000 in Nonexistent Taylor Swift Tickets Face Victims in Court as Sentencing Is Delayed

Published Oct. 7, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date.

For months before Taylor Swift's six Eras Tour concerts in Toronto in November 2024, parents across Southern Ontario thought they had found a trustworthy source for hard-to-get tickets: a mother from their own community. On the day of the first show, the tickets never arrived [1].

The seller, Denise Tisor, who went by Denise Blackhawk online, and her common-law partner, David Lloyd Blake, pleaded guilty in July 2026 in a Milton, Ontario, courtroom [2][3]. According to the agreed facts reported by Global News, 107 buyers paid Tisor $265,330 for tickets that did not exist [1]. Amounts in this article are in Canadian dollars.

On Oct. 6, 2026, nearly two dozen victim impact statements were read at what was scheduled to be the couple's sentencing hearing. Sentencing was then put off to Dec. 8 because of delays with key documents, including a pre-sentence report for Blake [1][2].

Important: Both have pleaded guilty, but neither has been sentenced. The sentence will be decided by the judge.

The guilty pleas

Reports differ slightly on how Tisor's count is worded. Global News reported she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000; CP24 and The Globe and Mail described it as defrauding the public [1][2][3]. Blake pleaded guilty to one count of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 [1].

Global News described the couple as being from Burlington, Ontario; CP24 called them a Hamilton couple [1][3].

How the fraud worked

According to the facts admitted in court, as reported by Global News [1]:

• Between Aug. 8, 2023, and Nov. 12, 2024, 107 buyers negotiated prices with Tisor for Rogers Centre seats at one of the six Toronto shows and paid her by electronic money transfer.
• Tisor told every buyer they would get their tickets by email 48 to 72 hours before the concert.
• In the hours before the first show on Nov. 14, 2024, no one had received tickets. Tisor blamed a supplier who, she said, had deactivated his Facebook profile and email. Police investigated that man and determined he was not involved.
• None of the 107 buyers received tickets or their money back.

Blake admitted that between Oct. 10, 2023, and Nov. 12, 2024, money from the fake sales went into his bank account, that he knew where it came from, and that he received $42,495 in transfers from buyers [1].

The couple also admitted that between July 1, 2023, and Nov. 28, 2024, they used $139,144 of the money for online gambling bets, with a net loss of $56,335, and made about 350 ATM cash withdrawals totalling more than $297,000 [1].

Victims told The Globe and Mail they had paid between $1,700 and $15,000 to an account for "Denise Blackhawk" after being timed out or priced out of Ticketmaster and resale sites [2]. Many said in court that Tisor was someone they knew through school or youth sports, who had sold them real tickets before [1][2].

In a Facebook post from the Denise Blackhawk account after the pleas, Tisor wrote in part, "Today, I simply want to say that I'm sorry," and "Almost two years ago, I was facing a serious gambling addiction that completely took over my life." [3]

The proposed sentence

Assistant Crown attorney Michael Rzeszutek told Ontario Court Justice Peter Maund that the Crown and defence jointly propose a conditional sentence order of two years less a day for Tisor and a six-month conditional sentence for Blake [1]. A conditional sentence is served in the community, usually partly under strict house arrest. If the judge accepts the joint position, neither will go to jail [1].

Red flags for ticket scams

• A private seller for a sold-out show, especially one who says tickets will be sent "closer to the date."
• Payment by e-transfer, Zelle, cash or other methods with no buyer protection.
• Trust by referral. In this case, buyers relied on community connections and past purchases, the court heard.
• A "supplier" you can't verify. If the seller is just a middleman, you have no idea where the tickets come from.
• Last-minute excuses as the event approaches.

What to do

1. Buy from the official ticketing platform or an authorized resale exchange that transfers tickets in-app and guarantees entry.
2. Pay by credit card so you can dispute the charge.
3. Ask for the ticket transfer before you pay, not days before the show.
4. If you've been scammed, contact your bank immediately and report it to local police. In Canada, also report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre; in the U.S., to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 7, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 7, 2026	Source
Denise Tisor (aka Denise Blackhawk), Burlington, Ont.	Ontario Court of Justice, Milton	Pleaded guilty July 15, 2026 (fraud over $5,000 / defrauding the public); joint proposal of two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence; sentencing adjourned to Dec. 8, 2026	[1], [2], [3]
David Lloyd Blake, Burlington, Ont.	Ontario Court of Justice, Milton	Pleaded guilty July 15, 2026 (possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000); joint proposal of six-month conditional sentence; sentencing adjourned to Dec. 8, 2026	[1], [2], [3]

Neither has been sentenced. Statuses can change.

Sources

1. Catherine McDonald, "Burlington couple behind $265K Taylor Swift ticket scam to likely avoid jail," Global News, Oct. 6, 2026. https://globalnews.ca/news/12089518/taylor-swift-ticket-scam-ontario-sentencing-hearing/
2. Mariya Postelnyak, "Victims of Taylor Swift ticket fraud deliver impact statements as sentencing delayed," The Globe and Mail, Oct. 6, 2026. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-taylor-swift-victims-ticket-fraud-impact-statements-sentencing/
3. Sean Leathong, "Ontario couple pleads guilty after victims defrauded out of over $265K in Taylor Swift ticket scam," CP24, July 15, 2026. https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/07/22/ontario-couple-pleads-guilty-to-defrauding-victims-out-of-over-265k-in-taylor-swift-ticket-scam/

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