A life-long Reds fan paid £700 for a fake ticket to the Champions League final in Kiev after being conned by a man advertising tickets on Twitter.

Season ticket holder Mark Raw, 47, has already booked his trip to Kiev, but now he will be travelling to the final £700 down and with no ticket to the match after paying hundreds for a fake.

The gas fitter from West Derby has been to every European Cup final, including Istanbul in 2005, when he got a ticket through the club.

However, this time round the life-long Red missed out on a ticket in the ballot and was left searching for anyone with a spare to sell.

A friend put him in touch with someone who had been advertising tickets on Twitter using the hashtag #EUCL - but Mark ended up getting duped by someone peddling fake tickets.

Liverpool season ticket holder Mark Raw was conned out of £700 when someone sold him a fake ticket to the Champions League final
Liverpool season ticket holder Mark Raw was conned out of £700 when someone sold him a fake ticket to the Champions League final

Speaking to the ECHO, Mark said: “I was put in touch with this guy, apparently he was off Twitter, by a friend of mine. He called around to my house yesterday afternoon in what I thought was a taxi, but it was a hire car from Ashcroft Road in Kirkby.

“He said the price was £700 for the ticket and I bought it off him. He said it was his ticket and he couldn’t go and this, that and the other.”

When Mark started looking more closely at the ticket, he felt something wasn’t quite right about it, and started comparing it with other tickets up for sale online.

He compared it to a friend’s ticket and said he ‘just knew it was fake’ as soon as he put them side-by-side.

Mark compared his fake ticket (bottom) with a friend's genuine ticket (top)
Mark compared his fake ticket (bottom) with a friend's genuine ticket (top)

Left feeling ‘sick’ and ‘embarrassed’ by what happened, Mark called the seller back and demanded he return his cash.

He said: “I said bring back my £700 basically, and he said ‘what’s your problem?’ I said it was fake and he said it wasn’t. The situation went from that to him turning it round and saying the ticket he dropped off at mine was 100% real. He said I had swapped it. Then he switched his phone off.”

Mark added: “Initially I was sick and embarrassed. You just never think it’s going to happen to you. My wife said, with him being from Liverpool as well, rather than buy a ticket over in Kiev where they’ll well be fakes. I thought I could trust someone here.

“I’m still going to Kiev without a ticket and £700 down. My only option is going to be through a ticket tout. From paying £700 in Liverpool, I’m looking at double that.

“I went to Istanbul in 2005 with a ticket off the club, 2007 as well. I’ve been to all the European cup finals, 2001 as well.”

Mark has been a season ticket holder at Anfield for nearly 30 years, but now he will be arriving at Kiev with no ticket for Liverpool’s monumental clash against Real Madrid.

He described the seller as wearing tracksuit bottoms covered in paint, and arriving in a hire car from a Kirby firm and said he was sharing his story in the hope no one else would be conned out of their money.