Three fraudsters have been ordered to do unpaid work for their part on a Facebook scam involving 160 victims.

Dominic Capocci, Joel Pearson and Liam Sharp made a total of more than £3,000 by selling non-existent event tickets on the social media site.

The trio conducted the con over a five-month period until their victims complained to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre.

Officers launched ‘Operation Festival’ to investigate the scam and it didn’t take them long to identify the hapless three, as they had sometimes used their own personal Facebook and bank accounts.

At a previous hearing at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court, Capocci, 21, of Coquet Avenue, Gosforth, and Pearson, 21, of Park Avenue, Gosforth, each admitted four counts of fraud by false representation, while Sharp, 22, of Tyneside Foyer, Westgate Road, Newcastle, admitted five counts.

Now, all three have been ordered to pay back their ill-gotten gains and to each do 160 hours of unpaid work.

Brian Payne, prosecuting, said: “Now and again, a craze arises through a criminal fraternity. Many years ago, it was petrol siphoning, then it was theft of computer software. Now, we’re in an online fraud craze.

“In short, I will give an example of the fraud that has been perpetrated here.

“Lets say there’s a festival that takes place in Oxford and it sets-up a Facebook page and people on Facebook tag-on because they want news .

“Part and parcel of that is the message board or time line, where people can post comments.

“What the fraudsters do is put up comments saying “I have two tickets going for this event etc...” and they purport to be ordinary festival goers, who for some reason, can no longer go to the festival. It’s not just festivals, it’s a whole raft of events.

“Members of the public who want the tickets then reply and there’s an exchange of messages and the fraudster makes a suggestion that money is transferred to their bank account and the tickets will be sent on.”

The court heard Capocci, Sharp and Pearson, as with similar Facebook fraudsters, would choose victims living out of their local area, so that a face-to-face meeting couldn’t be arranged for the hand-over of cash and tickets.

Mr Payne said the men’s victims were from all over the UK, including Nottingham, Liverpool and London.

Investigations revealed a number of people were involved in the fraud and that Capocci, Sharp and Pearson were not responsible for conning all 160 victims.

Instead, Pearson scammed around 33 people out of a total of £1,150, Capocci 40 people out of £1,490 and Sharp an unknown number out of £500 between March and September last year.

John Graham, representing Capocci, who now works as a bar supervisor at Newcastle’s Digital nightclub, said he was not part of a ‘criminal fraternity’.

He said: “Not only is this his first conviction, it’s the first time he’s been arrested.”

Also representing Sharp, Mr Graham said; “He is the at the lower end of the three in terms of benefit. He put his hands up and made full admissions in interview.”

Michael Gibson, for Pearson, added: “Armed with information from his friends about making easy money, he took the opportunity - temptation got the better of him.”