Live performance ticket scams are hovering in 2023. Right here’s a peek at among the newest knowledge.
Banking group Santander says buyer reviews of ticketing scams have greater than doubled within the UK inside the final yr. The corporate, which has 14 million energetic prospects, reviews that the variety of ticket scams reported by its prospects has grown 141% year-on-year, with 1,905 reviews within the first seven months of 2023.
Santander says illicit gross sales are usually marketed on social media or by way of faux web sites. Two-thirds of shoppers’ claims (67%) mentioned the rip-off originated from social media. The best reported claims accounting for almost half (47%) of all claims made had been live performance and competition tickets, adopted by soccer (17%) and flights (7%).
“Whether or not shopping for tickets on your favourite artist, the Rugby World Cup, or your soccer group, don’t rating an personal objective by getting scammed,” mentioned Chris Ainsley, head of fraud danger administration at Santander. “If anyone has been contacted by a stranger or sees an advert on-line with a deal that appears too good to be true, it might be precisely that. Folks must be alert to potential scams and solely purchase tickets from official ticket sellers.”
Santander reviews that prospects aged 19-34 accounted for 60% of all claims, whereas these over 35 reported essentially the most vital losses with a mean of £194 ($242). The corporate advises prospects to at all times purchase tickets by way of reliable official sellers and use fee strategies that provide extra safety towards fraudulent purchases, reminiscent of bank cards.
However the UK is one in all many areas seeing a marked improve in scams inside the final yr. Ottawa police have reported an uptick in reviews of faux ticket gross sales for Taylor Swift’s Toronto stops on her international Eras Tour. Demand for tickets in Toronto is excessive as the one Canadian cease on the tour, and Ottawa police report that some victims have misplaced round $2,000.
Police urge ticket consumers to take the time to satisfy with potential sellers and examine what they’re buying earlier than closing a deal. Ottawa’s Fraud Unit investigators say essentially the most outstanding pattern is consumers placing down giant quantities of cash on unseen items with unknown sellers on-line and by no means receiving the product.
“This actually is a buyer-beware state of affairs, and residents should be sensible about how they store on-line,” says Shaun Wahbeh with the Ottawa Police Fraud Unit.
Whereas it’s difficult to pinpoint complete statistics, reviews of ticket scams encompassing sports activities, concert events, festivals, and different occasions to the Higher Enterprise Bureau (BBB) elevated from 13,168 in 2020 to 17,941 in 2021. That quantity dipped barely in 2022 however has continued to develop all through 2023. A spokesperson for the BBB famous to AARP that the reviews most likely solely signify a fraction of the particular variety of scams.
Notably, even shoppers who buy reliable tickets must be cautious to chorus from posting pictures of their buy on-line, as thieves can steal the barcode or different data to attend the occasion themselves or create counterfeit tickets to resell to unsuspecting consumers.
With among the greatest names in music touring this yr and seasons beginning for soccer and different sports activities, ticketing scams for concert events, festivals, and sports activities occasions are considerably excessive. Counterfeit tickets and numerous on-line scams have been a problem for years — particularly as know-how improves every year and social media makes it more and more simpler to succeed in a big viewers.
Digital ticketing has made it simpler for followers and venues however has additionally created a chance for scammers. If somebody purchases a digital ticket from an unknown vendor, there’s no efficient technique to check that ticket’s legitimacy till they’re on the gate — and by then, it’s usually too late. Nevertheless it’s extra than simply third-party gross sales that catch consumers unaware.
A notable quantity of people that report being the sufferer of a ticket rip-off say that they thought they had been shopping for a ticket from Ticketmaster — as a result of they bought from a web site that appeared like Ticketmaster. Not double-checking the URL of an internet site earlier than making a purchase order has caught many potential consumers off-guard, resulting in an unlucky lack of cash.
Ticket scammers know that many followers have but to turn out to be accustomed to newer know-how, with many preying on that lack of expertise by providing digital tickets on the market on social media, Craigslist, or faux web sites designed to seem like respected sellers.
Until the purchaser is aware of the vendor personally, shopping for tickets with peer-to-peer companies like Venmo, CashApp, or PayPal will not be really useful, in response to the BBB. These companies don’t provide the identical shopper protections as a bank card, and plenty of scammers will encourage consumers to pay them by way of these strategies for exactly that motive.