Warning over ticket reseller scams

Music lovers are warning against buying tickets for sold-out Bank Holiday gigs from resellers on social media after they fell victim to scams.

Jasmine, 22, saw tickets to a party at Thorpe Park being advertised for sale on X on the morning of the event. She and her friend each sent £90 by bank transfer to two different sellers but did not receive the tickets.

Another woman paid someone on X £60 for two tickets to an RnB event in London last Bank Holiday weekend only to be blocked.

It comes as the UK’s scam reporting service Action Fraud and consumer group Which? say fraudsters are increasingly using Bank Holiday demand for tickets to steal money. The BBC has asked X for a comment.

Jasmine said she was scammed after searching on X for tickets to 1Way X Aura Thorpe Park on 15 March.

“I saw this girl with 1,000 followers. We started talking, said we needed two tickets. She sent us screenshots which made us feel that she had the tickets,” she told the BBC.

“She said, ‘Can you just send [the money] to my friend’s account?’ This is where we should’ve obviously gotten suspicious but this was on the morning of the event… we needed to get to London,” she said.

“As soon as we sent it she started moving a bit long, I asked her what’s going on and she told us wait a moment. They even told us to hurry up and get dressed!

“And then she blocked me.”

She said she and her friend managed to get £90 back from Monzo after sending screenshots of the X account and posts from others complaining of being scammed. They were not able to retrieve the remaining £90 which was paid through Revolut.

The woman who tried to buy tickets to RnB event SlowJamsWithA said she asked for verification of the tickets and was sent a screenshot.

She said the ticket price of £60 for two seemed reasonable, so she did not think it would be a scam over such a small amount.

“It seemed pretty legit. Especially because this isn’t really the kind of event people would scam for I thought,” she said.

“I transferred it and she told me to wait one second. I was messaging her more and she said she needs to talk to her friend. After an hour I went back to the chat and I was blocked.”

She reported the scam to Barclays, who refunded her a week later.

Ty Hinds, founder of SlowJamsWithA, told the BBC he had received a lot of messages that customers had been targeted by scammers.

“It’s obviously not nice to hear,” he said. “If you’re not sure, probably don’t buy the tickets. I know people want to come to the parties and enjoy themselves but I would rather keep my money than be scammed.”

Which? consumer expert Rob Lilley-Jones said: “Ticketing scams are really common and we see them time and time again when there are popular events and gigs happening during the summer and over Bank Holidays.”

Claire Webb, Action Fraud’s acting director, said: “With £9.7m lost to ticket fraud last year, Action Fraud is urging people who are heading to the top events and those looking for last-minute ticket deals this summer to stay vigilant and recognise the signs of ticket fraud.

“Beware of fraudsters trying to take advantage by selling fake tickets to popular or sold-out events online or on social media.”

• Be wary of products for sale at too good to be true prices.
• Beware fake websites, which look like a genuine retailer’s website. Check that the URL is that of the official brand.
• Watch out for posts from a newly created social media account, or links to a recently created website. You can use a domain checker like who.is to check when a website was created.
• Read reviews and only buy from authorised sellers and websites.

Source: Which?