Warning over ticket reseller scams | EUROtoday
Business reporter, BBC News

Music lovers are warning towards shopping for tickets for sold-out Bank Holiday gigs from resellers on social media after they fell sufferer to scams.
Jasmine, 22, noticed tickets to a celebration at Thorpe Park being marketed on the market on X on the morning of the occasion. She and her pal every despatched £90 by financial institution switch to 2 totally different sellers however didn’t obtain the tickets.
Another lady paid somebody on X £60 for 2 tickets to an RnB occasion in London final Bank Holiday weekend solely to be blocked.
It comes because the UK’s rip-off reporting service Action Fraud and client group Which? say fraudsters are more and more utilizing Bank Holiday demand for tickets to steal cash. The BBC has requested X for a remark.
Jasmine mentioned she was scammed after looking out 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 informed 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 mentioned.
“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 appeared fairly legit. Especially as a result of this is not actually the type of occasion folks would rip-off for I believed,” she mentioned.
“I transferred it and she or he informed me to attend one second. I used to be messaging her extra and she or he mentioned she wants to speak to her pal. After an hour I went again to the chat and I used to be 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 clearly not good to listen to,” he said. “If you are undecided, in all probability do not buy the tickets. I do know folks wish to come to the events and luxuriate in themselves however I’d slightly hold my cash than be scammed.”
Which? consumer expert Rob Lilley-Jones said: “Ticketing scams are actually widespread and we see them time and time once more when there are standard occasions and gigs taking place through the summer season and over Bank Holidays.”
Claire Webb, Action Fraud’s acting director, said: “With £9.7m misplaced to ticket fraud final yr, Action Fraud is urging people who find themselves heading to the highest occasions and people searching for last-minute ticket offers this summer season to remain vigilant and recognise the indicators 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.”

How to keep away from getting scammed on-line
- Be cautious of merchandise on the market at too good to be true costs.
- Beware faux web sites, which seem like a real retailer’s web site. Check that the URL is that of the official model.
- Watch out for posts from a newly created social media account, or hyperlinks to a not too long ago created web site. You can use a website checker like who.is to test when an internet site was created.
- Read critiques and solely purchase from authorised sellers and web sites.
Source: Which?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyqz5j8x0ko