There has been a noticeable increase in ticket scams circulating on social media recently, with over one third of young people having encountered such scammers themselves or knowing someone who has.
With the rising prices of concert tickets, people are becoming increasingly desperate to see their favourite artists perform live. This provides the perfect environment for scammers.
The premise of the scam is simple; the scammer will advertise tickets for a highly popular or sold-out show at prices which are much cheaper than legitimate prices, often after joining a WhatsApp chat or Facebook group shared by friends.
This attracts fans who were unable to procure a ticket. The scammer will simply vanish after payment or provide non-valid tickets so that the victim is refused entry.
Scams are constantly adapting in order to seem legitimate, however, there will be signs that a seller could be a scammer:
1. Social media accounts that are created recently advertising tickets
2. The price of the ticket is drastically below both resale value and face value
3. Use of insecure payments such as a direct bank transfer
Many anecdotes from people who are victim of ticket scams share these characteristics.
One Reddit user said they saw “someone who looks genuine” and they “even called me to assure me.”
Those who reported being “pretty careful” fell foul because they were “just desperate to find tickets.”
Victims being devoted fans of artists makes them vulnerable to enticement. The scammer nearly always operates through social media and uses insecure modes of payment. The result of these interactions is always an irretrievable loss of hundreds of pounds.
These types of scams are indiscriminate, so it is important to go through reliable channels when buying tickets. There is no possibility of verifying a seller even if referred to you by someone you may know.
If official channels are exhausted, as they often are, reputable fan resale sites such as Twickets provide an alternative.
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