As music festival season looms, many disappointed fans who have failed to secure tickets via the official channels are trying to find other ways to see their favourite bands.
There are many ways to buy sold-out tickets to not only festivals but gigs, cultural events, football games and other sporting fixtures … in fact any event where a limited number of entry tickets has been issued. Many people go online to buy these tickets as it is fast and easy, and provides access to the widest source of sellers.
An increasing number, however, are becoming victims of ticket fraud – where not only do they miss out on their event, they lose their money too.
This month, Get Safe Online is teaming up with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), online classifieds and community noticeboard Gumtree and ticket buying and selling site StubHub, to increase awareness of the issue.
Get Safe Online spoke to a number of people who had been defrauded whilst buying tickets for various sporting fixtures, gigs and festivals … you can read their stories by clicking here.
We discovered a common theme: the victims were contacted by the fraudsters having placed want ads on websites or fan forums, and told that they would receive the tickets in exchange for the payment being transferred into a bank account. The tickets did not arrive, and the money could not be retrieved because of the method of payment. In other cases, fraudsters set up fake but authentic-looking ticketing websites. In this case, payment may be online, but again the tickets are non-existent and the money is lost.
Following the simple precautions on the Buying Tickets page on this website will help you to buy tickets online safely, and advise you on what to do if you are unfortunate enough to become a victim of ticket fraud.
