Buying Tickets Safely Online

You want tickets to see your favourite band, a festival or a big sporting event. The box office and other well-known sites have sold out, and you’re reluctant to pay the prices on the fan ticket exchange sites. So you respond to an ad on social media or an online marketplace.

The seller tells you they’ll post or email the tickets as soon as you’ve transferred the money to their bank account. But when you try to contact them after nothing’s arrived, they’ve disappeared off the face of the earth. Checking a fan forum, you find that dozens of other people have fallen victim to the same fraud.

This happens to thousands of music, sports and other fans every year who get tricked into buying fake or non-existent tickets.

However desperate you are to get into a gig, festival or game, don’t buy tickets from anyone apart from official vendors, the box office or reputable fan reseller sites.

Your expert ticket buying tips

Buy tickets only from the venue’s box office, sports club, promoter, official agent or reputable ticket exchange sites.
Consider that tickets advertised on any other source such as auction sites, social media and fan forums may be fake or non-existent, however authentic the seller may seem and whether they’re advertised below, above or at face value.
Don’t be tempted to click on social media, text or email links or attachments offering tickets, as they could link to fraudulent or malware sites.
Paying for tickets by bank transfer – however desperate you are to get hold of them – could result in you losing your money if it’s a fraud. The responsibility for losses lies with you, not anybody else, including your bank.
Check sellers’ privacy and returns policies.
Consider paying by credit card to get additional protection over other payment methods.
Double-check all details of your purchase before confirming payment.
Before buying online, check that the page is genuine (carefully enter the address yourself, not from a link) and secure (‘https’ and a locked padlock), and log out when you’ve completed the transaction.
Keep receipts until after the event.