BBCWatchdog Wednesday: why you should never take a selfie with your gig tickets
It's that time of year. A time we're all buying tickets for gigs in fields and packing picnics for sporting showdowns, but be warned: ticket touts have upped their game when it comes to scams.
More than £5 million was lost to online ticket fraud in the UK in 2015 - up from £3.35 million the year before. Social media scams make up for nearly half of this type of fraud. On average, people lost £444.
Last summer, Action Fraud released a special warning after so many people were reeled in by the chance to buy One Direction tickets for £50 on Twitter. Those tickets were apparently going for less than the £65 face value. Action Fraud says that the fraudulent tickets are made by photocopying the original tickets and selling them on over and over again. Fraudsters do this by copying the bar code from the tickets and making dozens of counterfeit copies, which are then sold to other victims.
A few weeks ago one Liverpool fan thought he had tracked down a pair of Europa League final tickets through Instagram. Not put off that the £35 tickets were on offer for around ten times their face value, he later noticed a dodgy hologram and then spotted that both tickets had the same serial number.
He figured it out and asked the seller for a refund but the seller blocked him. The seller did promise to return the cash but the Liverpool fan has received nothing. Merseyside Police have confirmed that they are investigating and say fans are advised not to attempt to buy tickets from an unknown or untrusted source.
BBC/Merseyside Police
How to not get ripped off when buying tickets
The Local Government Association is warning that scammers will be waiting for people wanting to see Wembley concerts including Beyonce, Rihanna and Coldplay, as well as Glastonbury, the Euro 2016 Championships and Wimbledon. Here are some tips from them on how to make sure your tickets are legit:
- Avoid buying tickets if they do not include the block, row, and seat details. Without these details, there is no way to know if the tickets exist
- Check with the event organiser for official ticket distribution lists and never buy from unauthorised sources, particularly through social networks
- If you are buying from unofficial sellers, do your research online. If it is a company, check how long they have been registered at Companies House. The longer the better - if they recently registered it could be a scam. Check the seller or company online for unfavourable reviews on Site Jabber, Trust Pilot or Feefo and beware of false positive reviews
- Always pay for tickets by credit card and never pay by direct transfer- the card issuer is jointly liable if the price is over £100
- Only buy from sites encrypted for payment- look for the padlock in the address bar null
- Don't post pictures of your tickets on social media. Copying the barcode from photos is one of the main ways fraudsters can steal details.
A fraudster in Dudley is awaiting sentencing after he used pictures of tickets harvested from the internet to con people.
For more advice visit the National Trading Standards Festival Purchasing Checklist
Have you had a problem with a ticket you bought online? Do you regret taking a selfie with your ticket? Get in touch and let us know!
Watchdog and BBC Three are working together. If you have a story about a scam or any other rip off you'd like to shout about, you can contact the producers at Watchdog directly on watchdog@bbc.co.uk and put 'BBC Three' in the subject heading.
This article was first published on Wednesday May 25th, 2016
