As the music festival and summer sports seasons continue, with many of us looking for hard-to-buy tickets, Get Safe Online is warning people to take extra care when booking online.
Whether for a family day out, a festival, concert or a sporting event, however desperate you are to get tickets, Get Safe Online is advising you to take a number of simple precautions to avoid falling victim to fraud.
Ticket fraud normally takes place when 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 are reluctant to pay the prices on the fan ticket exchange sites. Therefore, you respond to an ad on social media or an online marketplace.
The seller tells you they will post or email the tickets as soon as you have transferred the money to their bank account. But when you try to contact them after nothing has arrived, they disappear off the radar. Checking a fan forum, you find that dozens of other people have fallen victim to the same fraud.
Tony Neate, Chief Executive Officer of Get Safe Online, said: “Ticket fraud happens to thousands of unsuspecting music, sports and other fans every year who get tricked into buying fake or non-existent tickets. They not only lose their money but also the disappointment of not being at the event on the day and, potentially, embarrassment if they’ve also booked for family or friends. Our advice from Get Safe Online we are sharing today will help to make sure you think before you click and don’t become one of those victims this summer.”
Joseph Rindsland, Gumtree’s Trust and Safety lead comments, “Fraudsters and scammers may think there’s opportunity in tapping into the demand for sought-after tickets to the summer’s hottest events. However, Gumtree’s dedicated Trust and Safety team is wise to these actions. We do not allow the sale of e-tickets on our platform and have worked with multiple sport, music and event promoters to restrict sales of specific tickets where fraud is suspected.”
He continues, “If you’re interested in buying physical tickets listed on Gumtree, we always recommend you meet in person and check the ticket before completing the sale, ideally in cash. As one of the UK’s largest classifieds websites, we’re making it simple and safe for buyers and sellers to connect locally.”
Get Safe Online expert ticket buying tips
- · Buy tickets only from the venue’s box office, sports club, promoter, official agent or reputable ticket exchange sites.
- · If you buy off an advertising or auction site make sure your read the sites own safety advice before buying. Consider that tickets advertised on any other source such as 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.
For everything you need to know about protecting yourself from ticket fraud, find out more here.
or seek advice on Gumtree’s Safety Hub.
