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If you’re determined to get your hands on tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras tour or are still holding out hope to attend Glastonbury after the latest ticket sale, you might want to heed the latest expert warning. The national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, Action Fraud, has issued advice to music fans after it was found UK revellers lost £6.7 million to ticket fraud in 2023, with the sale of fake tickets on the rise as criminals trick eager Swifties and other music fans into parting with their hard-earned cash.
Last year, more than 8,700 people reported themselves victims of ticket fraud, and Action Fraud is warning that cyber criminals are still out in full force as the lure of the summer’s festivals and tours from Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters see fans turn to unofficial ways of buying sold out tickets.
Scammers are targeting people via fraudulent and unsolicited emails, texts or online adverts, getting people to pay up before realising they’ve been tricked. Action Fraud says these scams often offer “unbelievably good deals” on tickets – which is a dead giveaway that the deals are too good to be true.
“We all want to enjoy ticketed events this summer, but that doesn’t stop fraudsters from taking the fun out things we look forward to doing,” said Pauline Smith, Head of Action Fraud. “Too many people are losing out to fraudulent activity or genuine looking phishing messages.
“Make sure you don’t get ticked off – recognise the signs of ticket fraud before getting caught out. Remember to be wary of unsolicited messages offering deals too good to be true.”
Ticket criminals often also create fake ticket retail companies, and use social media or dodgy phishing emails in an attempt to get you to hand over your bank account details. Action Fraud’s advice is to only buy tickets from the venue’s box office, the promoter, an official agent or a familiar, reputable ticket exchange site.
The organisation also says to never pay for tickets by bank transfer – a dead giveaway that something is amiss.
“Credit card or payment services such as PayPal give you a better chance of recovering the money if you become a victim of fraud,” Action Fraud said.
Though it’s possible to get your hands on resale tickets for the Eras tour, don’t get tricked into buying a resale Glastonbury ticket. Purchased tickets are assigned to people by name, photo, and ID, so if you buy someone else’s, you won’t be able to gain entry to the festival.
If there are still official tickets available for an event, legitimate sellers include Ticketmaster, See Tickets, Live Nation and Ticketek. Things get trickier when events are sold out, as people try to sell on tickets – often at inflated prices – via resale sites such as Viagogo and Vivid Seats. But resale sites often guarantee genuine ticket sales even if the prices are eye-watering high. Scammers aren’t selling anything, they’re just out to defraud you.
Another way to check if the ticket you want to buy is legitimate is to see if the vendor is a member of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), which complies with industry standards for ticket sales.
If you live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and have been a victim of fraud or cybercrime, you can report it at www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, you should report to Police Scotland on 101.
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