Reports Moshtix accounts ‘hacked’ for Splendour in the Grass ticket sales

UPDATE: Moshtix say no credit card details were compromised during Friday’s Splendour in the Grass sale.

Splendour in the Grass fans - like these guys who caught The Jungle Giants at the 2013 event - may have had their Moshtix accounts hacked. Picture: Adam Head

MOSHTIX say no credit card details were compromised during Friday’s Splendour in the Grass ticket sale, despite reports of numerous overcharged credit cards.

Many people have taken to social media to speculate about the ‘technical issues’ experienced by Moshtix during the sale.

Former web application developer, Michael Cordover, speculated that the apparent ‘hack’ may have been caused by a person who had been able to log in on the site as a Splendour administrator.

This would mean that they could change the page – and pricing – but could not see credit card details.

“The rogue email account connected to the potential breach does not suggest a huge level of sophistication.

“Perhaps someone discovered or figured out the Splendour password and wanted to get cheap tickets as an option and they put in the ‘Silk Road’ thing as a joke,” he said.

Mr Cordover said that if something like this had happened, it was possible that they had accidentally changed the credit card fee and put the wrong figure in the new ’50 per cent off’ option.

One patron affected by the credit overcharge said that his fee was $688.20 which is more than double the price of the two one day tickets that he purchased.

“I did not choose the 50 per cent ticket option as that seemed to only be on three day tickets, but I was still overcharged in the credit fee,” he said.

The credit card fee charge appears to be 222 per cent of the total cost of the transaction, suggesting some kind of technical error in the programming of the payment screen.

It is possible that not all Moshtix servers were affected by the technical issues, which would explain why not all patrons were charged extra.

Many patrons who purchased tickets to the sold-out event are still waiting for an official response from the company regarding overcharged credit card fees.

There is still no information concerning the apparent ‘Silk Road’ link that appeared on the bottom of the payment processing page for some patrons.

Moshtix maintains that this morning’s fee issues were due to a technical problem, which they are endeavouring to rectify.

Earlier it was reported, Splendour In The Grass patrons may have had their Moshtix account details sold to the highest bidder.

Reports and images have shown the ticketing site may have been subject to hackers with confidential personal data available for purchase.

Tickets for the festival went on sale at 9am AEST and within minutes patrons were reporting on Twitter and Facebook that large sums of money had been withdrawn from their accounts without any confirmation of a ticket sale.

The Moshtix site has since been taken down.

Splendour In The Grass made a short statement on Facebook telling patrons to lodge an official request with Moshtix if they had been charged incorrect credit fees.

A statement from Moshtix revealed that technical issues caused some customers to purchase erroneously offered reduced priced tickets and charged incorrect credit card fees.

“All of these affected orders will be cancelled today, and customers contacted to allow them to purchase at the correct prices.

“This was an isolated technical issue that did not affect other ticket buyers and tickets are continuing to sell fast for the festival,” said Moshtix’ Facebook post.

The music label responsible for Splendour In The Grass was contacted but declined to comment at this time.

Splendour in the Grass ticket prices range from $149 for a single day ticket to $355 for a three day ticket plus Moshtix’ booking fees.

A five day onsite camping ticket for the event costs an additional $99.

Reports on social media indicate that some patrons were charged in excess of $1,500 for their ticket purchases, allegedly due to high credit card booking fees.

“Splendour in the Grass … the amount of times we placed the order and you tried to charge $1,475 is … absurd,” wrote Matt Tommy on Facebook.

MORE DETAILS TO COME.