Coldplay fans warned to be wary of fake ticket scams on social media and resale sites

How to spot the red flags and avoid being scammed by cyber criminals targeting Australian fans of sold-out gigs.

Desperate Coldplay fans seeking last minute tickets to their sold-out Music of the Spheres concerts have been warned to beware of online scams orchestrated by organised criminal gangs seeking to exploit their fear of missing out.

The scams involve criminals hacking social media accounts and selling bogus tickets to the victim’s unwitting friends, or offering fake tickets on online resale marketplaces.

As fans continue to search for seats to in-demand tours by Coldplay, Pearl Jam and Billie Eilish, NAB reports customers have abandoned $160,000 in payments linked to potential ticket scams in the past three months.

The bank introduced a real-time payment alert on their app and internet banking in March last year which flags potentially dodgy transactions and gives the fan a prompt to reconsider transferring their money.

With Coldplay’s Sydney and Melbourne concerts sold out, fans have been warned to watch out for last-minute ticket scams. Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage.

The average abandoned payment is about $1700, and more women than men decide not to proceed with the transaction after getting an alert. .

NAB also monitored activity around concert ticket purchases in the three months ahead of the Taylor Swift Eras shows and reported customers abandoned $285,0000 in payments.

It’s likely there were many more heartbroken victims who were fleeced of millions of dollars in fake tickets as Australians have lost $19 million to buying and selling scams this year, according to the ACCC’s Scamwatch.

Billie Eilish fans seeking to buy a resale ticket to Billie Eilish’s sold out Australian shows should also be careful of potential scams. Picture: Michael Hickey/Getty Images.

NAB Group Investigations executive Chris Sheehan said ticket scams are “serious criminal activity.”

“I hate using the word scammers because it makes it sound like something … that you just have to live with. It’s not, these people are straight out crooks,” he said.

“Ticket scams are a type of goods and services scams and the volume of these is by far and away the most numerous scams reported to NAB and the other banks.

“The vast majority of it is being driven by organised criminal groups … most likely based in other parts of the world.”

Mr Sheehan said the “criminal grubs” exploit the last-minute FOMO of fans and their willingness to pay more for a precious ticket to the big sold-out tours.

Thousands of Coldplay tickets have been traded on the Tixel resale site which caps prices at 10 per cent above face value. Almost 90,000 fans remain on the waitlist to snap up future offerings from ticketholders who can no longer attend.

Ticket Scams Red Flags and Tips

Red Flags

* Ticket is on sale on social media platforms.

* Tickets are heavily discounted or cheaper than the retail price.

* Social media seller profiles are newly created, locked / private, based overseas, have random usernames or furiously re-tweet.

* Seller claims they can prove tickets are legit, by sending you emails or screenshots or wants payment via cryptocurrency or direct money transfer.

Tips

* Look for tickets through official resellers.

* Even if it’s a friend offering the tickets on social media, pick up the phone and talk to them directly before sending money.

* Don’t share images of the actual ticket on social media.

* Review the seller’s profile – when it was created, how active they are and if they have any reviews.

* Do a reverse image search. If the same image or proof of purchase comes up multiple times, it’s probably a scam.

* Consider paying for tickets via credit card. Private sales don’t offer buyers any protection if the ticket isn’t real.

* Source: NAB

Originally published as Coldplay fans warned to be wary of fake ticket scams on social media and resale sites