Concert Ticket Scams

Don’t ruin your concert experience by getting scammed! Be aware of current concert ticket scams and the red flags to look for.

Picture this. Your favorite musical artist announced they are going on tour and tickets sold out in a matter of seconds. You’re heartbroken. Everyone’s going except you. It’s two days before the concert and someone shared a post online that they have a friend selling two tickets to the show you wanted to see. You ignore all of the red flags and quickly purchase the tickets because (insert your favorite singer here) is coming to town and you get to go!

After paying for the tickets through an online system, your digital tickets never arrive, and the friend of a friend’s profile that you purchased the tickets from has vanished. You’re out $300 and you don’t get to go to the concert. You’ve been scammed.

Concert ticket scams are growing at an alarming rate. Fraudsters are finding unique and creative ways to draw your attention by posing as someone selling tickets to highly sought after shows.

What We Are Seeing

The scam usually starts with a post on social media like Facebook or Craigslist of someone advertising popular concert tickets for sale. There may be a lot of activity on the post but often times they are AI bots to help make the sale appear legitimate and in high demand. The seller says they’ll be able to email you the digital tickets and asks for payment up front but to send it to someone other than the individual who is posting about the sale.

Some scammers ask for half the payment now and half after you get the tickets, but then change their minds after the first half has been sent and request the full amount before giving you the tickets. Similar to Romance Scams, ticket scammers prey on your emotions because they know how badly you want to go to the concert. They use tactics to make the conversation and their profiles look real so that you convince yourself that you are not being scammed.

Concert Ticket Scams: Red Flags to Look For

• High demand concert tickets at a price that is too good to be true.
• Seller is claiming to sell the tickets for someone else or needing to use someone else’s peer-to-peer payment system (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, etc.).
• Change in plans of the original agreement.

To better protect yourself from these types of scams, we encourage you to purchase tickets directly from an authorized seller and venue, and to authenticate the source before entering any account information. If you’re choosing to purchase tickets from social media, verify that you know the seller personally. Reach out to them directly to confirm that they haven’t been hacked and it’s truly someone you know.

We love concerts as much as the next person, but just like romance scams, there are unfortunately fraudsters out there that want to take advantage of you, in this case, your eagerness to watch (insert your favorite singer here). Stay well-informed on current concert ticket scams and be alert of potential red flags.

How to Report:

If you suspect a scammer, you should:

• Report to the Federal trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• Report the scammer profile on the app or website where they made contact with you.

Some creditors and / or banks may be unable to dispute concert ticket scams due to the payment being an authorized transaction willingly sent by the user.