Taylor Swift fans looking to secure last minute tickets to the Eras Tour are being urged to be weary of scammers attempting to sell fake tickets over social media.
The National Anti-Scam Center has warned fans following a recent rise in scammers compromising social media accounts to sell these fake tickets to the hacked accounts friends list.
ACCC Deputy Chair, Catriona Lowe said, “The Eras Tour is the hottest ticket in town this summer and scammers are seizing the opportunity to dupe Australian Swifties looking to buy resale tickets.”
“This scam is a low act, seeking to take advantage of fans, many of whom are young and are desperately trying to secure a ticket to make their dream of seeing Taylor Swift live come true.”
So far, ScamWatch has received 273 reports of people scammed into buying Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets on social media, starting from when the real tickets went on sale in June last year.
Reports are higher in NSW (114), and Victoria (96). NSW saw $54,645 lost, and Victoria saw $53,607 lost.
“We are working with law enforcement and social media platforms to combat these scams but are concerned that scam activity is only going to increase in the lead-up to Taylor Swift’s arrival in Australia in mid-February.”
“We are urging fans to be alert to scammers and think twice before seeking to buy a ticket on social media, even if it’s from a friend or community page you trust.”
“Be mindful that scammers have been hacking genuine accounts to appear legitimate and are tricking trusting friends or connections into buying Taylor Swift tickets that don’t exist.”
“The safest way to get legitimate tickets to The Eras Tour is by purchasing tickets from the authorised reseller, Ticketek Marketplace.”
The scam works like this. A victim will be contacted by a friend on social media, or see a post made by a friend or someone they know, selling tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.
The post or message includes a story about why said person can’t go to the concert, offering to sell the tickets “at cost.”
The scammer then may ask the victim to pay an additional fee, relating to changing the ticket to their name.
The scammer may also try and rush the victim into purchasing the tickets, and transfer money, by referring to a high demand for them.
Once they are paid, the victim has no ticket, and no further contact, to find out their friend’s social media account was hacked.
In order to avoid the scam, these are the steps suggested:
- Buy tickets from an authorised ticket seller, EG: Ticketek.
- If considering purchasing on social media, do the research, and independently contact the friend via a different channel.
- ALWAYS look for secure payment options including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Be alert it could be a scam.
- Stop, Think, Protect: take the time to think about purchasing, ask how well you know the ‘friend’ and think “is it a scam? Is their account hacked?” Then, act quickly if something feels off. Contact the bank and report to ScamWatch.
If money has been lost, immediately contact the bank, contact the platform the scam occurred on and inform them, report the incident to ScamWatch, and tell everyone to be weary.
