Lloyds Banking Group has urged social media companies to take stronger action to stop fraudsters from using their platforms to scam music fans who are eager to get tickets for in-demand shows. That call comes as the bank estimates that scammers may have collectively made more that £2 million from UK consumers trying to get tickets for the Oasis reunion tour.
“The Oasis tour is the latest target for ticket scammers, with millions of pounds of fans’ money stolen before the gigs even kick off”, Liz Ziegler, Fraud Prevention Director at Lloyds, tells the Press Association.
In many cases the scammers begin by advertising tickets for sale via online forums or social media groups. “The fact that so many cases start with fake listings on social media, often in violation of the platforms’ own rules”, Ziegler adds, “underscores the importance of these companies taking stronger action to tackle scams”.
Artists and promoters usually stress to fans that they should only buy tickets from approved primary ticket agents, though when in-demand shows sell out fast at least some fans will start to look elsewhere.
Lloyds say that fans should be particularly suspicious of sellers who promote tickets via social media and then demand payment by bank transfer. Which might seem like the bankers are simply stating the obvious, but Lloyds says that thousands of Oasis fans nevertheless took the risk by transferring money to an unknown seller’s bank account in the hope they might get tickets to the sold out reunion shows.
Based on the fraud claims it received, and given its market share, Lloyds reckons that at least 5000 people lost money to Oasis ticket scams, together losing more than £2 million.
It reports that Oasis fans make up more than half of the people who have reported concert ticket scams to the bank so far this year, and that fraudsters have been making on average £200 more from selling fake Oasis tickets than from pretending to sell tickets to other shows.
Which might be a sign of how much demand there has been for these particular shows, or maybe media coverage of surging Oasis ticket prices allowed the scammers to demand more cash.
Commenting on Lloyds’ stats, Guy Anker from Compare The Market tells music fans, “To help protect yourself, always try to book through trusted platforms, and consider using a credit card, which can sometimes offer extra protection under the Consumer Credit Act if something goes wrong”.
Meanwhile Lisa Webb at Which? says that music fans who spot dodgy looking ticket sellers can help protect other consumers by reporting the suspicious activity. “If you spot any suspicious posts”, she says, “you can report them to the social media platform and the National Cyber Security Centre to investigate”.