The past year has been marked by a return of the public to concert halls and festivals… and by an overactivity of scammers.
Live music lovers should be extra vigilant. In the United Kingdom, the number of reports of scams at concert and festival tickets has seen a jump of 529% in one year, according to data from the British banking group Lloyds Bank relayed by Sky News.
This dramatic increase concerns the period from March 2022 to February 2023. The victims lost an average of 110 pounds (about 123 euros).
The concerts targeted are essentially the most popular: the British media places the shows of Harry Styles in the lead, followed by those of Lewis Capaldi, Coldplay and Calvin Harris.
On the festival side, the number of scams reported increased by 128% and the Reading Festival was the most affected. It took place last August, with a lineup including Megan Thee Stallion, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975 and Halsey.
The Guardian specifies that ticket sales for stand-up shows or for the theater have not been spared, even if the number of reported scams is lower.
Well-honed techniques
These scams consist of selling places that do not exist, or offering tickets for shows that are already sold out. Victims are tricked by fake websites, fake emails and fake social media accounts.
Liz Zieglaer, director of the fraud prevention department at Lloyds Bank, warns of the arrival of summer festivals, which can be accompanied by new scams. It sets out a few reflexes to adopt to protect against it: in particular, favoring payments by credit card or PayPal rather than by transfer, but not only.
“Buying directly from reputable and legal platforms is the only way to guarantee that what you are buying is a real place. Even then, only ever pay by credit or debit card for the best protection.”
“If you are asked to pay by bank transfer (rather than by card, editor’s note), especially when you have found the seller on social networks, this should immediately ring the alarm bells.”
This explosion in the number of fake ticket scams seems to be the consequence of more encouraging news: that of the return of the public to concert halls. Ticket sales are up 43% from 2019, the last year before Covid-19 hit in 2020.
