How to spot a Ticketmaster scams?
Sale of tickets is the most convenient way to swindle and exploit desperate fans. Here are some scenarios to be aware of to avoid being scammed:
Purchasing resold tickets: Ticketmaster has the option for resale of tickets, which lets many sell and buy counterfeit tickets.
Buying tickets that send you to a different link: Such scams make you pay through net banking services and send you a corrupt link which may have a fake ticket or no ticket but may also steal your personal information.
Purchasing tickets for “sold out” events: Such scams will ask you for your banking details instead of just card details and even after payment you may never receive your tickets and may also be at risk of getting your bank account hacked
Tickets that have to be purchased urgently: Such scams pressurize buyers to buy tickets in a rush, claiming that the event might be sold out soon. This is a huge red flag especially if the seller is a third-party selling on Ticketmaster.
Insanely expensive or cheap tickets: This is a recipe for disaster and one should always cross check the ticket prices with trusted sources like the artists social media or website and knowns going to the same event.
Buying tickets from a third-party in person: This could also be a scam as there is no guarantee to verify the tickets and you are forced to pay the seller on the spot without any verification.
In short, you’ve been scammed if:
● The ticket you purchased is deemed invalid at the venue.
● You never received the ticket you purchased.
● You received a different ticket than what you had paid for, this is usually a downgraded ticket or a fake upgraded ticket.
● Your personal information is leaked while paying for the ticket.
How to spot fake tickets?
Here are some red flags to be aware of while purchasing tickets:
Look for spelling errors and formatting errors. Counterfeit tickets often have minor spelling or formatting errors like space between certain words.
Quality of the ticket: Fake tickets are printed on low quality paper as compared to genuine ones which are glossy and thick and often do not bleed ink.
Website link on the ticket: if the linked website has invalid characters, it is a fake ticket.
Wrong comma placement: Fake tickets have commas between the dates and time specified and in other incorrect spaces.
A fake ticket does not have a timestamp for the event and has space between the time and AM/PM.
Fake tickets often lack specific fonts and formatting.
Counterfeit tickets have forged logs and bar codes. One should always scan the QR codes on their tickets to ensure its authenticity.
Some more tips to avoid such scams:
We’ve thrown light on how to spot certain scams and fakes but one can never be too cautious, here are some things to do in order to avoid such ticket scams:
Purchase tickets from Ticketmaster or other trusted sources and collect them at the box office of the specific event.
Before buying tickets from third parties talk to them personally and try other ways to verify their tickets.
Be extra cautious while purchasing very in demand tickets.
Be careful while making online transactions and protect your personal data. 5. Avoid buying tickets that are on sale for a short duration or are extremely inexpensive.
Note that Ticketmaster:
● Never sells tickets on Craigslist or other websites.
● Will never ask you to wire funds in exchange for tickets.
● Will never ask to make payments using gift cards or money orders.
● Lastly, it does not sell tickets to Disney theme parks.
● Ticketmaster’s official email is “@ticketmaster.com” any other variation is fake and scammers can manipulate emails, so one should not respond to such emails or open any link or attachment from the same as a precaution.
What to do if you’ve been scammed?
Immediately contact Ticketmaster on 1-800-653-8000.
You can also login to your account, choose the event you want to report and hit the ‘Contact Us’ button. The Fan Support representatives are available on all days from 9am-12am EST.
You can also ‘submit a request’ and attach evidence of the scam.
To sum up, Now we have learnt ‘Ticketmaster scams’, Ticketmaster is a legitimate site however due to its ‘resale’ option, many have been victims of ticket scams. However, if one follows this article and is cautious, such scams can be easily avoided.
