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Tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour have been in high demand since they first went on sale. With most tour dates sold out, fans searching for tickets have turned to ticket resellers, where even the cheapest seats sell for hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, scammers have noticed the high demand and target Swifties with ticket scams. So far in 2023, BBB Scam Tracker has gotten about 30 reports involving fake Taylor Swift tickets.
How the scam works
You are searching for Taylor Swift tickets for an upcoming concert when you come across a social media post. Someone in your city is re-selling their tickets! It may even appear to be someone you know. Eager to get the tickets before someone else spots the deal, you message the seller. They offer you a good deal and ask you to pay using a peer-to-peer platform like BBB Accredited Businesses like Zelle or Venmo. They promise that they’ll give you a full refund if anything happens with the tickets.
However, you never hear back from the seller after you send the money. Your tickets are never delivered, electronically or otherwise, because they never existed. And worse, if you use a digital wallet app to pay, you’ll unlikely get your money back.
One Taylor Swift fan reported this scam version to BBB Scam Tracker: “The seller told me she was a verified seller and that she was an admin in the Facebook group. The transaction took place over Zelle. After the transaction occurred, the seller failed to send me the tickets and failed to send me a refund.”
How to avoid ticket buying scams
- Only buy tickets from trusted vendors. Even if you can no longer get tickets directly from the venue or Ticketmaster, look to reputable ticket brokers before doing business with a ticket scalper (an unregulated and unlicensed ticket seller) or a random stranger on social media.
- If you think you know the seller, double-check. Scammers may hack your contacts’ accounts and pretend to be a friend or acquaintance who’s selling tickets. Before sending money, contact your friend directly to make sure the deal is real.
- Watch out for too-good-to-be-true deals. If someone claims to be selling tickets to a sold-out concert just before the date or at an amazing price, think twice. Scammers love to prey on fans of any artist or sporting event by claiming to have impossible-to-get-tickets for them.
- Use good judgment with advertisements. Some ads are scams, whether after a general internet search or in your social media feed. Be careful about clicking through and offering up personal information.
- Use your credit card. Credit cards generally offer extra protection in case you find out the tickets were a sham. You may not get your money back if you pay with your debit card, a cash transfer app, or cash.
For more information
Read up on purchasing ticket insurance and find out how to resell event tickets when you can’t use them.
If you spot a concert scam, report it at BBB.org/ScamTracker. You can help boost consumer awareness and stop scammers in their tracks.
