The summer months are marked by a packed calendar of
music and events, from classical to jazz and pop to rock, as well
as high-profile sport events. Well-known events and small, niche
ones now attract the world’s best artists, and thousands of people
flock to see and hear their favourite stars play.
However, our Trading Standards Service is warning festival-goers
and sporting fans that summer events are also a peak time for
scammers, conning people out of their cash by sophisticated online
fake-ticketing sites. These offer cheap or scarce tickets, which do
not turn up, leaving fans often hundreds of pounds out of
pocket.
A lady from Yatton has contacted trading standards this week
after being scammed by a bogus online ticket seller.
Last July she paid £178 for tickets to a Mark Knopfler concert
at the Royal Albert Hall on this Sunday, May 30. She was told the
tickets would be delivered two weeks before the concert and so only
recently, when the tickets did not arrive, did she make enquiries
and found the website had been taken down, the phone number was
false and she had no other way of contacting them. The payment had
gone through Hungary. The bogus website used a name similar to a
reputable ticket company in order to confuse consumers.
Research highlights that one in twelve ticket buyers have been
caught out by scam ticket websites with victims losing an average
of £80 each. Last year alone, thousands of people lost money over
scam sites, offering tickets for everything from the V Festival to
George Michael’s O2 concert.
As a result trading standards advice is to ask the following
questions before buying:
How has the website got the tickets to sell? Check with the
festival to find out when tickets are being released for sale and
when the tickets will be sent out.
What are others saying about the website? Search the internet to
find out what other people’s experiences have been.
How can you contact the company? Check that you know their full
geographic address and check they have a working landline phone
number.
Can they provide ticket details? Ensure that the face value of the
tickets and the seat location/festival area are clearly
listed.
Do they provide refunds? Make sure there is a refund policy in case
something goes wrong.
Cllr Peter Bryant, responsible for trading standards says:
"Consumers need to take care when buying tickets online. If you’re
unsure that the website is genuine then don’t part with your
hard-earned money. If the ticket price is over £100 the safest way
to buy is on a credit card as this offers some protection.
"‘T4 on the beach’ which goes ahead in July in Weston has now
successfully sold out without any reported problems. If the public
come across ticket websites that they suspect are scams we want to
know about them."
For more information about scam ticket websites and how to
protect yourself or to report a scam visit:
www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/northsomerset/
