Fraudulent online ticket selling cost the public £5.2 million in the last year
Social media has played a part in a huge increase of fake sales
Online ticket fraud cost the public £5.2 million over the last 12 months.
A 55 per cent spike of instances was recorded, as revealed by Get Safe Online and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, (NFBI), with social media increasingly being used as a selling platform.
21 per cent and 6 per cent of black market sales went through Facebook and Twitter respectively, with 15 per cent of all fake tickets being for festivals and gigs. Sport events are said to make up a quarter.
Tony Neate of Get Safe Online has warned buyers of illegitimate websites making the tickets seem genuine.
He said: “If you really want to get tickets to one of the big summer festivals, it can be really tempting to try and get tickets from all kinds of places other than the official websites.
"Criminals are clever and often use pre-existing websites or fan forums to help them appear legitimate, or in fact mimic genuine websites to help them dupe their victims into handing over money.”
The NFBI launched Action Fraud for those who believe they have fallen victim to fraudulent sellers.
[Via: Music Week]
Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter