Consumer Alert: Act Swiftly Against Ticket Scams

Friday, August 30, 2024

We all enjoy going to live shows and games to see our favorite artists or sports teams, but unfortunately scammers prey on our excitement. One North Carolinian was scammed out of $1,200 after thinking they were buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. Social media gives bad actors new ways to trick people. Sometimes scammers will spoof or hack the account of a real person, who is not involved. They use a real person’s account on social media to appear legitimate and trustworthy and try to sell you tickets, and people fall for it because they know or have shared connections with the person. There are also good old-fashioned scam postings across the internet, including in online ticket sales groups.

If you are trying to get tickets to an event, make sure you are taking the following precautions to prevent ticket sale scams.

• Buy tickets through reputable ticket sale sites and double-check the URL on the web browser by looking for a lock icon and making sure it starts with “https:”.
• Look for and read the refund policy carefully. Reputable sellers should have this information clearly displayed, and they should be able to answer any questions you have about your tickets.
• Do your research to ensure that the ticket you want to purchase is comparable to prices from other sites. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Use a credit card when buying tickets so you can dispute the charge if there’s an issue.
• If tickets are being resold in person, remember that state law prohibits charging anything more than $3 over the face value of the ticket.
• If you do decide to purchase a ticket secondhand from someone on a social media site, make sure you are sending your money through a secure channel and the names of the seller and social profile account match.

Don’t fall victim to the scamming era. If you think you or someone you know has been the victim of a scam, file a complaint with our office’s Consumer Protection Division at https://ncdoj.gov/file-a-complaint/ or by phone at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.