Ticket fraud: be aware With thousands of Commonwealth Games tickets set to be delivered to homes across the country, we’re urging members of the public to be aware of ticket fraud. Police Scotland will be vigilant towards preventing ticketing crime including tackling unauthorised vendors selling tickets online and we’re urging the public to report any instances of unauthorised selling of tickets to us. So how do the fraudsters operate? Ticket fraud occurs when a person buys a ticket for an event they wish to attend and the ticket does not exist. Offences tend to be committed online which means the ‘seller’ has no physical interaction with the buyer. It’s natural to look elsewhere when you can’t get tickets to an event which you’ve been looking forward to. Be careful and diligent. It’s easy to be lured in by legitimate looking websites/adverts, reassured by email or phone conversations with the fraudster and convinced to pay for tickets online. You’ll then be told that tickets won’t arrive until a few weeks before the event – standard industry practice. When the tickets don’t arrive you have a problem. You’ll try unsuccessfully to contact the seller and normally find that the website/advert has disappeared. It is only at this point you’ll realise you’ve been scammed, despite the actual offence happening weeks/months earlier. This method is low cost and low risk for the fraudsters. They do not need to have a physical product, they can be in any location in the world while still receiving an instant payment, and the victim might not know they have been scammed until many months later. It is vital that ticket fraud disruption is targeted at the point of sale, as by the time incident reports come through it is often too late for effective intervention. Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Take a look at our website for more ticketing advice:
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 16:15:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015