Taylor Swift Ticket Sales Scam: How to Spot and Avoid It
Want to go to Taylor Swift’s ERAS Tour concert? It’ll be tough as it’s sold out. But don’t get scammed. Here’s how to detect and avoid ticket scams.
With a career spanning nearly two decades, Taylor Swift made history last year after recording the highest-grossing tour of all time thanks to the Eras Tour.
According to Pollstar, Swift’s Eras tour generated a colossal $1.04 billion in gross ticket sales, making it the first tour by a single artist or group, to ,reach that figure.
Additionally, as the tour is still ongoing this year, it will continue to increase its lead as the highest-grossing tour of all time, potentially generating more than $2 billion in sales.
However, although that is good news for Swift and her team, and many fans were able to fulfill their dream of seeing their favorite artist, some were not so lucky, as they were scammed. We explain how to recognize scams.
How to detect and avoid ticket sales scams?
Thousands of fans have been tricked into buying fake tickets. They weren’t aware until they got to the venue and realized that their tickets had been cloned or simply were not real. That is why we want to share with you some actions that could show that it is a scam.
For example, if a reseller asks you to pay by bank transfer, especially if it is someone you found on social media, that should immediately raise alarm bells.
Customers should also avoid purchasing concert, festival or sports tickets from anyone other than official suppliers, the box office or reputable fan sales sites.
There are some reputable and authorized resale platforms, which are the only way to guarantee that it is a real ticket.
Typically, scammers pose as sellers and post on social media or an online marketplace, asking for a transfer so they can send the tickets, but they never do.
Actions against resale
The conversation about ticket scalping, scams, as well as the Ticketmaster monopoly, reached the United States Congress and although no concrete actions have been taken at the national level, some states, such as Arizona, have been pioneers in approving legislations.
For example, Arizona law HB2194 states that a reseller, a secondary ticket exchange, or any affiliate of a reseller or ticket exchange cannot:
- Resell more than one copy of the same ticket for a live athletic or entertainment event.
- Resell a ticket without first informing the purchaser of the seat location or, if there is no assigned seat, the general admission area to which the ticket applies, including the row number and section.
On the other hand, this new law prohibits reselling a ticket or advertising a ticket for resale, unless:
- The ticket is in the possession of the reseller
- The reseller has a written contract with the rights holder to obtain the ticket.
Additionally, HB2040 states that a person cannot use or create a bot to purchase tickets in excess of the posted limit for an online ticket sale or use multiple IP addresses or accounts, as well as disable a row with the same purpose.
If you don’t have a ticket to see Taylor Swift live and are still trying to do so, we wish you the best of luck. But please don’t fall prey to the scammers out there hoping to take advantage the outsized demand to see the hottest show in town when it arrives there.