How to spot concert ticket scams
Music fans in Singapore are in for a treat with top acts like Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Mariah Carey coming through in the next few months.
However, with high tickets prices and sellout concerts, it’s getting harder than ever to catch a live show without contemplating selling an internal organ.
The bargain hunters among us will turn to the next best place for tickets: online marketplaces like Carousell, Craigslist or Gumtree.
But as anyone who has ever spent time on these sites will know, you need to exercise a great deal of caution or you could end up poorer with nothing to show for it.
Heed these 4 warning signs that you could be dealing with a scammer, and save yourself some disappointment and some money!
The tickets are cheaper than retail
While there may be genuine cases where a legitimate seller will need to offload his tickets (for example, a work emergency that prevents him from going to the concert), it’s not realistic to expect him to incur a significant loss, especially if the tickets are for sold out concerts.
If someone is offering deeply discounted tickets, keep scrolling!
You are dealing with a scammer.
The seller doesn't want to meet
Alarm bells should ring if the seller doesn’t want to have a face-to-face meeting and wants to get the deal done quickly through an online funds transfer, promising to mail the tickets after you’ve paid.
We’re willing to bet that you will never receive your tickets or hear from him or her ever again after you’ve transferred the money.
If you’re one of the lucky few who has found a genuine seller, always insist on a face-to-face meeting in public to complete the transaction.
However, there is still a possibility that the tickets are fake or duplicates so buyer beware.
Opt for physical tickets
If you’re buying tickets from a seller on an online marketplace, make sure you receive printed physical tickets and not PDF copies or e-tickets.
The scammer may have sold the same e-ticket to several buyers, which means you won’t be able to use them.
Read the reviews
Does the seller have any reviews or is he a new member?
Does he have other listings?
Sellers who are new and don’t have anything else up for sale may be scammers looking to make a quick buck off the naïve and vulnerable.
Stay vigilant!
Image credit: Shutterstock
This article first appeared on Reader's Digest.