Fakery, Fraud and Fair Trading

Trading Standards warn local students of the perils of internet ticketing scams.

Tuesday 1st June 2010

Students at the UEA will today receive instruction on how best to keep their money safe when it comes to buying online events tickets. A new campaign, launching at the university by the local offices of Trading Standards will aim to educate students about the dangers of online fraud.

According to research conducted by Consumer Direct - the government -funded body working with Trading Standards on the Just Tick It campaign - an estimated 1 in 12 online ticket sales in the UK will be fraudulent. These transactions are likely to end in the buyer shelling out for a service that simply never comes.

Often, fraudulent sellers will offer tickets to events that are not yet confirmed, or for which official tickets have not yet gone on sale for. Additionally, websites claiming to hold tickets for sold-out events are usually not reliable.

Whilst it may seem obvious to hardened gig and festival-goers that unofficiated websites are to be avoided, Consumer Direct say the scams are getting harder and harder to spot. The Just Tick It campaign hopes to promote awareness, by publishing tips on how to recognise fraudulent websites.

Their pointers include running background checks on vendor websites, through well-known search engines, to find customer testimonies or other information pertaining to the reliability of the sale. Websites posting a mailbox number or telephone number, without providing full address or contact details, are usually fake.

The Consumer Credit Act can help give added protection to buyers. Consumer Direct advise shoppers to always use a valid credit card when purchasing tickets online, as a card issuer 'is jointly liable for the failure to provide goods or services if the cash price of a single ticket is over £100'.

Futher Reading:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ticketscams - Consumer Direct advice site on ticket fraud.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk - Trading Standards official website.