Scam alert: Warning for Taylor Swift fans

Taylor Swift fans are being warned to watch out for scammers infiltrating their own friends’ accounts to flog off fake tickets to the singer’s Australian leg of the Eras tour.

Millions of Australians missed out on tickets to the sold-out Melbourne and Sydney shows when a record-breaking number of fans swarmed sales in June, causing a flood of resale offers appearing online.

Many discerning fans trying to snag a ticket online would be rightly-suspicious of tickets being posted in Swiftie groups on social media.

• Also read: Fake Taylor Swift tickets: Why you shouldn't spend more than $1,373

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Have you fallen victim to a scammer? Contact belinda.grantgeary@yahooinc.com

However, stories are emerging of those falling into a trap when being offered an opportunity from a friend, or someone linked to a mate.

A 20-year-old woman from Sydney said she lost $1,200 after responding to a post from a “friend of a friend” who had already transferred cash for four tickets before “alarm bells” started to ring.

"I messaged them and they sent a screenshot of the email confirmation of having bought these tickets. It had their name in it, it had the section of the tickets, it had four tickets… that all looked above board to me," Grace told 2GB.

She contacted her friend who revealed her Facebook had been hacked, and that she’d received six other calls from others in the same boat.

Her bank told her there was no way to recover the funds.

“If it was a dodgy website or something, it would be a lot easier for them to recover my funds.”

Another caller Nick reported losing $600 in a similar fashion, with the scammer posing as a friend of a friend even going so far as to ask how his family were doing.

Facebook groups “full of scammers”

A simple search of ‘Taylor Swift tickets Australia’ on Facebook returns hundreds of posts from people claiming they have tickets to sell.

Even groups with the claim “no scammers” are not safe.

A caller Yin said she lost $600 after being told she had to up her original $300 investment for a single ticket, before she was blocked and all messages between the pair were deleted “to erase their steps”.

Ticketek said the one authorised place for fans to resell their tickets is the Fan To Fan Marketplace.

What do I do if I fall for a scam?

Falling victim to a scam is not uncommon with at least $3.1 billion lost to scammers in 2022, up 80 per cent from the year before.

If you find yourself in the situation you should do two things.

You can report scams to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch website, which monitors ongoing trends and passes on information to law enforcement.

It cannot recover money lost, or help you track down a scammer, so it is advised you make a report to police through the ReportCyber program.

You can also contact the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 292 371.

Most importantly, make sure you contact your financial institution immediately to report the activity. In some cases they can help.

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