Ticket sales have been skyrocketing as live events are slowly starting to come back. Many events sell out within hours and people turn to third-party sellers like StubHub and Vivid Seats. This has attracted criminals to online ticket reseller platforms. They can sell the same ticket on multiple websites and just delete their accounts after the sale. The tickets were most likely stolen to begin with.
Never post a photo of your tickets online, on social media, or on eBay/Facebook Marketplace that shows the barcode or QR code. These can be easily printed out and used at the event or sold online. Some people may think that scribbling or marking up the QR/barcode is sufficient but it’s easy to recreate the code or even create one based on the number shown. Online services and apps can convert between numbers and barcodes. Criminals that sell this information online would be difficult to track as they’d be accessing publicly available websites.
You should always do your research on the vendors you purchase from, and avoid online marketplaces for extremely popular events. Read through the terms of service, shipping, and return policies. Criminals will be clever and skillful at manipulating people so it’s important to verify if the seller is legitimate. Finally, don’t rush the sale no matter how excited you are for the event.
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