The current football hype, which was also fueled by events such as the recently concluded Women's World Cup , has led to a new record level of attempted fraud with fake tickets on social media. Such activities by cyber criminals on Facebook and Co increased by two thirds between January and June, according to the British Lloyds Bank . On average, victims lose between 410 pounds (around 490 euros) and 2,000 pounds.
Lots of desperate fans
“Cyber criminals primarily target matches that are actually already sold out in order to con unsuspecting users out of their money - usually it involves top teams and important international games,” BBC News quotes from the Lloyds report Bank. Especially in such encounters, the desperation of many football fans is very great. “They really want to see their favorite team, but they know full well that officially you can no longer get tickets. This is exploited ruthlessly by criminals,” the experts explain.
“The vast majority of these scams start on social media because it is still very easy for scammers to scam people out of money with fake profiles and advertising things that don’t exist.”
Liz Ziegler, Retail Fraud and Financial Crime Director at Lloyds Bank
This not only applies to football games, but can also be observed at other major events such as music concerts and festivals.
“Basically, this affects everything where the demand is greater than the ticket supply.”
Liz Ziegler, Retail Fraud and Financial Crime Director at Lloyds Bank
Always the same stitch
In order to sell fake tickets to unsuspecting football fans, criminals almost always resort to the same scam: They post photos of real tickets and back them up with a flimsy story that is supposed to explain why they cannot go to the stadium themselves. Once a victim falls for the scam, they are asked to pay for the ticket via bank transfer. Once the money has been transferred, the fraudsters disappear never to be seen again and cannot be found due to their anonymous online identity.
“If someone pays by bank transfer, they have no consumer protection whatsoever. "It's the same as me handing cash straight to someone on the street," explains Lloyds Bank: "If you can't pay by credit or debit card, that should be a big red flag for you. It is better to buy your tickets in the official ticket shop of the football clubs. Then you are guaranteed to get real cards.”
Source: Press release
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