Sometimes, it’s difficult to spot a scam from the get-go, like the throngs of job seekers sifting through fraudulent job postings on Indeed.
That’s because some grifters turn their ability to finagle folks out of their money into an art form—they take a certain pride when it comes to crafting forgeries or orchestrating complicated con jobs on their marks.
Others, however, just aren’t that good at it because they clearly don’t do their research—like this one scammer a hopeful concertgoer came across when she was trying to buy tickets to see The Weeknd live.
TikToker @lilcaoimhe posted a trending clip featuring two text screenshots of a conversation she had with someone who was reselling tickets to see The Weeknd.
In the video, she asks the scammer if they can see a receipt proving their purchase of the tickets. The scammer said “sure” and then sent her a screenshot, while adding they “scribbled out the order number,” presumably as a means of ensuring no one else could redeem the tix.
@lilcaoimhe replied that while she understood why they scribbled out the order number, she went on to let them know they spelled The Weeknd’s name wrong—the email receipt they sent her reads “The Weekend.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment. Viewers who saw her post shared their own experiences in dealing with ticket scammers.
“Someone tried to sell me tickets with the venue name spelled wrong, ‘ticketmaster said it’s ok’ um no thanks,” one person wrote.
Another said they spotted a scam via a spelling error as well, sharing, “When someone tried to sell me tickets and spelled ‘field’ in lincon finical field wrong got blocked the sec i said sum.”
Someone else pointed out that the image the scammer tried using was from an older concert as well, which was another dead giveaway. “That’s such an odd screenshot too,” they wrote.
And then there was one scammer, a user said, who provided their own bank details, effectively outing themselves.
“They’re so dumb!!!” the user wrote. “Someone stole my identity and scammed ppl but gave them their bank details.”
Scammers have been doing a good job of ruining the concert industry for highly sought-after performances for decades. Artists are doing their darndest to try and stop resellers from capitalizing on fans’ desires to see their favorite acts. Still, folks are figuring out ways to hoard tickets so they can gouge people who actually want to experience these live shows.
In 2019, Forbes reported that the secondary ticket sales industry was worth a whopping $15.19 billion. There’s an entire sub-market within this line of commerce where scammers are attempting to sell fraudulent tickets.
Various resources online help folks with purchasing tickets secondhand— a necessity for some fans trying to gain access to sold-out concerts—on how to best avoid being hoodwinked.
Knowing what a real ticket looks like can go a long way, and also doing a little background work on the person selling the ticket can help, too. Also, be wary of chatting with sellers who won’t talk on the phone, or only use VOIP phone numbers like Google Voice and demand payment upfront.
You could also call the box office to verify the seat number and section of the ticket that you’re buying to ensure that the person selling the ticket is giving you a valid seat, or if the tickets were purchased via Ticketmaster, you could also ask the seller if they have a valid Ticketmaster account. You can then contact Ticketmaster to ensure that the tickets you’re purchasing are valid.
