Oasis fans hit with a ‘landslide’ of ticket scams

By Anna Cooban, CNN

London (CNN) — Hundreds of Oasis fans are looking back in anger after falling victim to a “landslide” of ticket selling scams.

The fans have lost £346 ($449) on average to fraudsters ahead of the British band’s reunion tour next year, with some losing as much as £1,000 ($1,298), UK lender Lloyds Banking Group said Tuesday.

Lloyds said in a press release that an analysis of fraud reports lodged by its customers in the month following Oasis’ August announcement of its comeback tour also showed that more than 90% of the scams began with adverts on social media and that the “vast majority” started on Facebook.

A spokesperson for Meta (META) told CNN that Facebook’s parent company is “continually investing in protections against fraud on (its) platforms.”

“We advise our community to report any scams immediately so we can take action,” the spokesperson said, noting that Meta recently launched a pilot program allowing UK banks to share information with the company, including about ticket scams.

Lloyds said Oasis fans made up around 70% of all reported ticket fraud between August 27 and September 25.

The bank noted that scammers usually post fake adverts on social media for either discounted prices or tickets at inflated prices for events that have already sold out, collecting fans’ money via a bank transfer for tickets that don’t exist.

“The fact that so many cases start with fake listings on social media, often in violation of the platforms’ own rules, underscores the importance of these companies taking stronger action to tackle scams,” said Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds.

“Buying directly from reputable, authorized platforms is the only way to guarantee you’re paying for a genuine ticket. If you’re asked to pay via bank transfer, particularly by a seller you’ve found on social media, that should immediately set alarm bells ringing.”

Fraudsters have pounced on Oasis fans since the band — a staple of 1990s Britpop, led by quarreling brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher — announced that it would reunite for the first time since 2009, playing multiple shows across the United Kingdom and Ireland next summer. It later also announced tour dates in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Fans scrambling for tickets have fumed about eye-watering prices and long waits online. Last month, Oasis’ tour promoters Live Nation and SJM told CNN that they were canceling around 50,000 tickets for the band’s UK concerts that were being resold on unofficial secondary sites, in an effort to prevent price gouging.

Lloyds said its customers buying Oasis tickets on a major UK ticket selling site splashed out more compared with any other music concert over the past three years, parting with an average of £563 ($731) per debit card transaction during the first day of ticket sales in August. That’s higher than the average £342 ($444) spent on tickets for Taylor Swift’s UK tour last year, it noted.

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