I have been a avid gig goer for 30 years. 

 

For the first 20 years tickets were bought by phone or online, posted, recieved and handed over at the event. Yes ticket touts were about, but you handed them cash and they handed you a ticket. 

So what changed. In the last 10 years, well the majority of ticket agencies DO NOT post a ticket. The vast majority now sent the ticket digitally. You are not handed a ticket. 

Entrepreneurs, as I'm sure they call themselves, are snapping up tickets at face value and going on to sell them, through the same agents (!) for hundreds of pounds more. Thieves and Fraudsters are claiming to have extra tickets for the event you so wish to go too. In the absence of an agent you are;

Paying for something which may or may not exist. 

You are paying for something, than may exist, but that you will never recieve. 

You are buying from a person who may or may it not exist or who's Social Media profile has been hack. 

Action fraud report that in the 13 months, leading upto September 2022, £6.2 million has been lost to ticket fraud. There have been over 7.3k reports of ticket fraud across the country, and by Autumn/Winter 2022 cases had doubled from the start of that year alone. 

By 2023/2024, the sale of tickets for American Superstar Taylor Swift saw ticket fraud ramped up to sickening figures, leaving young children and parents out of pocket and devastated.