Your favourite artist is in town and with your concert ticket in hand, you are ready to enter the venue to watch them perform live.  You hand the officials your ticket but it is declined.  You have now lost the experience of a lifetime to fraudsters, and you have no idea how it happened.

Ticket fraud, an industry-wide issue, is becoming a frequent problem at major events, with fraudulent tickets becoming increasingly difficult to identify from valid ones.  Many people are falling prey to fraudsters, who sell these fake tickets via various online portals or even from parking lots at the event.  According to Brandon Duffield, Head Executive at Ticketpro, individuals are often fooled by these criminals who wear event-branded clothing and provide you with a ticket that looks totally legitimate. 

Duffield says, “Criminals use different methods to fake an event ticket and often sell a number of duplicated tickets to various people.  This means that the first person to enter the event with that ticket number will be admitted, leaving the other ticket holders with that same seat number barred from entering the venue.

Consumers, therefore, need to understand how and where tickets for events should be bought as this will help curb ticket fraud.  Social media channels and informal online portals are also driving fraudulent event tickets due to the ease of consumer access.  Fraudsters are also able to sell the tickets in a ‘faceless’ manner, eliminating any personal identification process.”

When buying tickets for any event, Ticketpro advises consumers to follow these guidelines:

• It is important never to purchase tickets from anyone other than an accredited ticketing partner or promoter of the event.

• After you have bought your ticket online, only collect your tickets from approved partners.  For any Ticketpro events, this would include PostNet and select Edgars stores, to mention a few.

• Do not buy any event ticket from a stranger or someone posing as an event staff member at an event – beware of being approached by people selling tickets in the parking lot!

• Avoid buying tickets from online classified channels and social networks.

• If you have lost your event ticket or it has been stolen, contact the accredited ticketing partner immediately.

• Authenticate your ticket through the accredited ticketing partner. For Ticketpro events, you can do this via the Ticketpro call centre: info@ticketpros.co.za or 0861-008-277.

“Ticketpro has introduced a number of security features to prevent the holder of fake tickets from entering any event. This includes state of the art access control, security layers and advanced scanners. Tickets for Ticketpro events also have a unique code and barcode to prevent fake ticket holders from entering the venue,” clarifies Duffield.

Ticketpro uses only the latest in information and printing technology to provide a ticketing service that incorporates a myriad of security features in every ticket.  Duffield concludes, “Our highly advanced security features have prevented thousands of fraudulent tickets holders from entering venues at Ticketpro events.  This has contributed to Ticketpro managing event ticket fraud significantly better than the industry average.”