Ticketmaster executives have offered a disgraceful response to customers who have complained that their pricey tickets were stolen by scammers.
Furious fans have spoken up in recent weeks, saying tickets they had bought months ago for concerts and sporting events were suddenly transferred to another, unrecognized account.
They have each described how they were left trying to reach a representative at the company for hours in an attempt to get their tickets back before the events, but rarely received any help.
Now, company executives are blaming customers for not creating secure passwords.
That heartless response comes months after a hacker group stole the data of 560 million customers – an incident Ticketmaster is now being sued for.
Ticketmaster executives say those who have seen their tickets transferred to scammers just have to reset their passwords. Pictured: Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation Entertainment Inc, the parent company of Ticketmaster
Among those who have spoken out about scammers stealing their valuable tickets, were Blaine Heck, 36. She told DailyMail.com that she was given $3,500 tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in New Orleans as a birthday gift – only to discover that fraudsters broke into her online account and transferred them out.
She said she accepted the tickets into her account, learning through an an email that they had been transferred to another account the next day.
She said she immediately contacted Ticketmaster, who informed her that ‘it could take up to a week to resolve the issue – without any guarantees.’
‘This situation has left me incredibly frustrated, and after speaking with others, I’ve realized that this is happening far too often, especially as we approach Taylor’s upcoming US tour dates,’ she explained.
Ticketmaster has since paused ticket transfers for all remaining Eras Tour shows until three days before each event, the Toronto Star reports.
But the issue is affecting more than just Swifties.
After tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour were stole Ticketmaster has paused ticket transfers until three days before each event
California-based ticket holder Sydney Rosa, 27, said she also had her $1,200 tickets to an October 3 Pink concert in New Jersey stolen.
She called Ticketmaster within an hour of discovering the fraudulent transfer, but an operator told her it would take 48 hours to escalate the case.
‘I called back about an hour later that day because I saw that the fraudster had put the tickets they stole from my account back on the resale market on Ticketmaster. They confirmed that they saw that and said I just need to wait for a call back,’ Rosa told DailyMail.com.
Two days later, she called Ticketmaster again and spoke with another representative who told her she been ‘given misinformation,’ and that it would take three to five business days for the company to ‘find a resolution.’
After waiting five business days, she still hadn’t received a response. So she called again, and was again told she’d need to wait three to five business days.
‘[The representative] was super unhelpful as is all Ticketmaster because they don’t care, they have my money,’ Rosa said.
Exasperated, she resorted to LinkedIn and messaged Ticketmaster’s global head of resale operations, who restored her tickets.
‘It’s still ridiculous though because if I hadn’t gone that extreme route who knows what would have happened,’ Rosa said.
‘I was lucky but clearly other people haven’t been as much.’
Sydney Rosa, 27, said she had her $1,200 tickets to a Pink concert in New Jersey stolen
Rosa called Ticketmaster multiple times, and remained on the phone with them for over an hour after her tickets were stolen
Mason Snyder, of North Carolina, said he even changed his password, but still experienced an issue with scammers taking his $350 Post Malone tickets.
‘Last Thursday I was sitting in my office and got an email that said, “Your ticket transfer has been initiated.” And I said, “I don’t think I listed any tickets,”‘ he told WCNC.
‘So I logged in and canceled the transfer and changed my password, but I was kicked out after the third time trying,’ Snyder recounted.
‘Right after that, I got another email that the ticket transfer had been initiated again and completed. And by the time I got back in, the tickets were gone.’
He said he waited on the phone with a customer service representative for a total of five hours.
‘I tried to go the path of getting a supervisor and they said it would take 24 to 48 hours and they’d call me back,’ Snyder explained. ‘They never got back to me at the time.’
In a statement, Ticketmaster told the local news channel: ‘Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs.
‘Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate the situation and restore fans’ tickets.
‘The top way fans can protect themselves is setting a strong, unique password for all accounts, especially for their personal email, which is where we often see security issues originate,’ a spokesperson for the company continued.
‘Scammers are looking for new cheats across every industry and tickets will always be a target because they are valuable, so Ticketmaster is constantly investing in new security enhancements to safeguard fans.’
Customers say the company needs to do more to protect their purchases, as Ticketmaster faces a class action lawsuit over a massive data breach earlier this year
But those who have had their tickets stolen argue the company needs to do more to protect its customers.
Angela Perdue, who purchased Usher tickets that disappeared just a few hours before the concert, suggested Ticketmaster should do more to identify unauthorized ticket transfers.
‘I should have received some sort of alert before somebody just… stealing my tickets,’ she told NBC DFW. ‘I should have got an alert on my phone the same way I get the tickets on my phone.’
Megan Clouse, who bought Taylor Swift tickets last year, also said she wants Ticketmaster to offer multifactor authentication.
‘Just like if I log into my email from my husband’s phone, I get so many ways to verify it’s me. I’m getting text messages, emails, all of the things.
‘But for this? There was nothing.’
Those criticisms come as Ticketmaster is also facing a class-action lawsuit over a massive data breach it suffered from the hacker group ShinyHunters earlier in the year, according to Rolling Stone.
The hacker group claimed it obtained the personal data of 560 million accounts through a third-party cloud data company – including names, addresses, phone numbers and limited credit card information – that it ransomed for $500,000.
The suit, which was filed in federal court in California on Friday, alleges the breach was a ‘direct result of [Ticketmaster’s] failure to implement adequate and reasonable data protection procedures.’
It says the breach was ‘avoidable,’ and argues the company ‘could and should have implemented several preventative measures to combat hack attempts.
But Ticketmaster executives have said no user’s passwords were leaked, and told customers it is once again safe to use their site.
‘Our comprehensive investigation – alongside leading cybersecurity experts and relevant authorities – has shown that there has been no more unauthorized activity,’ a spokesperson told USA Today.
The suit is seeking unspecified damages, as well as the cost of attorneys fees and other penalties.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
