Ed Sheeran fans desperate to secure tickets for his upcoming concerts in Suffolk should be wary of social media scammers selling “fraudulent” tickets, a watchdog has warned.
Thousands of gig-goers will be scrambling to secure general sale tickets for the singer’s shows at Portman Road, Ipswich, on 11, 12 and 13 July.
Suffolk Trading Standards has urged fans to avoid being hoodwinked into buying fake tickets, after some were sold on social media immediately after Wednesday’s pre-sale.
A BBC investigation has since found at least seven scammers promising to transfer tickets, but how did these scammers operate?
Scammers tell of ‘work clashes’
The first batch of tickets went on sale at 10:00 BST on Wednesday for fans who had pre-ordered Sheeran’s new album, Play, or signed up for free via his website.
Ipswich Town season ticket holders were offered an exclusive sale on Thursday, before the general sale on Friday
During the official sales, there has been a strict ticket limit of six per person.
But the BBC found within an hour of the first sale, at least seven social media profiles were advertising tickets they claimed were no longer needed.
One seller said they had a “work clash”, while another claimed their “plans had shifted”.
It came despite Ticketmaster stating tickets could not be transferred for Sheeran’s shows.
‘You are safe with me here’
To test if the sellers were legitimate, the BBC used a pseudonym to create a profile on X, contacted each seller and expressed an interest in their tickets.
The prices on offer ranged from the face value £95 to £190 for one ticket.
When asked to send proof of the tickets, each seller sent the same screenshot purporting to be a purchase confirmation email.
We quizzed one of the accounts on how this could have happened, and they said: “There’s a lot of people that would have screenshots of my tickets that I posted earlier.
“They stole my screenshot and are using that to take people’s money.”
Each seller also told us they would be using Ticketmaster’s transfer scheme, despite it not being available.
