Oasis fans defrauded by ticket scammers lost £346 each on average, bank reports
Oasis fans who fell victim to ticket scams for their upcoming reunion tour have lost £346 each on average.
Tickets for the UK dates first went on sale in August, with 1.4 million up for grabs. They promptly sold out after 10 million fans from 158 countries joined the queue.
Now, Lloyds Bank have reported a “landslide” of scams surrounding Noel and Liam Gallagher‘s highly-awaited return to the stage, with “hundreds” of fans reportedly defrauded while attempting to buy tickets – per The Guardian.
The banking group’s internal data showed that 90% of ticket scam cases started with fake adverts on social media, with those aged between 35 and 44 among the most likely to be targeted, making up 31% of all cases.
On average, victims lost £346, however some reported paying up to £1,000 for fraudulent tickets.
The data relates to the period between August 27, when Oasis confirmed their reunion, to September 25. During that time, Oasis fans made up 70% of all reported concert ticket scams. Lloyds have added that the total is likely to be higher now.
Facebook and Facebook Marketplace were among the most common sources for scam tickets, a bank spokesperson said. “A simple search of Facebook reveals numerous unofficial groups have been set up, many boasting tens of thousands of members, dedicated to buying and selling tickets for the Oasis tour.
“This is despite Meta’s own commerce policy stating that the sale of concert tickets is ‘not allowed’ on the platform,” they added.
Meta responded, saying it was “committed to protecting our users from fraudulent activities”, and advised users to report posts they think could be scams, per The Guardian.
Lloyds also said the amount spent on concert tickets has recently “soared”, with fans spending an average of £563 per debit card transaction on ticketing sites the day the Oasis tour went on sale. The year before, when Taylor Swift’s UK tour tickets were released, fans typically spent an average of £342.
When the Britpop icons initially announced their return, they revealed efforts to prevent touts from re-selling tickets at inflated prices by partnering with resale platform Twickets and issuing a statement to say that tickets sold for profit on other sites would be cancelled.
However, despite warnings from the band, four per cent of tickets – equating to roughly 50,000 – ended up on resale sites, per BBC News.
The band’s promoters, Live Nation and SJM, have now cancelled all tickets sold via secondary ticketing sites. All invalidated tickets will be made available again through Ticketmaster, at face value.
There was controversy when tickets went on sale in the UK after some fans found huge price increases due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing policy upon accessing ticket pages.
The ticketing platform’s “surge pricing” scheme, introduced in 2022, increases ticket prices based on demand. Ticketmaster have clarified on their website previously that tickets that are “market-priced” and “may increase or decrease at any time, based on demand. This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.”
Now, a new law may be introduced that requires music and sports events to tell fans maximum prices at the beginning of a ticket-buying process. It follows Britain’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy condemning dynamic pricing and calling for a review of the policy.
At the time, Oasis responded with a statement which read: “Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management, and at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used.”
The band later confirmed that a dynamic pricing structure would not be applied to their North American reunion tour dates.
Following the UK and Ireland sale controversy, the issue was brought to the Advertising Standards Agency and the European Commission, with a separate call for an investigation brought by the UK government. Experts also suggested that not warning Oasis fans of the dynamic pricing may breach consumer law.
The Edenbridge Bonfire Society recently burnt an effigy based on the Ticketmaster fiasco.
In other news, the band have confirmed when they will be revealing the details of their 2025 South American reunion tour dates, and Liam has been teasing that he’s been blown away by the music his brother Noel has written for a potential new Oasis album.
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Laura Molloy
NME
