fraud
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Tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour are being protected by some of the most advanced ticketing technology ever created, but it’s done little to stop some Swifties from falling victim to fraud.
With what’s likely to be the year’s most in-demand tour has come a wave of online scams that mix high-tech identity theft with low-tech social engineering to target frustrated fans unable to buy tickets during the initial sale in November. Now ticket prices are going for up to 10-times face value on secondary sites and many fans are desperately looking for more affordable options. That’s also leaving them vulnerable to too-good-to-be-true swindlers selling fake tickets. In many cases, the fans don’t even realize they were ripped off until they get to the show.
Nationwide, consumer fraud was up 30% in 2022 over 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission, costing consumers $8.8 billion. Fake ticket scams fall under what the FTC labels as “imposter scams,” second in total cost only to investor scams according to the FTC, which notes that individuals aged 30-39 are the most likely to be defrauded in 2023 with social media sites listed as the most common place where fraud occurs. The targeting of Taylor Swift fans and offering cheap tickets the seller doesn’t have (and then disappearing on the buyer after they send over the money) is in part due to enormous publicity around the tour and the huge demand for tickets and low supply.
“Con artists will seize any opportunity to rip people off and as soon as the tours for Taylor Swift or artists Beyoncé or The Cure were even announced, scammers trying to figure out ways to capitalize on people’s desperation to get tickets,” says Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog with the Denver-based Public Interest Research Group. Murray says her group saw an uptick in forged barcodes, fake websites and spoofs on legitimate sights like StubHub and Ticketmaster popping up hoping to profit off the frenzy around the Eras tour.
Fans who have fallen victim to Taylor Swift ticket fraud often say they are lured into the scam through a post on Facebook, listed on regional group pages from seemingly legitimate accounts offering to sell tickets for an upcoming Swift show below the current asking price on secondary ticket markets.
“When you have people who are desperate [to buy tickets] and vulnerable to fraud, they tend to suspend their common sense and make decisions they wouldn’t normally make,” says Murray, adding that this type of fraud is perpetrated by both “people living in their mom’s basement” and sophisticated criminal groups operating in an organized manner.
What victims do not realize is that instead of talking to person living in their city, they are often talking to a hacker who has recently taken over someone’s Facebook account to appear like a real person with ties in the community. After some back and forth, the scammer convinces the victim to send them money though a cash app like Venmo or Zelle in exchange for tickets that either never arrive or are obvious fakes.
This increase in fraud is happening against a backdrop of transformative technology at Ticketmaster, deployed at a large scale for the Eras tour with the potential to drastically reduce and even eliminate most instances of ticket fraud. Whereas it used to be fraudsters could buy a print-at-home ticket and then sell multiple copies of that, Ticketmaster is now employing its Safetix technology for Swift’s tour and others to issue digital tickets that live exclusively within the Ticketmaster app and are impossible to duplicate in this way. Safetix creates an entire digital ecosystem around the life of the ticket, from its original purchase, through resale and up until the ticket is redeemed on the night of the show. The scam Swift fans describe operates completely outside of that ecosystem, without any protections for consumers.
For scammers, demanding payment upfront is a low-tech way to defeat an otherwise sophisticated security system. The only way to curb this type of fraud, Murray says, is to educate fans on how digital tickets work. Much of Ticketmaster’s consumer education efforts have focused on Swift fans who successfully bought tickets and need to know how to load tickets into their accounts, transfer them to friends and redeem the tickets on show night. While this effort to educate fans is important, it does little to inform fans who were unable to buy during the public sale so that they are better equipped to avoid being sold fake tickets when they attempt to buy secondary tickets
Murray recommends only purchasing resale tickets from official sellers with a clearly visible fan guarantee listed on their site, to only use credit cards (not debit cards) and to match up the seats being sold with a seat map of the venue to verify the seats and rows actually exist.
“Often times the con artists don’t bother to check if the seating section, row and seat numbers they claim to hold tickets for actually exist on a seat map,” Murray says. “A little research on your own might help you determine if the tickets being offered actually exist.”
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Herschel Walker and his failed bid for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat was disastrous from the onset and now, incriminating emails show that Walker solicited thousands of dollars for his campaign for his own use. The former football star actually obtained over $500,000 from one donor that he placed into an LLC and never reported the donation per campaign finance rules.
The Daily Beast published exclusive details regarding Herschel Walker and the funds in which he swindled wads of cash from donor Dennis Washington, who was led to believe the money was going to the campaign.
From The Daily Beast:
Emails obtained by The Daily Beast—and verified as authentic by a person with knowledge of the exchanges—show that Walker asked Washington to wire $535,200 directly to that undisclosed company, HR Talent, LLC.
And the emails reveal that not only did Washington complete Walker’s wire requests, he was under the impression that these were, in fact, political contributions.
In the best possible circumstances, legal experts told The Daily Beast, the emails suggest violations of federal fundraising rules; in the worst case, they could be an indication of more serious crimes, such as wire fraud.
The publication notes that Walker was well aware of the campaign donation rules so it is possible he returned the money or directed it to a Super PAC in support of the campaign. However, Walker never contributed any of his own funds to the campaign nor was the money from Washington directed back to the Super Pac.
The entire piece on Herschel Walker is fascinating and completely depicts how brazen his actions were. Given the fact that Georgia became something of a political hot spot in the wake of the 2020 elections that Donald Trump lost, Walker seemingly didn’t figure in that scrutiny into his political dealings would be stringent at the least.
Read the entire piece here.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Frazer Harrison/WWE 2011 / Getty
One of wrestling most enigmatic personalities will have to clear his name in court of law. Ted DiBiase Jr. is charged with stealing millions of dollars from a welfare fund.
As spotted on Yahoo Entertainment! the sports figure has some very serious charges looming over his head. On Thursday, April 20 the former WWE talent was hit with a federal indictment. “Theodore Marvin DiBiase Jr., 40, of Madison, along with co-conspirators John Davis, Christi Webb, Nancy New, and others, are alleged to have fraudulently obtained federal funds – including from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program – that they misappropriated for their own personal use and benefit” the statement from The Department of Justice read.
John Davis reportedly served as the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. MDHS was issued federal funds that were then reallocated to non for profit organizations that were run by Christi Webb and Nancy New. They in turn awarded bogus contracts to DiBiase’s company Priceless Ventures LLC. According to the paperwork he is charged with “one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and four counts of money laundering.”
If found guilty Ted DiBiase Jr. faces a maximum penalty of five years of prison for conspiracy and a maximum of 20 years on the wire fraud. He has pled not guilty to all the charges. When asked by WAPT-TV for a comment he simply replied “Jesus loves you, brother. God bless you, man. That’s it.”
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Billy McFarland, the convicted fraudster behind the disastrous unraveling of the Fyre Festival, made an announcement this past weekend that should raise eyebrows. McFarland is promising to bring back the festival and used social media to share the news.
Billy McFarland sent out a tweet on Easter Sunday (April 9) simply stating that the festival will make its return but few other details were shared.
“Fyre Festival II is finally happening. Tell me why you should be invited,” McFarland tweeted.
When one user asked why McFarland wasn’t still jailed for stiffing investors, McFarland fired back saying, “It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working. people aren’t getting paid back if i sit on the couch and watch tv. and because i served my time.”
McFarland leaned into the snark and attacks on his character, showing an unflinching focus on truly getting Frye Festival back on its feet. As some might recall, the original event went afoul with patrons promised certain amenities that didn’t add up to what they actually received. Further, the event dragged the names of others, chiefly, rapper Ja Rule.
It isn’t known how Billy McFarland intends to fund the next Fyre Festival or if he’s found some new investors. Stay tuned.
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Photo: Patrick McMullan / Getty
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The wife of the late great Leonard “Hub” Hubbard believes The Roots are not men of their word. She is suing Questlove and Black Thought for fraud.
As spotted on The Philly Voice Stephanie Hubbard is alleging that the legendary band is withholding monies that she believes are due to the bassist. On December 16, 2021, Leonard Hubbard passed due to blood cancer. Prior to his death, he had claimed that the group was shortchanging him based on a contract he signed stating he was a co-owner of the band. Years later, it seems Mrs. Hubbard has continued to fight his fight.
On Thursday, March 23 she filed a lawsuit to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The documentation states that Ahmir Thompson (Questlove), Tarik Trotter (Black Thought), Shawn Gee (The Roots manager), and Munir Nuriddin (Roots employee) have been violating RICO laws since 2013 with regard to Hub’s earnings.
Specifically, by “forgery, wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, and criminal copyright infringement”. Furthermore, she says all the original members founded Grand Negaz, Inc.; a corporate entity they all started to funnel all their music-related ventures. Additionally, she states Leonard also had a 25% stake in a company that handled The Roots’ publishing and a 33% stake in a company that deals with their touring bookings.
The estate’s lawyer Luke Lucas gave a statement to The Philadelphia Business Journal regarding the lawsuit. “I would hope that these guys would have enough respect and compassion for their former band member… to make sure that he receives compensation for what may have not been given to him in the past, and so that his widow can live a reasonable life,” he said.
The Roots have yet to formally comment on the allegations.
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Carlos Watson, the founder of digital entertainment company Ozy Media, was arrested on Thursday (Feb. 23) and charged with securities fraud. The arrest comes after other members of Ozy Media’s executive team were charged with defrauding investors out of large sums of cash.
As seen in the New York Times, Carlos Watson, 53, was arrested Thursday morning in midtown Manhattan by FBI officials and later appeared in federal court in Brooklyn by the afternoon. Beyond fraud charges, Watson also faces identity theft charges and has pleaded not guilty to all counts and is now free on a $1 million bond.
According to the court filing, Watson, “engaged in a scheme to defraud Ozy’s potential investors, potential acquirers, lenders and potential lenders,” and baked the numbers on Ozy Media’s various holdings and results Eastern District of New York prosecutors wrote.
Along with Watson, Samir Rao, former Ozy Media CEO, and Suzee Han, Ozy Media’s former chief of staff, both pleaded guilty to fraud charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission then brought charges that the trio defrauded investors out of $50 million.
Much of the fall of Ozy Media can be traced to the fall of 2021 after the Times reported that an Ozy Media staffer pretended to be an executive from YouTube during a business call with Goldman Sachs involving a potential investment venture. The staffer sold a tall tale of YouTube being a strong business ally of Ozy Media and that content produced by Ozy performed well on YouTube’s channels.
According to Watson’s legal team, the arrest came as a shock to their side as Watson was reportedly working with authorities on the matter as recently as this week. If convicted, Carlos Watson could face a range of time of a mandatory minimum sentence of two years to a maximum of 37 years.
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Executives at one of the largest independent ticketing companies in North America believe malware hidden inside a tracking pixel used for sending customers target advertisements was the source of two-and-a-half-year credit card skimming operation.
Company officials with See Tickets North America, a subsidiary of French entertainment conglomerate Vivendi, tell Billboard that criminals were able to operate a sophisticated credit card skimming fraud on See Tickets checkout pages. While See Tickets officials didn’t detail which events were impacted, the company is one of the largest ticketing sites for indie promoters in North America with clients that include Pitchfork Festival and Disco Donnie Presents’ Freaky Deaky festival, as well as venues like the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.
Tracking pixels are typically used to identify customers and share information about the consumer with ad networks and other large technology companies. One popular use of tracking pixels in the events business is to serve ads to fans who visited a music festivals website but did not purchase tickets, in hopes of enticing them to make a purchase.
Company officials believe that an exploit in the pixel See Tickets was using allowed criminals to take snap shots of credit card transactions as they happened without having to break into See Tickets system or database. The malicious code first appeared on the site on June 25, 2019, about nine months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of the live entertainment industry.
“At See Tickets we take securing customer information very seriously and deeply regret this incident occurred,” Boris Patronoff, CEO of See Tickets North America, told Billboard in a statement. “We also understand how this may have negatively impacted on our clients and their customers. We conducted an immediate investigation as soon as the issue was discovered and communicated with clients and customers the moment it was possible to do so. We have since taken additional measures to further strengthen our security,.”
Company officials became aware of the security breach in April 2021 after being contacted by credit card investigators looking at fraudulent charges linked to purchases on See Tickets website site. Within days of being notified, the ticketing company hired two forensic investigation teams to investigate the breach. In January of this year, the malicious code was eradicated from the site.
Last month, See Tickets concluded its investigation and began notifying state law enforcement officials with the details of the breach. While See Tickets’ own customer and promoter data was not accessed during the breach, criminals were able to obtain details from credit card transactions including full name, address, card number, expiration date and CVV.
See Tickets says a majority of ticket buyers who used the site were not impacted by the breach and note that social security numbers, state identification numbers and bank account information was not exposed due to this incident, as they are not stored in its systems.
The breach is the second major hack of a ticketing company in five years. In 2018, hackers briefly took over the Ticketfly home page and took parts of the company offline for months grinding much of the independent music industry to a halt. Ticketfly users and client data were stolen during the attack and wound up on the dark web because of the attack.