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Hackers target concert tickets, Ticketmaster customer calls 2 On Your Side for help
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PRAIRIEVILLE - Imagine having lower-level seats to see your favorite artist in concert only to learn that those tickets were transferred out of your account to someone else without your permission. It happened to one woman in Prairieville.
The scam is happening to Ticketmaster customers around the country. Erin Bethea bought four tickets to see Coldplay in Las Vegas when they went on sale a few weeks ago. Last week, she got several hundred emails all at once to her Gmail account, eight of which were from Ticketmaster, letting her know her tickets were transferred and received successfully by other people.
"Lille Botsford accepted your ticket, Fernando Swift..." she said.
As soon as Bethea called Ticketmaster, the customer service agent knew immediately it was fraudulent. She filed a claim but said Ticketmaster told her there was no guarantee she'd get the tickets back and wasn't provided a time frame.
"I wanted my tickets, not a refund," Bethea said.
After her conversation with Ticketmaster, Bethea emailed 2 On Your Side. After reaching out to Ticketmaster, 2 On Your Side immediately received a response and Bethea's tickets were returned within minutes.
Ticketmaster says digital ticketing has greatly reduced fraud and having that digital history is how it's able to investigate the situation and restore fans' tickets in nearly every case. Ticketmaster suggests setting a strong password that isn't used elsewhere and says many tickets are recovered within 48 hours.
"The only things she told me to do was to change my password in my email account and on Ticketmaster," said Bethea.
After the tickets were returned, Bethea noted that the recovered tickets in the app had "invalid" marked on them. She had to log into her account online to get the tickets that could be used for the concert. Bethea says she has transferred those to her wallet and is anxiously awaiting her trip.
Earlier this year, Ticketmaster confirmed that hackers accessed customers' personal information, which may have affected millions of customers. The company's website offers several ways to contact Ticketmaster. To reach Ticketmaster by phone, call 1-800-653-8000.
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