More Ticketmaster customers come forward after tickets stolen from accounts

Friday, November 1, 2024
CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than a dozen more people have come forward saying their digital tickets were transferred out of their online Ticketmaster accounts to strangers, causing some to miss their concerts complete.

In what appears to be a widespread issue, people with tickets to different concerts report their tickets were transferred despite the fact that they did not initiate any such transfer.

Simone Wilson and her five sisters had waited months to see Usher perform at the United Center, but last Saturday she got a notification from Ticketmaster that her Usher ticket was transferred to someone she didn't know.

"Immediately after that, I tried to get in contact with Ticketmaster. I had been on hold for 30 minutes. It was then they told me they would put in a fraud case and try to get my ticket back," she said.

READ MORE: Man warns others after being scammed by fake Ticketmaster customer service

But Wilson said she never heard back, and she's not the only one. More than a dozen people said they have experienced the ticket swiping, too.



"I had a notification from Ticketmaster saying that my eight tickets had been transferred," said Jazmin Johnson.

"I received an email saying our tickets had been transferred to somebody that we don't know," said Breauna Hannon.

Ticketmaster told the I-Team it is constantly investing in new security enhancements to safeguard fans, and that overall its digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs.

Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, revealed it was the victim of a massive cyberattack a few months ago which compromised user data, but Ticketmaster said passwords were not exposed in the breach.



Cybersecurity expert Mark Porter said it's possible the people behind the scheme used what they obtained from the Ticketmaster breach and combed through the dark web to match that information with passwords.

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"They can do something like password spraying where they're launching many, many attempts at breaking your password," he said.

He said thieves are likely stealing the tickets in close proximity to the event to give the customer and Ticketmaster less time to act.

The I-Team reached out to Ticketmaster on Wilson's behalf and two hours before the concert she said her ticket was returned to her account. She and her sisters had a ball that night, but they wish it didn't come with so much stress.



"Something needs to be done. It's clearly a problem. It's a problem," Wilson said.

Ticketmaster didn't get back to the I-Team about this latest case, but recently said the top way fans can protect themselves is to set strong, unique passwords for all accounts, especially your personal email. Many of the customers we spoke to are urging Ticketmaster to take a closer look at its systems.
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